Preparing to Write a Book - Strategy & Organization

Do you want to write a book? It may seem difficult (because it is, don't get me wrong), but the key to success is having a strategy. First, you need to understand your own writing tendencies and adjust accordingly. Are you a pantser, plotter, or somewhere in-between? Then you need to find a way to stay organized while you write to be as efficient as possible. When you're setting out on a task as large as writing a book, you want to save yourself from as much work as possible.
Stay tuned for part 2 on planning and writing!
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-Video Chapters-
00:00​ - Introduction
01:18 - Phase 1: Strategy
03:51 - Phase 2: Organization
05:34 - Organizational Tools
07:55 - Manuscript Editors

[@SP-rd2nh]

Finally I know I am a gardener... no... planter... maybe I need to watch this again. Brb

[@Avionne_Parris]

"If your nephew pulls the plug..." This legit happened to me in 2020 (aka The Year of Doom) and Scrivener "ate" my project as I didnt have time to save & my laptop crashed (it was old & the battery had been removed so the plug was basically my lifeline & nephew pulled it). Oh, but it gets worse, I was editing a submission to submit for an indie pub... then the pandemic hit, I had to wait 3 months for tech guy to source the part & fix it. Meanwhile, I bought a new laptop & had to piece together my story "Frankenstein-style" from memory & an old file version saved in my Google Drive. Long story short, I made the deadline, got a full manuscript request & excellent rewrites from betas & a junior editor. But despite having Scriveners 1 & 3 installed, I have yet to use it for reasons other than outlining in corkboard mode. Thanks for the nephew plug reminder, Levi & the PTSD flashback :-)

[@AroundTheCampfire]

Congrats on making the deadline! And thanks for proving my point about the joys of cloud storage 😂

[@therealmaizing5328]

I have Scrivener and use it for a few different features. I like the feature that reads the text to me. That feature has actually helped me find a spot where I forgot to end a paragraph with a period. I keep multiple copies of my files in multiple formats though, including Google Docs.

[@GamingDad63]

Thanks for watching? Thanks for recording :) Starting something longer than a short story has been on my mind for... ever? Yes, so this series will be interesting to follow.

[@AroundTheCampfire]

No problem! Hopefully, I can get the next episode out soon, but in the mean time, you better get some book ideas ready 🔥

[@AHealthyDoseofFran]

Writing a novel in four months? *Looks at the various novels I've got in mind and plotted out* Alright mate, bet Great and useful information as always! This two-part series is going to be so helpful I can feel it

[@AroundTheCampfire]

Thanks! Hopefully I can get part two out quickly 😁

[@halli4310]

I’m so upset that I never thought to put my story bible in a SPREADSHEET. Finally another use for my love of spreadsheets. Glorious.

[@AroundTheCampfire]

The only issue I've had with spreadsheets is that I wish I could search by the names of the column and row names, but I haven't found a way to do it yet. I wish I could type in "Character Name, Age" and it would bring me right to that cell, but I haven't found a way to do that (at least in google sheets).

[@socratesandstorybooks1109]

I like notebooks and google docs. Anything else is distracting. With things like campfire I waste time playing around with the features haha

[@davidgoodman3301]

Thanks for the spreadsheet idea. That never even occurred to me for keeping track of character traits and so forth. Genius!

[@AroundTheCampfire]

No problem! Happy to help!

[@gamer11714]

This has been the most helpful vid I have found for nook writing thank you Soo much!

[@AroundTheCampfire]

No problem! Thanks for the kind words!

[@Art_with_Ms_Swann]

DING! Great video Levi! Did all your recent traveling inspire this theme you chose? ;) lol "when you get halfway through your book and a major plot point doesn't make sense..."

[@AroundTheCampfire]

I originally planned to film this WHILE traveling, but quickly realized I couldn't bring myself to bust my camera out and read lines in the middle of an airport 😂

[@Art_with_Ms_Swann]

@@AroundTheCampfire lol! I definitely had the thought that you were ACTUALLY packing for your trip while you were packing in the video!

[@AroundTheCampfire]

@@Art_with_Ms_Swann That was 100% the original plan lol

[@SP-rd2nh]

Plantsing... that's what it is. Good thing I took another look.

[@AroundTheCampfire]

I bet we can get "Gardner" to catch on 😂

[@mcd3379]

Great video and good advice - as you say the key is to have a system that helps you get the words down, whatever it is. Even though Atwood and King claim to be "Pantsers", I suspect because they have been writing for so long, they do a lot of their plotting in their heads. It is interesting to "look behind the curtain" of writers and how they do it - I remember watching a video on J.K. Rowling and how she wrote her books - and I was amazed by how extensive her plotting is. But as you say, whatever works for you. Keep up the great videos.

[@LastAlmasty]

Eagerly waiting for Part 2....I'm a 3rd to halfway into my novel, and I've been pantsing so far but now think I need to get some structure and a plan. (and figure out where the heck my subplots and minor character arcs are going...lol) keep up the good work I do enjoy your channel

[@AroundTheCampfire]

Thanks! The follow up is coming this week and has some tips on plotting that you might find helpful!

[@6666Imperator]

For my current novel I started off with a word doc with headers and an excel file for the scene overview. But throughout the years (I'm a slow writer :D) I moved over to free project softwares to keep my chapters/scenes better in check. Recently I found Campfire and it makes this so much easier as it combines the 2 and has some other benefits on top of it.

