I just took a quick look at my title and thought hmm...that sounds familiar. It probably has something to do with the fact that I am going to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower this weekend. In any case, I know all about those perks, but the ones I'd like to discuss today are about the perks of being organized.
I have always considered myself an organized person. And when it comes to the Falling series, it's like my organizational tendencies have become more precise than ever.
Before I started work on BOOK ONE last year, I gave myself a week to organize my notes and thoughts instead of jumping right in to the writing process. As I've said previously, such a delay might have had something to do with my fear of starting this project, but it also had much to do with the fact that I like order. Not chaos.
I am a total perfectionist, which has been the hardest thing to overcome in writing this series, because too often I get caught up in making something perfect right away, and in the process, all I do is stress myself out. Even now, as I look at the book board I made today (I'll get to that in part two), the fact that the colors are out of order kind of maddens me, but I digress. Through the past year, I have had to find my own way of organization for the Falling Series. Some things have worked, and other things didn't. I'm not sure how other people tackle this arduous process, but for me, I had to discover that I was a visual learner, and to keep this in the back of my mind at all times.
What does this mean?
Well, for me, this means I need to see things planned out: sketched, written, and plotted for complete understanding. Until then, it's just a bunch of weird scenes or images, which might flash through my head. I began with a binder. THE binder. Without which, I'm not sure how successful I would be telling this story. After the binder, came the notebook and after the notebook was filled, then came the box. I've been using these items for the past year, but upon starting BOOK TWO, I added a few more things to my organizational arsenal. I have created a bigger map of my world to use for reference. Plus I've added proper plotting (with color coded post-its, of course). And today, I finished my book board, which is what prompted me to write all of this down here.
You might be wondering: what are the actual perks of being organized?
For me, the perks of being organized have happened at the most unexpected times. During my day to day writing process, I can usually remember specific things that are pertinent to the chapters I'm working on. But occasionally, (as I have found with starting the second book), I have to introduce things I know will be important later on. This is where the biggest perk of being organized comes into play. Because I have basically plotted out the big things in the series, I have what I need to reference something such as a bracelet, which will become important in BOOK FIVE. I can go to that section in the binder, and reference how it looks to use in the first book to ensure later on that the reader will understand.
While this is the most important perk I've found so far, there are others. For one, people don't think I'm a hoarder, and that is because I cleverly hide all the evidence in color coded tab dividers and fancy boxes. Another perk would be the convenience of knowing I have everything I need in one place so if I ever need to move my home office (my couch) with me, it's fairly easy to do. Want to know exactly how my arsenal of organization works? Check out The Perks of Being Organized: Part Two!
To Be Continued...
