Organizing a Second Draft with Notecards and Tom Petty
By Allie Larkin | August 12, 2016 |
I got some amazing feedback on the first draft of my latest project: Axe one of the storylines!
It was unnecessary. I didn’t need the characters that went with it, and I could use the space to deepen the stories of the important characters. It made so much sense. Light bulb over my head! Joy in my heart! I was ready to second draft the shiznit out of this book!
I sat at my computer and opened the first relevant scene. The vital information was tangled in with the stuff that needed to go. I stared at the screen for an hour or so, changed a few words to other words. Got overwhelmed. Did some laundry.
Next day, same story. Vacuuming.
A week later, my house was very clean.
During my procrastination cleaning, I formed a vague idea of what might make the process easier. What if I made an outline of each scene, detailing the information necessary to the story, and listing what needed to be removed? What if I put the outline for each scene on an index card, so I could play around with the order of everything?
My gut told me this was what I needed to do, but it seemed like so much work! I knew the story really well, and I believed I should be able to cut that corner and avoid wasting my time on work that didn’t even really count as writing. I told myself organization was really a form of procrastination. Then I sorted all the washcloths in the linen closet in order of how much I like them.
Next day. Armed with false confidence, I sat at my computer. Got overwhelmed. Started a sewing project.
After Stella had a freshly patched dog bed, and the hole in that sweatshirt I’d been meaning to stitch up for two years was finally fixed, I realized I’d never get anywhere if I didn’t take the time to get organized.
I used the notecard feature in Scrivener to create outlines of each scene. I kept myself carefully on task. My job in this process was not to make changes or judgments. I was only taking inventory of what I’d done so far. The first day, I made notes with the four hour Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers documentary, Runnin’ Down a Dream,* on in the background, and it worked so well that I watched it four times that week (I tell you this, because I feel like I couldn’t have done it without Tom Petty. He is now my spirit guide). Sometimes, I panicked about putting so much work in to this idea. Sometimes, I kicked myself for not starting it sooner.
Once I had a card for every scene, I went to Staples and walked up and down the aisles staring at things until people assumed I worked there and asked me for help. When I finally realized I was being weird, I grabbed the unlined 4X5 index cards I knew I needed, and considered corkboards for longer than anyone ever should. I would need a lot of corkboardage to display every scene from my novel all at once. I didn’t like the idea of the expense or the space they’d take up.
Suddenly, it came to me! Binder rings! A friend once sent me a picture of his index cards held together with a binder ring.** It was perfect! Everything would stay in order, but I could change the order easily. And it was mobile, so I could carry them everywhere with me and make notes when I had new thoughts about the story.
I brought my supplies home, printed my Scrivener cards to index cards, punched a hole in each, and put them all on one binder ring (to rule them all!).
It’s the best thing I’ve ever done for my work process. I added handwritten cards at the end where I keep track of plot threads I need to pull through the book, and themes I’m seeing in the story. I flip through my cards before I go to sleep at night and again when I get up in the morning. I know what needs to be done that day when I sit at my computer and I am way less likely to get overwhelmed and start organizing washcloths.
I also started a ring of cards to outline my next project, adding new ones as ideas pop up, so everything will be in one place, when I’m ready to shift my focus.
It’s not fair to expect ourselves to make huge changes without allowing time for organization. In the future, I’m going to try to honor my gut feelings about what the work needs. It takes the time it takes. Process is important, and it’s okay to put energy into finding the right way to tackle a task. The time I put into those notecards actually got me somewhere, but if it hadn’t, maybe learning what didn’t work would have been important too (at least more important than patching that sweatshirt – it’s strangely scratchy).
And, of course, because I love asking other authors about their processes, I surveyed some friends to see how they organize their work.
Ruth Whippman-Levine – I do a similar thing with post it notes- I write one ‘scene’ or idea on each one, then stick them on the wall and move them around as necessary to form a map of the structure. It’s also easier to see which ones are redundant/ don’t fit in at all.