[@AroundTheCampfire]

So glad you're enjoying it. :)

[@therealmaizing5328]

My experience with Google Docs is that it can handle Word files up to a maximum of 80 pages long. I only use it to share my work with friends.

[@AroundTheCampfire]

Yeah, I've had mixed performance depending on the computer I'm working on. Sometimes it works great, and then sometimes it struggles with a 10 page document, so I've always been hesitant to put anything longer than a short story or chapter in a single doc 🤷‍♀️

[@floramew]

I'm very much a planter... and also I can't believe I've never heard that without the 's' before, it sounds so much better this way 😂

[@AroundTheCampfire]

"Plantser" is so clunky! Also not a huge fan of "pantser" but would hate to break the alliteration with plotter, planter and discovery writer 😂

[@TheQueenvampiress]

You cat is so cute!

[@AroundTheCampfire]

Thanks! Her name is Murph 😸

[@rowena_escocia_awang]

I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS BUT THE PROBLEM IS EVERY TIME I WRITE STORIES ITS IN A FORM OF A SCRIPT PLAY...I CAN'T SEEM TO WRITE IT IN A NOVEL FORM😭😭😭😭😭

[@kaylajames3098]

Excuse me, sir. I don't know if you still respond to comments or not, but if you see this, will you please answer me? So I think I am a pantser/plantser type, but don't know how to make a loose enough structure. I am blind and don't have campfire. Do I just make notes at the bottom of my document?

[@blaircolquhoun7780]

Would this also work for a script?

[@AroundTheCampfire]

For sure! I don't see any reason it couldn't work. I've only ever written short film scripts, so I can't speak directly, but for a full film or especially a TV show, organization would be super important! In terms of your strategy, that will also depend on your format. Movies often tend to be more structured and plotted (which we'll have a video on soon), so you might want to do a good bit of planning ahead of time. But you can also pants your way through the script and go back to edit it to be more structured, so it's still up to what works for you. Same goes for TV shows! Often shows can't afford to do a ton of forward planning since there's no way to know how many seasons it will get, so many seasons will have self contained plots, or be completely episodic like most sitcoms. So for those, planning can be nice but doing too much might be wasted effort depending on your format. Organization is a must for long projects like this though. Even if you aren't planning ahead, keeping track of the world you're exploring (even if it's just a town) is great for keeping track of locations, side characters, etc

[@blaircolquhoun7780]

@@AroundTheCampfire Star Trek Enterprise had a two-part alternate historv episode about aVGerman invasionvof thev United States and Amazon adapted pHIIP k. dICK'S 1962novel The Man in the High Castle into a series. I think HBO had a miniseries based on Len Deighton's 1978 novel SS GB.

[@allisonsundayify]

Hey I need help, I have been working on this book for so long but my mind is full of depression, full of hate for my job and I am autistic, so my mind has a lot of processing, you get what I'm staying right.

[@AroundTheCampfire]

First things first, I just want you to know everything is going to be okay. When writing a book (or any large personal project), it's easy to get your self worth wrapped up in it, but your worth is not in your ability to write a book. I understand that it hurts when it feels like it's not going well. I've been there. Just remind yourself that there isn't any requirement to finish it as long as you're enjoying making it. And if you aren't enjoying making it, take a break for a while. If you're feeling depressed, take some time to feel better. Find a coping mechanism that helps you feel better, and then you can get to a place where writing is much easier. As for your job, I can't be much help there, but as someone whose had some crappy jobs in the past, step 1 is coming to peace with your situation. Yes, it sucks, but dwelling on how much you hate it just makes things work. Focus on enjoying the parts of it that you like (or at least suck less). Then form a plan. That might be talking to a supervisor to figure out ways to improve the situation, or taking steps to find a different job. I know that's a lot at once, but most importantly, you should focus on feeling better and improving your situation. Then you can focus on writing. I really hope that helps. I'm rootin' for ya.

[@juansecalavera]

Can I write in Spanish? In the app I mean

[@AroundTheCampfire]

Blaze's menus and such are only in English right now, but we're hoping to add more languages when we get the time. I don't think you should have any issues writing in Spanish though!

[@3dalien398]

when Levi gets a green screen.

[@AroundTheCampfire]

gonna keep pushing how silly I can get with it until someone takes it away

[@steel.oneill]

Omg an American who can correctly pronounce "route" 🎉

[@mischarowe]

I'm beginning to think I'm more of a Plantser.

[@AroundTheCampfire]

I would wager that everyone is to some degree! It's nice to think about how the different strategies work though. Before I knew that pantsing was a thing, I would stop when I didn't know what happened next until I figured it out. Now, I lean into the pantsing philosophy of "write now, fix later." Using both can be super helpful!

[@mischarowe]

@@AroundTheCampfire I'm very easy to distract, so having different ways to approach something makes it so much easier. :)

[@bookspot3061]

I am a permanent Plantser

[@AroundTheCampfire]

Did that take experimentation, or did you just know from the start?

[@SerFloortje]

GOLF

[@AroundTheCampfire]

the podcast is leaking

[@johnterpack3940]

Stephen King isn't a pantser, he's a recycler. He doesn't have to plan because he just plops his stock characters into the next story.

[@Derekivery]

Steven King is a great writer, he is a horrible writing teacher.