Monday, March 1, 2010

OCD Revision/Outlining HEAVEN

I know I'm mildly OCD, but I never thought it would drive me to almost brave the nasty wind out side for some poster board.

Yes, poster board.

Joy on the Journey did a post about how she's tackling revision.

It is a must see for plotters. Even pantsers should take a look.

Might just be the straight lines and post-it notes, but I am definitely giving this a try.

...

Once the wind dies down. Tuesday we got 5 inches of snow, by Wednesday night it was all gone. I think it almost hit 60 on Thursday, and this weekend was decently nice. Today it rained heavily off and on, now the wind is whistling through my windows. Weather says it's 45 degrees out, but feels like 37.

I really think her process will greatly help me with Ivory. I've tried index cards for the scenes, but it always gets messy and unorganized. I've tried listing out on the scenes in word, again, gets messy and unorganized.

Post-it notes have always been near and dear to my heart, and grids are just peaceful.

Now that you all know how crazy I am, I'm signing off to go make dinner. Maybe I'll stop at the office store after school tomorrow.

Do you outline or just wing it?

Have you tried both ways?

6 comments:

  1. I usually outline, sometimes more extensively than others. My husband built me an 8 by 5 foot bulletin board where I can do plot mapping with notecards.

    Helen
    Straight From Hel

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  2. Hey great minds think alike!!! I'm loving my tight outline. I hope it all works out in the end. Still following my gut though.

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  3. I wing it. Outlining scares me. :-) Hope you get a great process for this story! And nice weather too. :-)

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  4. I do scene outlines - sometimes on notecards, more often just in a computer document. It seems like the more complicated the process is, the less I'll do it - because all in all, I just want to write.

    Lots of people use post-its to great results, so good luck, and have fun! :-)

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  5. I noticed a few days ago that you're majoring in accounting. I'm also an accountant, so it came as no big surprise to me to find you have OCD tendencies. It sounded kinda familiar. I have bookmarked your link for the next time I'm ready for revisions.

    A couple of links for you:
    http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/
    Alexandra Sokoloff applies screenwriting process to novel writing. I don't use her process exclusively, but I have borrowed a LOT from her. If it looks appealing, try doing the work she suggests, because that's where it really started to click for me. She has an index of sorts on the sidebar and links at the bottom of entries to help you find your way.

    http://www.dianechamberlain.com/blog/?p=1143
    Another author posts pics of the oversize chart she uses for plotting, based on Sokoloff's chart. Do those pics of great big grids with color-coded post-its not just make you drool?

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  6. I love hearing about everyone's methods. Just reminds me that everyone is a little bit different and no one process works for everyone. :)

    Thank you for those links Lori! Those grids with the post-its are slightly coma-inducing. I'm still finding my way through Alexandra's site, but there looks to be a ton of useful info there.

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