I’m
not sure how the term “bible” became connected to writing a series of stories. I
certainly don’t mean to be irreverent.
When
writing a series of connected stories, how do you keep the details straight? Our
own Nancy Gideon is now writing
the 15th book in her By Moonlight series. I used to think
writing the 3rd or 4th in a series was hard. But the 15th?
Writers
who use Scrivener have a built-in method of handling details. I tried
Scrivener, but this MS Word girl found it too hard to change. You know what
they say about old dogs and new tricks. 😊
My
first book Switched was a standalone. At first. But readers asked what
happened next. Who am I to ignore readers? That’s when I learned how to note
all those pesky details that sharp-eyed readers will catch if you don’t get them
right. For instance, the spelling of names. Switched is a science
fiction romance. The alien names are made up. (BTW, make sure you can pronounce
those made-up names, too.)
While
writing Switched, Too, the 2nd book in the series, I had to
keep going back to the 1st book for the details. What a pain. Being a
Word girl, I opened a new document and called it “details.” (Real original, right?)
With Switched open, I noted each detail after the character’s name. (Maybe
I should have done one of those character charts.)
Then,
I needed to note places—all that world-building stuff. What planet did that character
come from? Are people from the planet Tegror called Tegrors or Tegrorians?
What
about methods of travel? Food, animals, plants? All part of world-building that needed to be
written down and then easily found when needed.
I
learned the hard way to keep track of details as I wrote the story, not (like Switched)
after completion. Before starting a new story, I open a “details” document—whether it’s part
of a series or not. Like my middle grade science fiction adventure. Since I already built a world in my Outer Rim series, I used that world—just set the book on a different planet.
For
my cozy mystery series (Alex O’Hara novels), I tried using a spreadsheet (Excel).
It’s easier to locate characters, but I feel confined by the small squares. Until I come up with a better method, I'll keep using a Word doc for my details.
How
do you keep details straight?
You can find my books on Amazon.
11 comments:
I want to learn scrivener- even purchased and downloaded it- but so far have not had the patience to do so. I am terrible at tracking details. This is something I really need to work on in my writing- I'm too much of a panster.
I have Scrivener, too. And I did try it. I even took a class to learn. It has many good features. I guess I'm not patient enough. Like Maureen, I'm more of a pantser. I want to get the story down and learning a new way takes too much time.
I love using Scrivener for plotting, but I haven't figured out how to use it for keeping track of details. Guess I'll have to sign up for a class!
I'm TERRIBLE with charts and technical programs so I've had to develop my own awkward way of keeping track of details with character lists, chapter outlines that include details such as location, day of week, and even weather along w characters in the scene, thumbnail of the scene and I pull quotes and excerpts as I go through the final edit to use in later PR efforts. Geez, I guess I've made a template. the closest I've ever come to organized plot charting is One Note, which was user friendly but I didn't keep up with it.
I love Scrivner for writing the manuscript but have barely touched the many features. I recently started a new project and am using the character profiles and setting descriptions built into the program. It's been a big help so far. With Scrivner you can switch from one document to the other without changing screens (opening and closing), which is really convenient for me. (You know, when I forget my main character's name, or the names/ages of her kids...things like that.) :-) Speaking of series, I've been wondering when your next Alex O'Hare novel is coming!
Patty, the class I took was very hands-on. I think it was through RWA.
Nancy, sounds like you & I have developed what works for us. I forgot to mention that I have a calendar on which I write location what happened each day in the story. Otherwise, I'd never keep track of the days of the week.
As I mentioned above, whatever works for you. About Alex O'Hara: I'm finishing up a sci-fi romance, then I can get back to Alex's wedding. I can't wait to write that one!
Like you, Diane, I dislike Scrivner immensely. For my seven novellas, I discovered I needed to create an Excel spreadsheet timeline of days and where everyone was, and then I have a MS Word document of everyone's details, along with the town, and anything else about their world. It works for me.
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