Of course, we need some talent and education to know how to write a book, but there is another aspect that is sometimes overlooked – Organization. Without that, our story can lose details and depth.
After four books, I finally hit upon My Solution to organization. I started a binder. I love the idea of binders anyway, and I have a lot of them. I love shopping at office supply stores.
In my binder so far I have NC (Neighbor’s Club) Characters and NC Ideas. Pretty self-explanatory so far! I typed up a quick Style Sheet in Word and printed out a bunch of them. As I started writing, I kept them handy and filled them out as characters started telling me what they looked like, how they talked, how they liked to dress and what their problems were. All of that goes into my Style Sheet.
Here is a snapshot of the Style Sheet for Karalee, one of the characters in The Neighbor’s Club –
And yes, it’s in my binder. It’s harder to lose if it’s safely in the binder. You’re welcome to use my Style Sheet.
As you write more about each character, you’ll have more details to keep track of. Don’t skimp on the details.
This is a very simple
- Personality quirks (She snorts when she laughs.)
- Bad habits (She’s a nail-biter.)
- What lesson has she learned? (It’s important to keep secrets if you want to be trusted.)
- What lesson is she resisting? (I don’t want to learn self-control!)
- Her cousin’s name (Judith Anne)
Why do I call them magic? Because 40,000 words later you might need to know her cousin’s name. Do you want to comb through 40,000 words looking for it? I don’t have that kind of time. Whip out the Style Sheet and there you go – Judith Anne. Magic.
What are your favorite details to keep track of? What should I add to my Style Sheet?
