Outlining Rocks

Outline rock. Before you get going on your writing, you need to have some idea where you are going: You need a roadmap.  Thinking about what a roadmap does for you: Not only does it allow you to figure out where you are going and how to get there, but it also allows you to plan ahead is for potential problems like gas, food, and souvenir shops. In short, a roadmap is a really great way to organize your trip. 

An outline does exactly the same thing for your story.

With an outline, it actually becomes a lot easier to figure out what's going on. You have an idea of how the acts and scenes break down, you can look for plot holes and fill them in, and even figure out when you need to add or subtract characters, items, and locations as needed for the plot or theme. In essence, you have a great road map that shows you any major problems that you need to deal with. 

The cool thing is is that because no one else ever has to look at this thing, you can organize this however you want. Personally, I prefer a very informal situation where I create smaller outlines for the main plot, the subplots, and whatever running gags going on. Then once I figure out how each one of those individual threads is going to go, I combine them all. 

This means that I've gone from a detailed look at the plot (the individual outlines) to a general idea (the bigger outline), allowing me to see what's going on. Thus, not only can I apply the three act structure to each individual thread but then see how they work in terms of the greater three-act structure. This allows me to look at each individual and where it needs to be allowing for maximum emotional impact and plot continuity. 

But that's me. If you want to go a different route, like for example the outline we all learned in high school with the Roman numerals, capital letters, and little letters, then do so; the outline should be all about whatever's comfortable for you. Go for it. However it is that you can best organize your writing is the way you should do it. 

Just make sure that you have some sort of roadmap. Without that roadmap, you will get lost you'll probably never get back on track, but with it you you know exactly where you need to be. I told you that outlines rock....

Creating A Great Work Environment For You, Not Someone Else

 

Artists are really weird bunch. Each one of us prefers entirely different work environments than the next person. Sometimes this can be range from nice and quiet, no distractions to a certain level of chaos. Everybody has a different situation they've gotten used to because of how they were raised or what happened around them. I grew up in an active household, so if I don't have a certain level of chaos going around me, it tends to drive me nuts to the point where I can't do anything. Conversely, you have some people that require quiet in order to get anything done. 

You have all these books, articles, and people telling telling you "quiet" is a basic work environment, and if you're not working in this kind of environment you're not going to get anything done. Sometimes you need to tell these people that they need to take a long walk up a very short Pier. Sure, they're great for the general case everybody's different; you need to allow for that in your own personal space. Anything that gets you up and working needs to be encouraged. With that in mind, I'm going to tell you three basic tips that helped me. 

The first is to find an environment to work for you. And I don't mean just little things, I work best when I have a certain level of cleanliness around me; my ADHD has certain degree of OCD with it. And so if it's not that a certain level of clean, I'll be distracted until that's been dealt with. I also need a certain level of sound; I grew up in a very active household. This is why I will always make sure I've got TV or music going on whenever I'm working. Occasionally I will be distracted by what's going on the TV, but generally I can do a lot more with the TV or radio on than I can without

Eliminate as many distractions as possible. For most people this is this noise and activity; for me it's hunger and thirst. So, before I work, I always make sure I have some sort of meal or snack. I also don't necessarily mean "water"; I usually go for some diet soda. The key is that I don't start hungry and that I always have some sort of liquid nearby. This eliminates the distractions of hunger and thirst; I have something in my stomach and if I feel thirsty I don't need to leave my desk. This helps me concentrate on the task at hand. Just figure out what your distractions are take them out.

And one shouldn't forget about rituals. These are those things that you do in order to get into it, like making sure that everything is where it should be or that chores have been taken care of. Some people adjust the lighting just so or check the thermostat. I make sure that I have a playlist queued up or that I have shows recorded. These are part of your established routine and by enforcing that routine, it's a lot easier to get into the workflow.

You just need to figure out what kind of conditions work best for you. If somebody tells you that something will work for you and you've already tried it but it didn't work, just tell them that; if they keep up, then tell them the screw off. You should always be tweaking things just to see if you can make things better; sometimes you'll find it a little bit of a change will actually make your efficiency go up. 

So find something that works for you. Eliminate as many distractions as you can. Establish rituals. Do that and you'll find that your writing time will be that much more fruitful.