Change of Plans

I'm always trying to find better ways to keep organized, especially if it comes to my writing. A while ago, I did a post on the way I do outlines. Shown here:

You can see these because they've changed....a lot.

There is a lot going on in this WORD document, which I was completely fine with until I started planning out my story board. Comments are great, but without being able to make each comment a different color, I was getting confused on what needed to be worked on and which scenes were important to the story. 

Now, I've discovered Platonium!

Not really, but you'll see what I mean with this picture:



Sorry - had to black out my scene descriptions since this is a WIP :(



By using Excel, I was able to include a lot more information in my outline than in Word. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE WORD. I use it for everything, but when it comes to organizing my writing, I'm converting to Excel.

In this spreadsheet I've listed:

1. Chapter #

2. Status of chapter (Revision 1 = First round of major revisions, Revision 2, etc)

3. Pages of chapter

4. Word count in chapter

5. Scene number within chapter

6. Scene description

7. A column asking how the scene moves the plot forward (haven't filled that in yet)

8. Timeline (what day of the week the scene takes place on)

And then some color coding. The colors are where my story board takes hold. Blue is set up for the main plot turning points. Red for subplot turning points and yellow for those scenes that I need to clear up a timeline for. There seems to be A LOT of stuff happening in one day and I don't think it would be believable. There's only so much one person can handle.

What do you think? Do you utilize technology for your notes and outlines or are you old school? What are some ways you keep your information organized?

The Craft

The Craft of Writing will be my career (as long as I can help it!) and so there is a lot I do and a lot of places I go in order to learn more. Through the past year, I've attended almost all of my RWA meetings, joined a critique group and researched the hell out of getting published.

To make the story short: I have a lot of handouts and notes.

Since this Craft will be my life's work and I have such a horrible memory, I keep them all. Right now, however, they are all in an ugly, blue, floppy folder. This floppy folder:

I have a mix of things like articles on dialogue to basic and advanced character charts in here. They are not organized and they are not accessible unless I want to go through hundreds of pages to find the information I want.

Solution: The Craft Binder.  [Dramatic music...]

This is just the beginning. It will be pretty. It will be colorful. It will be organized.

It will be my bible.

Organized sections thus far will include: Plotting, Character development/GMC, Setting/World-building, Query, Synopsis, Formatting and Critiquing. By organizing my notes, handouts and research, I will be able to stay on top of my craft and help other writers out with advice. Yay me :)

How do you handle the onslaught of information you gather from friends, organization and family about this Craft? Willing to share ideas?