It's important to write and write and write. Word count is key to writing, but so is consistency, specifically dates and times. As your WIP progresses and evolves, it's easy to forget those tiny details. It can be frustrating to keep track of if you don't develop a method. There are several ways to manage this. You can keep a calender of events, plot an Excel work sheet, use your word processor's document map or spreadsheet, use a writing software package like yWriter, which is free, or Randy Engermanson's Snowflake Method, but manage it, you must. The worse thing you can do is to try and figure it all out after the fact. True as that may be, that's exactly where I'm at, now.
Personally, I enjoy using Microsoft Word's Document Map and Microsoft Excel for details. It's all right there in one, easy to use (not so easy for beginners) program. My WIP has an event that takes place at a specific date. The events that lead up to it must be plotted into the story. Easy, you might say. Well, you'd be right if nothing ever changed or something never got mixed up or moved around. Since I never do those things, it's a piece of cake. Ha, I am the worse offender of rearrangement that ever breathed. I exaggerate, but you get my drift, I hope. So happy writing, my friends and until next time, God Bless.
This is so important! Especially knowing which draft is the most current! Don't want to send the wrong one to an agent when it gets requested!
ReplyDeleteI love your optimism.
DeleteYou have a point. My first novel had a lot of events occurring on specific dates. It got hard to keep track of when each happened. I printed off calendar sheets for the months that my novel covered and manually wrote in each event. It was a little hard to read at times but it kept me on track and finishing without too much hassle.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a pain to have to keep track of stuff. I hate it, but I yearn to organized, by yearn, I mean, it's a wonderful concept and feels good, but it's short lived with me. My solution is to pick my battles. I choose where it's most important, for me, to stay focused. I'm kind of anal about consistency. Thanks for commenting.
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