Lisa Wingate – Typically, I make a quick pass through my first draft and write a final story timeline, which I will pass along to the editor. I also make a list of all the highlights, notes-to-self, and research bits I need to finish, gather, or find before working the first draft into an editor-ready second draft.
Marcie Nault – I’m the white board queen. I have four. One for overall story. And then one for each main character’s arc. It allows me to step back and see the entire story’s progress and it helps that it takes me away from the computer screen for a bit.
Matthew Norman – I do index cards for each chapter and pin them to a cork board on my wall in chronological order. It makes me look like a lunatic, but I need to see it all laid out in front of me or the actual plot gets jumbled up and blurry in my mind.
Catherine McKenzie – I do the same (as Matthew Norman). I call it the Wall of Plot (TM) (though I might have got that term from another author). Also, sometimes: The Wall of Crazy.
Sandra Gulland – I’ve tried everything: color-coded index cards spread all over the dining room table, Excel worksheets. I print story beats (@SAVE THE CAT) onto tabbed index cards and organize the cards that way. Being at a mobile stage of life (i.e. children grown, husband retired), I end up carting boxes of these cards with me everywhere. I’m always thinking: there has to be a better way, but nothing seems to work as well as the cards.
Do you resist organization? What do you do to keep your work in order?
*That documentary is amazing and I highly recommend it.
**All the friends I’ve thanked for suggesting binder rings have been like, “Cool idea! That wasn’t me,” so I’m not exactly sure where it came from. Was it you?
Allie Larkin is the internationally bestselling author of the novel Stay (2010), and Why Can’t I Be You (2013). She has never ordered a dog off the internet or assumed a new identity to attend a high school reunion.
Allie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Jeremy, and their German Shepherd, Stella.
I have severe arthritis in hands. No binder clips! Index cards are great but get huge. Love to hear more on organization for handicapped (and computer dumb) person. Ann
Hi Ann! Maybe Post-it notes would work for you! Stuck on the wall or on a table. They make them in tons of shapes and sizes now too, so you wouldn’t be stuck writing on something small. For my first two books, I had a tight timeline, and I used post-it notes on a huge desk blotter calendar taped to the wall, so I could figure out what happened on what day.
I love this, and I love you! Last night I dreamt that I gave you the idea of the binder rings so I am kind of probably the one you should be thanking. You are welcome.
Thank YOU for giving me permission to spend this week and probably next week playing around with the organization of my novel. It really does feel like not-writing time, but I think it’s akin to not bringing a grocery list to the grocery store. When that happens, I end up buying another big bottle of olive oil to go with the two big bottles I already have,, a six pack of Mike’s hard lemonade, a bag of organic coconut chips, and I forget the loaf of bread, the container of milk, the stick of butter* and the cat litter. And I have to go all the way back to the store.
Hugs to Stella!
* Sesame Street reference from the 1970s.
Ah Sesame Street! :-) I remember that kid…
Love you right back! And hugs to Toby! I’m so certain the idea was passed from you through a dream. That makes total sense. Or, if it doesn’t, I’d still prefer to believe that’s how it happened.
I love your grocery store analogy! That whole needing permission to get organized thing is strange, isn’t it? It was such a battle to do what needed to be done! And everything got so much easier once I did. Before that, I was writing scenes I’d already written, and leaving out necessary info. And I have so much soy sauce in the pantry right now, you don’t even know.
Novels are a big job. Big jobs are best handled by breaking them into smaller parts. That’s what I do. Research. Brainstorming. Set challenges. Character work. Story blocking. Test scenes. First draft. Self-led workshops. Revision list. Revision execution. Second draft. Time away. Evaluation. Third draft. Feedback.
And so on. Don’t like ring binders, note cards or the electronic equivalents. They do provide a feeling of order but for me too much so. Sometimes what I need is less organization and more confidence, spirit of attack, and joy.
