I have a few projects, not strictly lit related, that I want to complete. Unfortunately, I have never been a very organized person. I do have some filing cabinets that I have dumped sorted work into, but I have tons of text documents on my computer and phone, and boxes of little slips of paper that I have scrawled notes and ideas on for various projects. I am at the point where I am trying to condense all of this work together and sort through the bits I like and dont like. It's kind of becoming a tedious task though, with a bunch of documents opened up that I am copy-pasting notes from a singular mix mashed file of ideas, moving to the corresponding project they were intended for, only for that file to need to be broken down into its own substructure of topics, so I can finally have semblance of a draft to work off of.Are there any modern tools that make this process easier? Like a piece of software that is only one screen open, but individual topic files shown as icons, and you can just copy and paste text to each section you desire, without having multiple files and tabs open?Or likewise, any tips on creative writing in regards to the process of lumping together notes into a format that could be understood, or how real writers may accomplish this process?
I use an outline editor called TreeLine. It lets me organize my ideas into hierarchies. It's free and open-source, too.
you need to have a goal for writing, you can't just combine unrelated ideas and try to make them make sense, try to find out what milestones you think your book is trying to achieve then go on from there, otherwise you will be forever lost in the forest of meaninglessness
>>23823159Oh yea, im aware of this. I should have emphasized that I have a clear goal and draft in mind, but it was more along the lines of I will be thinking about it, or come across some in real life related to it, and I will get an idea I want to flesh out from that experience. I have a bad habit though of scribbling it down on a piece of paper or saving a quick text document, then having to sort through stuff trying to find the bits I dont want to forget.>>23822580Thanks for the recommendation, i will look into it.
>>23823159>you can't just combine unrelated ideas and try to make them make senseYes he can. If he's a good problem solver he can turn it into a rich story.
>>23822246Be as unorganized as possible, drink a lot and forget what you wrote. Stack books and your writings in piles that could fall over any moment.>>23825643This too
