This is not about magic in books versus real religion.  That’s what this post was about.

This is about magic in books versus Christianity in books.

Here’s the thing — Christianity doesn’t like magic. That’s the party line. But magic also doesn’t exist. (Though I’ve said I might believe in ghosts if people weren’t always wrong about them.)

So when I find a fantasy that includes a Christian official as a one-dimensional badguy, I get a little disgruntled. Even if a second religious official is sympathetic to magical powers or beings, it’s usually an all-encompassing acceptance, which is stupid and any sensible Christian would agree. Just because a religious official doesn’t want to burn someone for witchcraft when they show magical powers does not mean he or she will be entirely comfortable or even accepting of the situation. In fact, I’m pretty sure it would freak them out. These are humans you’re designing, not puppets, and something like fantasy meeting traditional Catholicism (which is the most common choice) would very easily cause conflicting feelings in a religious character who isn’t a monster.

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I like organizing things.

I really do.

I’m not very prolific at it, but I enjoy the little thrill of knowing where stuff goes.

So when you have over 10 years of stories in a giant overflowing bin, and you want to keep every last note card because you might use it some day . . .

Where on earth are you supposed to start?

Me, I want to start with a label maker.

I have a hole puncher and a printer.

I have a ton of binders, though they’re the “Bigger is better” kind and I can’t decide if I like those or the friendly floppy ones better. I think the problem I have with binders is that once they’re organized and I have stuff in them, there’s nowhere for me to put them. Except in my doofy old bin. Out of sight, out of mind.

I do a lot of my idea organizing in Word, but then I print it out and staple it and again I can only put it in my doofy old bin.

You might say “Filing cabinet!” but that’s just as bad as my bin for hiding things. Worse, because I just don’t like flipping through tabbed folders. I don’t know why. Always hated it.

I’m thinking of getting a simple document wallet to put completed manuscripts in for editing. I found that I really like being able to pull loose-leaf out of an envelope to edit and stuff it back in without worrying that my cat will spread the pages all over the floor. I’m incapable of editing on my computer because I always forget what I’ve already done.

So . . . label maker. Maybe a cork board. Figure out a spot for my binders. Consolidate notes into a smaller space. *sigh* Nobody ever plans to have this much paper lying around, but it’s been the bane of offices for centuries. Somehow, some way, I’ll manage.

Hey, at least I got rid of a lot of crap in the move. That’s a win, right there.

My character database is huge.  And a mess.  I’m trying to keep track of how old everyone is in any particular story so that I don’t make a huge mistake and call someone a teenager when they’re supposed to be in their thirties, but this effort requires coordination of character birthdays, event dates, and who is connected to whom.

It’s a bit overwhelming.  I’m currently making a character tree in Photoshop, just to get everyone’s affiliations down in a visual way.  So far, I have 62 characters on the map.  Around 15 of those never even show up anywhere, and another 10 only have bit parts.

My main concern is keeping track of character’s ages in relation to each other and events. I’m awful at math, and I’m terrified of getting anyone’s age off by even a day. Silly, I know, but true.

It’s just that I want something that will keep everything in order even while I’m switching everything around.

I started looking into Timeline software with calendar options. Bee Docs looks good except that it’s for Macs. They recommend SmartDraw for Windows, though they don’t market it to writers like Bee Docs does. (I do like that you can make images of your info just by asking the program to.)

The thing is, those programs aren’t precisely for writers, though writers can use them. Programs that are for writers seem to be all about strict boxes you put your text in or offering active “word counters” (or even offering a new word processor — which I wouldn’t trust as far as a random executable file in my email) instead of allowing the user to choose their own options. Frankly, I just care about keeping all my ideas straight so I don’t make mistakes. Organizing. That’s what I need.

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Dr. Elliott once said in the midst of his English lit lecture:

“If you ever write a book and want to wrench your reader’s heartstrings, create a family and then tear it apart.”

I should have mentioned this to my brother.

I went to church with him last week (it’s an hour drive and I have trouble getting up early, so I rarely go) and got to listen to a pleasant elderly man tell me how I should write about his life because he’s been so many places and done so much stuff.

I smiled and nodded, but it was pretty painful.  And awkward.  Ohmygoodness, the awkward.

People think, and it’s really not their fault because they aren’t writers and don’t get it, but they think that just because you can write that you can write anything.  That just because you’re interested in writing, you don’t discriminate in what you write.

This is a false assumption.

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