My last story was laid out quite well, in my mind, and I didn’t spend a lot of time organizing my writing. It worked fine, I think, and I did use an index card system, and a notebook to write down random ideas to put in the beginning, middle, and end areas. So how do you plan out your stories? On the computer? In notebooks? Plotted on big paper? Do you use graphic organizers or story maps of some sort? This next story needs more time spent on planning before I write, so I’d love to hear how you do it. I’d like to have a great system, so I’m not ripping out my hair wondering where the heck I stuck that Post It note that had the great idea on it!
shannon grogan, young adult author
shannon grogan, young adult author 
Greeat post thank you
Thanks for the info-I love to see what others are doing and steal those good ideas!
I do everything on the computer; even what I write by hand will be transcribed into a word document at one point or another. I’ve used Google Notebook (aka the index card method, only online 😉 to plot things out. When I start writing I have a folder containing all the chapters for a particulr WIP and a master document for all the chapters (good for quick reference of word count, etc).
It seems kinda complicated (at least to me, considering until a little while ago, I’d scribble random notes on scraps of paper), but it’s the simplest method I found that still allows me some flexibility (pantser/organic writer) 😀