the anti-organization edition
by Kelly Joi Phelan
There's no question that organization in writing and even in life can be helpful. But what your English teacher never told you is that too much of a good thing can be bad...very, very bad.
Professional writers often start out their stories with a single idea and from there, especially if it's a longer piece, they try to organize the rest by creating an outline, using it as the skeleton on which to flesh out their tale. For writers, outlines often tread the line between a hindrance and a useful tool. Outlines undoubtedly help with keeping one's story consistent, but when authors try to stick to them stringently, outlines can become a stumbling block, causing frustration and the dreaded writer's block.
Writing is an art, and art is something that thrives without unnecessary rules and structure. The bottom line is, if you want to write better, forget about the rules and the outlines and just let your mind wander. I can remember the most fun I've had writing a story was an experimental piece where I didn't know anything about the story beforehand. I just set my character in a situation and went blindly from there, letting the next events come naturally like they would in real life. If you're driving down an unfamiliar the places your next turn could take you are boundless. Likewise, sometimes you just need to let yourself go in your writing and see what happens next.
In a similar scenario, many writers think they have to write their story in chronological order. For example, they think they have to finish chapter two before they can start writing chapter three, even though chapter three's all planned out in their head and they still have no idea what to do with chapter two.
Flashes of inspiration only come rarely-if you're lucky enough to experience a brilliant idea for the end of your story even though you're still in the beginning, by all means, drop everything and write the end! It doesn't have to be set in stone; if some aspects of the ending need to be rewritten later, then that's fine-even expected. Ideas are never quite as clear and easily captured as when they're fresh in your mind. By waiting until you finish writing all the parts in front of your inspired idea, you're likely to have forgotten parts of it and will never be able to capture it in its original brilliance.
Knowing everything that will happen in your story before you begin is not necessary. If you just free your mind from all the restrictions that have been put upon it and let it wander, something brilliant is sure to pop out.
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