“Sometimes what I need is less organization and more confidence, spirit of attack, and joy.”
Yes! Something about note-cards feels so… impersonal? I guess I feel like they’re sucking away the magic of the story, which should flow – or dance – rather than march… Or goose-step. I’m all for an organized attack, but I can’t go there. Thanks, Benjamin!
I tend to be very loose in my first draft, but by the time I get to the second I really need the structure. I love index cards, but oddly, I need them to be unlined. Those lines, man. . . they kill it. :)
Your post made me smile. This is part of the process Holly Lisle lays out in her big course, How To Revise Your Novel.
Holly used a big paperclip, un-bent, to hold her cards in order till she wanted to re-order them. We students, of course, chattered all about it, and came up with Binder Rings. You can also use shower curtain rings or those S-hooks that hold pans onto pot racks.
Was your friend–the one whose cards were on a binder ring–a student of Holly’s? She has a system for selecting the important info from a scene and boiling it down to fit easily on a card.
See? Great minds run in like channels and all that. :)
Oh, that’s really interesting! I wish I could remember who it was, so I could ask them. I can’t even find the picture they sent. Maybe it was a dream? :) I love all the creative clip options!
Loved this article and the comments.
I’m curious why you didn’t stick with Scrivener? I purchased it (for my PC) and tried it, but got bogged down in learning the software instead of creating on it. I’ve also read “nightmare” data losses and that sort of thing. Also, it put a ton of files onto my computer.
So…that’s why I don’t use it, but I feel like maybe I should?
Going back to notecards and corkboard.
Thank you! I did actually stick with Scrivener – I took my cards and went back to the computer. I just needed something analog at that stage of the process. I also really need to step away from the computer sometimes, so it’s nice to have something to work with.
When did you try Scrivener? I vowed NEVER AGAIN after the first book I wrote in it – for many of the reasons you explained. I tried a few other software programs and by the time I ended up back at Scrivener, it was a drastically improved program. I use it on a Mac, so I’m not sure if that makes a difference.
I also tend to do the last draft in Word, so I can fix all the format stuff and make sure each chapter actually did transfer. But I love love love Scrivener now. I do think this kind of stuff is so personal though – what works for you is the most important thing. And I’ve learned that what works for one project might not work with another.
I have the neatest, most sorted dirty clothes hamper in the world. And today I’m washing, I didn’t know what I was going to do without all those dirty albeit neatly sorted clothes.
I’m going to get a dry erase board today, hang it up on a wall by my desk and draw out my novel story board style. Then I’m going to jot all the virtual cards down on index cards and move the scenes around. I work best with visuals in my head.
Thank you.
Good for you, Bernadette! That’s awesome!
I love having that birds eye view of what’s happening in the story. It’s so great that you have next steps set up for you!
Oh how I feel for you, Allie. As I finished my last draft, I also received some amazing feedback from a wise friend. It resonated. And yet, I resisted. Changing it would change so much! And it was so… Done. Well, done-ish.
For, like, the next two weeks I did very little but ponder the situation (wish I’d cleaned – great idea!). I didn’t know quite how to execute the advice. Until we had a two day power outage. During the outage I was messing around on my iPad and stumbled upon the BBC documentary The Kate Bush Story (great doc, and I shall check out the Petty one). She was describing her process, and I got fired up. Then the lyrics in one of her songs struck me in an entirely new way (I’d heard the song dozens of times before).
I had my idea, but rather than note-cards, I went through the manuscript and jotted down which scenes would be affected and how, on a single sheet of notebook paper. The single sheet was important, because having it all before me like that showed me that the scene that would change so much really wouldn’t. Not *so* much. This was doable.
Funny how the processes change, but we all need external feedback and inspiration. And we all fight the same Resistance. Here’s to Tom and Kate, and to wise writing friends.
