Butterfly
Auror
Keeping Track – Organising your workload
Not so much a question, but I thought it would useful to share some methods of organising the workload, as well as ways of organising the occasional flood of ideas we sometimes get. So this is my system:-
On Windows
Word
Filing - Each chapter in its own file, plus a file of notes for each (deleted when they are no longer needed). To keep them in order, I use the 01, 02, 03, 04 etc, to 10, 11... at the start of each file. Computers use the Dewey system to order numerical files, hence the 0 is needed in front on single numbers or they will be displayed out of order.
In addition, each chapter is saved in its own document, so everything associated with book one, is in one folder, and everything for book two in another. I also have subfolders – previous drafts, rejected ideas (perhaps they can be salvaged at a later date), and one for notes.
Keeping Ideas - I keep a master file of ideas inserted into some sort of chronological order. Some of these are a few sentences, others, entire scenes. If I get lost, I refer to it. It sort of forms the big picture of what I am working on but has many gaps. In addition, I use the documents map feature and preset headings, it helps with the navigation of the file, which at the moment is touching 250,000 words. Seriously, I don’t delete anything, you never know when it will come in useful, and I do tend to sleep with a notebook close to my bed because after all, my memory is like a wire mesh bucket at times, so if I don’t write out an idea out there and then, I lose it.
Outlining - I outline about three chapters at a time. It helps with the flow from one to the other. In addition I use a summary of events, and the closing emotional state of my viewpoint character in the previous chapter. It helps to maintain consistency and flow from one section to the next.
Note Books – Includes Insignias, hierarchies, ranks, character sheets (basic notes on descriptions, goals, fears, etc) on primary, secondary and incidental characters. Anything, basically, that needs referring to at some point. (Recently, I have discovered OneNote, which promises to be useful, but I am still learning how to use it, so I don’t really know enough about it to use it efficiently at the mo).
Excel Spreadsheets
Keeping Track - I use spreadsheets to keep track of how much writing I have done, and how much I still have to do. My basic table headings look like this:-
Chapter / Title / Pages / Date completed / Draft Number / Readability Scores / Words Done / Words left to Do
It means that I can see at a glance the places that I need to work on, bits I need to change, or to insert some information, without having to trawl my way through pages and pages of text, and the ever increasing words count (albeit sometimes a slow increase) helps to push me on a little more. (In my Word documents these bits and notes are italicised so I know where exactly they are).
In addition to these, I have tables on kill counts, death counts, fight scenes, torture scenes, dreamscapes, places the characters have moved through, revelations, abilities gained, and spells learnt, along with the chapter it happens in, causation, characters involved, and the concluding result.
Hyperlinks – A feature on excel that I have only recently discovered. Once it is set up it enables quick opening of files, it sort of works like a contents page – when clicked on it opens the required file, so there is no need to search through folders for an elusive chapter. The Hyperlink will take you straight to it.
Calendars – Months, dates, start point, key plot events, travelling times, relevant dates of e.g, a festival day, birthday, etc. Helps with multiple POVs, especially when a character splits from the main team or event, but then it calls for two calendars that I can compare events to, also helps with the chronology of everything.
Multiple Save Devices = Flash drives
My first laptop was stolen in a break in, I lost a few weeks worth of work, so now I keep everything saved on several flash drives. One as a WIP, another as a backup, and everything saved on yet another, just in case the first two get crushed or somehow melted, short-circuited, blown-up... anything, everything can happen at some point!
So, does anyone have anything to add?
How do you organise your workload?
Anyone use the apple-mac system, and how do you organise the above? – I only ask because I never have, hence I have no idea what is available on it.
Not so much a question, but I thought it would useful to share some methods of organising the workload, as well as ways of organising the occasional flood of ideas we sometimes get. So this is my system:-
On Windows
Word
Filing - Each chapter in its own file, plus a file of notes for each (deleted when they are no longer needed). To keep them in order, I use the 01, 02, 03, 04 etc, to 10, 11... at the start of each file. Computers use the Dewey system to order numerical files, hence the 0 is needed in front on single numbers or they will be displayed out of order.
In addition, each chapter is saved in its own document, so everything associated with book one, is in one folder, and everything for book two in another. I also have subfolders – previous drafts, rejected ideas (perhaps they can be salvaged at a later date), and one for notes.
Keeping Ideas - I keep a master file of ideas inserted into some sort of chronological order. Some of these are a few sentences, others, entire scenes. If I get lost, I refer to it. It sort of forms the big picture of what I am working on but has many gaps. In addition, I use the documents map feature and preset headings, it helps with the navigation of the file, which at the moment is touching 250,000 words. Seriously, I don’t delete anything, you never know when it will come in useful, and I do tend to sleep with a notebook close to my bed because after all, my memory is like a wire mesh bucket at times, so if I don’t write out an idea out there and then, I lose it.
Outlining - I outline about three chapters at a time. It helps with the flow from one to the other. In addition I use a summary of events, and the closing emotional state of my viewpoint character in the previous chapter. It helps to maintain consistency and flow from one section to the next.
Note Books – Includes Insignias, hierarchies, ranks, character sheets (basic notes on descriptions, goals, fears, etc) on primary, secondary and incidental characters. Anything, basically, that needs referring to at some point. (Recently, I have discovered OneNote, which promises to be useful, but I am still learning how to use it, so I don’t really know enough about it to use it efficiently at the mo).
Excel Spreadsheets
Keeping Track - I use spreadsheets to keep track of how much writing I have done, and how much I still have to do. My basic table headings look like this:-
Chapter / Title / Pages / Date completed / Draft Number / Readability Scores / Words Done / Words left to Do
It means that I can see at a glance the places that I need to work on, bits I need to change, or to insert some information, without having to trawl my way through pages and pages of text, and the ever increasing words count (albeit sometimes a slow increase) helps to push me on a little more. (In my Word documents these bits and notes are italicised so I know where exactly they are).
In addition to these, I have tables on kill counts, death counts, fight scenes, torture scenes, dreamscapes, places the characters have moved through, revelations, abilities gained, and spells learnt, along with the chapter it happens in, causation, characters involved, and the concluding result.
Hyperlinks – A feature on excel that I have only recently discovered. Once it is set up it enables quick opening of files, it sort of works like a contents page – when clicked on it opens the required file, so there is no need to search through folders for an elusive chapter. The Hyperlink will take you straight to it.
Calendars – Months, dates, start point, key plot events, travelling times, relevant dates of e.g, a festival day, birthday, etc. Helps with multiple POVs, especially when a character splits from the main team or event, but then it calls for two calendars that I can compare events to, also helps with the chronology of everything.
Multiple Save Devices = Flash drives
My first laptop was stolen in a break in, I lost a few weeks worth of work, so now I keep everything saved on several flash drives. One as a WIP, another as a backup, and everything saved on yet another, just in case the first two get crushed or somehow melted, short-circuited, blown-up... anything, everything can happen at some point!
So, does anyone have anything to add?
How do you organise your workload?
Anyone use the apple-mac system, and how do you organise the above? – I only ask because I never have, hence I have no idea what is available on it.
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