Eldritch Mundanity

When you hear the term ‘Project Management’, and forgive my supposition here, reader, I imagine you see someone with slicked-back dark hair and a pinstripe suit or a powerful, no-nonsense woman with no make-up and no home life. Perhaps not you individually but many people have this kind of view about the profession, which happens to be my profession.
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Sufficed to say, I do not meet this image. I do have a pinstripe suit, though…
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But I digress. Project Managers are not synonymous with creativity. However, the process we go through, the framework that we use, lends itself very well to creative tasks. And, in particular, writing.
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A project is simply a discreet piece of work; a change that has to be made or something new which has to be built. And novels, short stories, scripts and even poems are just that. Whilst you wouldn’t use the full gamut of a project framework alone (no-one will be interested in the Weekly Reports you issue to yourself… no matter how much you try), there are such commonalities that I thought it useful to write a series of posts.
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I thought it would be best to start at beginning. When a project is first voiced as a potential idea, a ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be great if we had a new website,’ or ‘Hang on, our billing system needs to be upgraded’ moment from someone in power, it is the project manager’s job to turn this small idea into a viable proposal, to see whether some director’s vague idea is suitable, viable and possible.
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You will have had the same moment when that brilliant new idea comes to mind, that fizzing wonder which will be one of your best pieces; you are then giving a basic idea to your novel, a direction for you to work on. Essentially the ‘Director’ of your imagination is telling the ‘project manager’ of your drive, your passion for writing well, to go off and make this idea happen.
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And there will be times where you just dive into it, both in business and in writing, but that is a risky approach; without doing some work beforehand, you may not know whether it is a good idea, whether you can even take on something as large as your idea or whether you will feel comfortable writing a serial-killer novel after years of romantic poetry (for example. A random example, given, but an example nonetheless).
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So what I do in writing and what a project manager will do in in the workplace is to start digging into this idea; cracking beneath the surface, thinking it all through, the possibilities and the risks and what will need to be done before you can start properly. We plan, in short.
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When I start a new piece, I have a short, maybe half page, in which I write down the core of the idea. Then I work deeper, write out the history of the novel, the setting, the people, and explore the world and tone which I want to set. And finally I write out my plot, revising and correcting and updating as I go. This may all seem self-evident, obvious even, but it is exactly what a project manager is expected to do; work and dig until they have something which, at a high-level, details what needs to be done. When you do this, you are acting as a business professional, following guidelines and techniques which are used across the world.
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(With this high-level guide to what you want to do, you can start putting more detail behind your work. But we can cover that in another post.)
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I find it immeasurably useful to have this first-cut plot; I can draw out my plot, check it for dips and falls in pace and see it from start to finish. And I’d recommend that you try it too because not only could it help you but, when it comes to selling your novel to that perfect editor or that amazing publisher, you will have that little edge of having followed a rigorous process to get there, be able to demonstrate that you can follow through on a plan.
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More posts shall come as I think this through and make further connections between the two disciplines.

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