So how do you organize?

Let it begin…

 

If I learned anything from attending the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention 2013, it’s that I am a very disorganized author. I’m not a pantser.  I do have a general outline typed out before I start.  But I am not a plotter, either.  I don’t have every single chapter planned out, which can mean absolute panic when you reach the middle of the book and think, “Oh, crap, what was supposed to happen here again?”

I’ve tried the pinboard technique before with the chapter cards and character profiles.  And while I’m good at writing out the character descriptions, I am, let’s say, less committed to storyboarding each chapter.  For example, with my last book, I dutifully outlined the first few chapters, but got so overeager to start the writing process that I abandoned the chapter cards, which resulted in that, “Oh, crap” panic again.

So at RT,  when I listened to other authors discuss their organization techniques, I thought of the incomplete storyboard in my closet and slipped lower and lower in my seat.  So today, long before I have another MS due, I will begin organizing my story, planning it carefully, putting more thought into character arcs and world-building.  I will be using my index cards and my post-its and I will dutifully print out all of the pictures I need for visual cues.

If, within one month, if I don’t have a carefully crafted, organized storyboard to photograph and post here, I give you all permission to email me pictures of scary clowns.  and you know how I feel about clowns.

So, other writers, what do you use to organize your story?  Storyboards?  Timelines on butcher paper? Computer programs like Scrivener?

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