Ha! Love it! It’s funny how that disruption jiggled stuff into place. And I do the same thing with music. I’ll get obsessed with a song and not know why and then suddenly it’s like, “OH!!! That’s what those lyrics mean to my story!” Check out Chris Pureka. I swear she’s writing music magic, and if you like Kate Bush, I think you’ll like her too. I really want to see that documentary now!
Yes, the disruption was key. I’m glad you caught that (insightful!).
Listening to Shipwreck as I type. Instant attraction. Thanks for the recommendation! (You’ll love the Kate doc!)
Words from the house contrarian:
Small notecards, large notecards, spiral notebooks, looseleaf binders, Post-its stuck to the commode to remind you of what’s missing from chapter 7, laser beams raking the ceiling with text while you do stomach crunches, Scrivener after who knows how many hours spent learning it–
STOP.
Write, and write to done, then put it away for a while, then fix it, then sweet-talk someone you trust to read it. Every effort to improve efficiency, productivity, output, daily word count, etc. is a deflection away from actually writing.
And by the way: the dirtier the house, the more focused the writer.
Herein endeth the lesson.
It’s so nice that you’ve found a process that works for you, Barry, but that doesn’t negate the value of approaches that work for other people.
I very much agree with Barry.
Barry, agree. (You should see my house, LOL.)
Question, do you outline or story dream before you start?
Sometimes I think writing a novel is like a road trip. Even with the journey planned out, the road goes straight for a while, then peters out in a creosote bush. Or there’s a flood or a blizzard or an ice storm, or the entire bridge is out. A map is required, along with a willingness to change gears, backtrack, and take note of dead-ends. So, yeah, organize, then get ready to dance with the chaos. The important thing is to not run out of gas!!
Yes! I feel like there’s a constant rewriting of the map! Realizing it is the best first step!
This is wonderful: “It’s not fair to expect ourselves to make huge changes without allowing time for organization. In the future, I’m going to try to honor my gut feelings about what the work needs. It takes the time it takes. Process is important, and it’s okay to put energy into finding the right way to tackle a task.”
I am taking away a couple things from your post today. One, I’ve been fighting the “procrastination,” and the house shows it (still messy)! But there’s a point where the physical clutter and the mental clutter work together in negative ways for me, and an investment in bringing household things back into some semblance of order will help me think through the jumble of story thoughts, too.
Two, I love this approach to the *second* draft. I use lots of index cards already for random notes as I research and brainstorm, but right now they’ve multiplied like Tribbles. (Note I’m working on the *first* draft.) Now I wonder if I shouldn’t just give the cards a little hiatus and see what that does for my sense of orientation in the story…and come back to use them differently at revision time. Something to consider during my procrastination. ;-)
Thank you, Alisha! I feel like every book is a little different and so is every draft. I had so many notes in the notecards for Scrivener for my first draft and needed a fresh slate for the second, because my note-needs were so different. I actually set up the book in a whole new file – which was maybe overkill, but it worked, so I’m good with it. :)
And I totally hear you on the clutter. I feel like I do hit critical mass with that and need to do something. Maybe it’s actually a part of the process. I got a lot of good thinking done while I was cleaning. Plus, listened to audiobooks for research. I wonder if maybe we’re storing up for action in that time while the mental and physical clutter is building.
I love all these ideas. Thanks for yours and for getting others to chime in. I could relate to many. Used some, will try others!
Thank you so much, Carol! Happy writing!
Hi Allie,
Thanks for this! It’s great to read how writers organize themselves. I don’t do index cards. Tried it once. They get tucked in a file drawer or left on the floor or a chair covered with other bits of paper or bills and I forget I have them.
I organize and reorganize through excel and word docs, sort of synopsizing (is that a word?) parts and chapters and scenes to help me keep track of what’s going on. I have 3 timelines going and my brain can’t hold it all in an organized fashion and then make changes. (Is that what you do, Barry?) Like Vaugn, I like to have it all on one page so I can see the overall flow of what’s happening or how the counts work. Lot of work? Yes. But it inspires me and I don’t mind swapping things around or eliminating unneeded scenes when it’s just a one page note. Then it’s just a matter of carrying out the deed in the MS itself.
