How to Organize Your Writing

Writers are unique people in how they logically organize their thoughts to make it sound rationalized onto paper. Every genre of writer is also different in their pattern of thinking. Poets usually think in rhyme while nonfiction writers usually have facts they need to get down into chronological order. There’s so many possibilities of how to organize ideas that writers have, finished and unfinished, what is the best system? What happens when the writer out grows the current system?

I find it easiest to organize my ideas by category. I do this by placing all my ideas in a binded notebook and putting the category of the idea at the top of the page. When it comes to the subtopics, however, I give myself freedom to mix my ideas up. It’d be boring to me to have all my subtopics in one area, and this would end up almost double or tripling my pages. Also, I don’t keep the pages of one topic together. Instead, I designate the front and back of one page to one topic, skip a few pages, and start a new page. This keeps my writing from going stale and my ideas fresh.

Second, there are writers who insist on writing outlines for every piece of work they complete. There is nothing wrong with this method at all, but it’s time consuming. Also, last minute ideas often don’t have any room in the outline. Furthermore, there are formal and informal outlines. Serious nonfiction and fiction writers often use the formal outline for their characters, plot, setting, etc. Their thesis is laid out to the letter, and they have their whole essay in their outline before they write it down. I like the element of surprise, and I don’t mind revising. It’s part of a writer’s work.

Next, there are writers who organize their writing on flash drives. I’m guilty of doing this more and more lately. If this is you, I recommend buying the 16 GB flash drive. It’s an easy $20, and it’ll store a large amount of files. If you’re using an Apple Mac, however, please use caution. You have to eject it on the desktop or you can lose files. This has happened to me, and I had to turn in my paper the next day in class. If you’re using Windows, you’re able to just pull it out of your computer. The excellent thing about flash drives, commonly called “jump drives,” is that that they’re portable and can be taken anywhere. They’re tiny, though, so watch them carefully.

In addition, there are old fashioned writers who still use filing cabinets to organize their writing. They have two or four drawer cabinets, and when you open it up the color wheel has exploded. There’s a color for their references, another one for their poetry, and violet labels their non-fiction. However, if this system works for them, then this what they have to do to accomplish their goals. They may have a color for each magazine they’ve been published in, but it’s guaranteed they’ve received twice as many rejection slips to get there.

Furthermore, there are writers who strictly blog. They find an idea online or elsewhere and go with with it. They make a series of posts, perhaps with videos and photographs, and share their talents with the world. They may have more than one blog, and are making a living off of it. Or, they are blogging for their employer. What matters most is that they are getting to write on a daily basis. The ideas are there, and the audience is being delivered the product.

Finally, I met a writer in my early college years who used note cards to write his essays. He would outline major point in red on 4×6 note cards, every minor point in blue, and so on. I tried to use this method, but it didn’t work for me. For him, it seemed more like an art form. Each time he tried to teach me, I would fail miserably. He would put partial outlines on each card, front side only, and line them up when the writing part came around. This would take a lot of dedication, but as I’ll restate, us writers are unique people. How do you organize your ideas?