#organization
The words “pantser” and “planner” get thrown around a lot within the various virtual writing communities, especially those who participate in National Novel Writing Month. November has come and gone, but writers do not let the changing of the seasons stop their craft. If one is a planner, they find planning out their novel in advance to be most productive. Some people plan their stories for months in advance before starting to write. Conversely, if one is a pantser, they prefer to take a more freeform approach to their writing projects. In a way, the stories of a pantser write themselves because the author is not afraid to take a concept and run with it.
I am a scientist by trade. My entire life revolves around meticulous planning in order to get the accurate and precise results I need. A byproduct of that is that I seem to not be able to do anything without creating a game plan first. If I don’t, writer’s block sets in and nothing gets done, or I get so focused on one certain detail that the rest of the work falls short. So, I’ve put together a master post of resources to help other planners (and people who want to be planners) organize their thoughts for a productive writing project.
As always, the links I find to be especially apt will be in bold.
Outlining
7 Steps to Creating a Flexible Outline for Any Story
How to Outline a Novel (Even If You’re Not an Outliner)
Outlining Your Novel: Why and How
How to Outline a Novel Chapter by Chapter
Plot Outline Creation: 7 Smart Methods
How to Write a Character-Driven Plot Outline
Organization
How to Organize and Develop Ideas for Your Novel
How a Scene List Can Change Your Novel-Writing Life
Planning, Outlining, and Organizing Your Novel – Or Not!
A Novel Strategy: How to Organize Big Writign Projects
Organize Your Novel with Excel
Novel Structure Diagram [Image]
Planning
Everything You Need to Know About Planning Your Novel
25 Ways to Plot, Plan, and Prep Your Story
The Ultimate 10 Step Guide to Plan and Write Your Book
How to Create a Special Snowflake (No, Really! Creating Fiction Through the Snowflake Method)
How To Write A Novel Outline (Like the #WriteBoss You Are!)
Miscellaneous
The Story Map[Educational Tool][Flash]
xx Sarah
First master-post. Thank you all so much for following me! Message me if any links are broken or if you want me to add more stuff. All the people I mentioned, thank you all for making those posts. They seriously help me so much. :D
Lots of apps and tips that help me a lot.
A. Get rest + take breaks. In order to be able to concentrate, you need to be properly rested. Let’s be realistic though, no one is gonna sleep at 9 with their finals round the corner. It’s obvious but it won’t help when you’re mind is wandering off and you’re tired. So take a power nap when you’re tired.
- 90 minutes = 1 full REM cycle = best results.
- 10-20 minutes when you don’t have time.
Some apps to help you sleep.
- Relax Melodies: iOS|Android.
- Relax with Andrew Johnson: iOS|Android
- This awesome website
Even if you’re not tired, even if it’s 3:00 A.M, don’t think “What’s the point of sleeping now?” Just go to sleep, and trust me. It willhelp.
Take breaks too! Find out the ratio that works for you best (example: 45 minutes of studies + a 10 minute break). Don’t study on long stretches. Breaks help refresh your mind. Preferably don’t use your phone either. Take a walk, eat a fruit or something. Try rewarding yourself.
B. Environment. It’s sometimes too loud or too quiet and you can’t help it. Try listening to some nice classical music or instrumental music to help you concentrate. This is not for everyone but if you’re like me and need music to study, here are some awesome playlists:
1|2|3|4|5| 6|7
If you don’t like music but need some ambient noise to work with, here are some great apps.
C: Focus. Refrain from using social media. If you’re like me, then you would understand when I say that it’s like a black hole. Use an app to block websites like facebook, tumblr etc. when you need your electronic devices for studying.
Stay productive over winter break bykimberlystudies
Try these extensions for Chrome:
- Forest (yeah, that tree thing)
- StayFocusd
- Work Mode
- Strict Workflow
- My Study Life
For your phone:
- Or just switch to airplane mode! I do this all the time. You won’t be distracted by texts, WiFi etc. You can even do this on your pc/ laptop.
D. Plan + Get organised. ik, that’s what everyone says but it’s solid advice. Spending a couple of minutes planning the day and it can save a lotof time.
Make a todo list on this app: Todoist : iOS|Android | Website
Or Make a Bullet Journal: A nice way to stimulate your creativity. I feel that when you actually write stuff down, it gives them a tangible, solid form. So I find bullet journals perfect.
- Doesn’t have to be fancy
- All you artsy peeps can take advantage and have fun
- Any journal will do really
Some links to help + some super awesome set-ups:
- Official Website
- Types
- Studyign’sset-up (Youtube)
- @mindpalacestudy‘sset-up
- Masterpostbystudyign
- Masterpostby@areistotle
Tips
- Prioritize your todo list
- Take action immediately. This is the habit that sets highly productive people apart.
- Striving for perfection can be a help or a hindrance, depending on the stakes, so save the nit-picky attitude for when they’re especially high. Like your job application.
- Do the task that you’re more likely to procrastinate on first . And that way you’ll know that it was the worst thing you had to do for the day.
Awesome Organisation masterpostby@cortexfrontal.
E. Find Out what technique is most effective for you. Find out what works for you. If you’re a visual leaner, make mind maps etc. If you’re an auditory learner, try listening to Youtube videos, talk to yourself.
Suggestions + Types: Types of learners
Make notes:
- One note tips by @studyblrstudent
- Evernote
- How to take notes by@briellestudies
- Effective note taking
- More effective note taking by@emmastudies
- The Cornell method by@elkstudies
- Making mind maps
- Visual note taking by@succubus-studies
- Hand lettering(youtube)
- How to draw banners by@illluminatedknowledge
- Sketchnote tips
- how to annotateby@tbhstudying
It’s my first time to drop by in months and I’m so so sorry to everyone who sent me a message here but didn’t get a response!
I think I’m in a good headspace to answer some this week so you’ll see some posts from me pop on your dash! I’ll be choosing and answering questions related to art, organization, productivity, and work/studies! In case you want to add more questions, here’s the link to my ask box.
Please keep safe and take care of yourself!
11.18.18
the sunset today was so pretty, so I painted some stars inspired by it ⭐️
Hey everyone, Sunny here once again! I’m coming at you today with some pretty exciting news regarding a big project I’ve been working on for the past few months. Y’all know how much I love to organize, so I figured I’d start to do that with my writing. Which brings us to this!
This is a spreadsheet I’ve been working on creating since, like, August. It’s fully automated that includes:
- Individual project stats
- Daily, monthly, and yearly stats
- Color-coded calendar days
- Automatically generated word count goals
- And more!
And it’s free for general use!
You can find this spreadsheet and the user guide here.
I’m dropping this a month early so that everyone has the time to experiment and get acquainted with how the sheet works. Please make sure that you play around with things and get yourself oriented before you start changing or deleting things; some “blank” cells have code in them!
As mentioned before, this sheet is free for everyone to use. You’re welcome to share it with your friends and fellow writers as well - spread the love!
If you’d like (and I would appreciate it very much) you’re also free to send me a tip or a note on Ko-Fi! I plan on doing projects like this in the future and I’d love to hear from you guys.
Happy pre-2022, and happy writing!