Thank you, Lisa! I like hearing about your system! There’s something so nice about the chess game of that outline – whatever form it’s in.
After reading your post I placed a hold on Runnin’ Down a Dream at my local library, so thanks for recommending it. Excited to see what Tom Petty will inspire in me…
That’s awesome! I hope you enjoy it! It’s a beautiful commentary on creating and staying true to voice.
I totally did this! My 2nd draft index cards had the 1st sentence, last sentence, bullet points of key things in the chapter. And a list of new names/words/concepts squeezed in. Notes on fixing it went on the back.
I mostly just used them to lay out on the floor with https://writetodone.com/revise-novel-glance/ (I don’t have a printer). It gave me time to THINK about my novel, without the pressure to fix it and helped me see the big picture.
I might need to do this again…
Thanks for sharing on your method, Allie!
Reading your post today made me realize I’ve only written a second draft once, and that was because I had no choice (the first novel I wrote by long hand). I remember doing that. Writing it by hand meant there was no way to shortcut my way to a second draft using copy and paste. Having to type out every word again made me have to think about what I was typing, and I was there, the writing with the freedom to make things better.
Fast forward nine years and I’ve written four novels now. None are published, and even the latest one, though I’d say I’ve improved a lot, is still not at par. The last one, like the previous before it, was written with so much perfectionism in the prose, and in the computer, that I found just like you my house got very clean (or my to-do list got ticked off in every area except writing) when I tried to write a second draft.
I’m writing a new novel now, something that’s sprung from the attempt to write a second draft of my last one, but I’m already seeing the danger that lies ahead if I try to write this one too perfectly. I love your suggestion about note cards (I use those a lot), but I’m a messy guy when it comes to writing. Call it my old gardener instincts; I don’t feel like I’m rooting around where there’s life in story unless my hands are grubby. So this is what I’m thinking of doing: using Scrivener’s great two-pane feature, I’ll give myself permission now to write a crappy first draft (crappy by way of writing effortlessly, focusing only on getting the story and character drama and plot nailed), then, since I have no choice but to get it improved with a second draft, I’ll write that polished second draft in the lower panel, drawing on the raw source material of the first draft. I’m sure there will be note cards in there — probably placed in a file next to the scene files themselves.
That sounds like a great process, John! And I think it’s so cool that you had a gut feeling about what you needed to do and now you’re acting on it.
Have you ever done any drawing? Sometimes I’ve thought of writing like trying to draw a face. If you start with the eye and draw it perfect, but then you realize the face should be bigger or the person should be looking in the opposite direction, it’s hard to erase that eye and try again. But if you sketch everything in and refine when you have the bigger picture, it’s easier to erase what’s not working. I try to write like that. Zip through a first draft, fix story/theme/timeline/character issues in the next one, and start refining after that. But that part when it’s sketching, is difficult, because that messy writing is hard on the ego!
I used index cards with my novel-length memoir, but not until the second draft. In addition to some of the info you mentioned, I also added a quick color code for secondary characters to ensure they didn’t disappear for too many chapters.
With my novel WIP, I’m going the Scrivener route and finding it works the same way for me. Still, as you say, it’s sometimes good to step away from the computer (not to mention getting in some arts & crafts time), so I sometimes draw up different sorts of charts on big sheets of newsprint. I’m intrigued by the novel at a glance method Morgan mentioned.
Oh, and a champion procrastinator here. You should see my closets ;-)
I swear closet organization is a part of the writing process! I love your ideas about color coding and first line/last line. Thank you so much for sharing!
Hi Allie,
What key bits of information are included on each of your cards?
Thanks
Hi Karen! I include the overall action/purpose of the scene. Here’s a made-up example.
Heading: “Sally unpacks her suitcase” and then I list details that are disclosed in that scene, like:
– Forgot her bracelet at the hotel
– Bracelet backstory revealed
– Mary knocks on the door (first time she’s introduced)
– Sally tells Mary why she’s home early (but not the full story yet)
Some cards have more info, some have less. But it’s mostly so that I can move and cut scenes with an awareness of what else will have to be changed – whatever shorthand works for you is great.
Barbara Morrison also commented just above you with some great ideas for what to include!
Thank you! I’m using Scrivener but not as fully as I should be.
Love your post, Allie. Good info and a few gut chuckles.
I stuffed around for a while with cards, Scriv, etc, and find that sub-heads in Word work good for ordering my story as I’m brainstorming. You can move the headings around in the navigation pane. And make notes under each heading.
When I draft up chapters, I summarise the action, as well as the plot/emotional goals, challenges, new decisions, and a few fancy things Don Maass taught us, plus notes on Big Reveals and threads for follow-up, World and Character, etc. I do this on the 1st draft, then update each for the 2nd draft as I go along. I found updating and having a running summary the single most important thing for me to ensure I follow up on themes, threads, actions, and have clear scene goals, character change, and so on. Otherwise I forget what I’ve written! Unbelievably stupid, but there you go.
So I have an Excel summary sitting right here in hard copy on my desk to take away from the computer, and think about adjustments for later. Which I’m thinking about now – though my manuscript is “finished” I realise I have some things to do…
Thanks for your post, Allie!
That sounds like an excellent system, Bronwen! Thank you for sharing! I know exactly what you mean about forgetting what you’ve written. In my first draft, I get kind of messy and as I’ve been going through again, I’ve found scenes I wrote twice – almost in duplicate – but in separate files, like I was totally unaware I’d written it when I wrote it the second time around. It’s hard to keep track of a novel’s worth of information. I feel like organizing it has freed me up to get more in-depth with what I’m working on. I like the idea of your excel sheet!
Your post and procrastination techniques had me laughing out loud – I can relate. the binder ring sounds interesting, but the one thing I’ve learned is that I can get lost for days in organization/plotting ideas. I use Scrivener and the more I use it the better I like it and the more I find I can do with it. For example, I now have a picture next to each character’s name in the binder. I use the outline in detail, changing the metadata labels to include for each chapter: Chapter/Title, Status (inciting events, foreboding, etc), POV, Setting, Timeline, Goal, conflict, action, & reactions. This has worked well for me. I can look at my outline for each scene and determine if the story is moving forward, if I have the timeline accurate, as well as, setting.
Your post made excellent points and thanks for sharing. @sheilamgood at Cow Pasture Chronicles
Wow! I envy your expert Scrivener use! I am adept at the rudimentary functions, and I feel like with every draft I learn one more little helpful thing (color coding scenes based on how done they are is rocking my world right now). But you seem like you’ve got it DOWN! That’s fantastic!
Thank you so much for this timely post, Allie.
It was obvious to me (and everybody else) that my novel draft had a lot of flaws, but I found them extremely hard to pinpoint let alone fix.
After I read your post, I dusted off some old notecards, scared up a binder ring and went to work. I have now, for the first time ever, a very rough outline complete with notes on what each scene accomplishes in the grand shape of things. Right away I found that some of the scenes didn’t accomplish much of anything and others were so overstuffed that they felt like me after dinner. Plenty of work ahead of me, but at least I don’t feel like I’m stabbing in the dark anymore.
By the way, I found that your method complements Scrivener extremely well. Shifting scenes around in Scrivener is so much easier than doing the same thing in Word, but the corkboard never really worked for me. Seems like nothing beats real cards for shuffling.
Excuse me while I put on some Tom Petty in your honor.
LK, that is so wonderful to hear! Thank you so much for telling me! I am thrilled that the cards and binder ring are helpful for you! Happy happy writing!