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dendon
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I recently read somewhere that using a spreadsheet like excel was a good program to use to keep your notes accessible while writing.
So far, I have chapter word counts, reading ease stats, calculations on how far my redrafting has gone, and notes on events that I know I need to keep consistent throughout.
Any suggestions of what else I should be keeping tabs on?
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chickin
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Quote: dendon, Friday, 8 Jul 2011 10:41I recently read somewhere that using a spreadsheet like excel was a good program to use to keep your notes accessible while writing. So far, I have chapter word counts, reading ease stats, calculations on how far my redrafting has gone, and notes on events that I know I need to keep consistent throughout. Any suggestions of what else I should be keeping tabs on? oooo I do this. My spreadsheet has a brief chapter synopsis in one column, with a hyperlink to the chapter, and in another column I have started keeping notes as to changes I will make to each chapter when I've finished. This is the closest I've been to finishing something and I find this is helping me remain organised and focused. Previously, I have spent too much time going back to previous chapters and altering them to 'fit' the developing story. This way, I hope to finish and then go back and amend each chapter accordingly at the end. I hope that makes sense. And I know I haven't any suggestions for you. But I'm excited to learn more about this myself. Good thread.
I deleted my sig.
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KLove
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i'm not as sophisticated as you, but I do keep a planner, and in it every scene has a) where it is set, b) whose in the scene, c) whose view point it is, d)word count, e) what happens.
when I finished my last novel, for the final draft I used a graph (!) where each chapter was given a rating for excitment, love interest, conflict, etc, and I made sure that I kept the strands interwoven so that there was always something going on, and I didn't hit any long lulls -- or what someone else on here who used to work in marketing, called the 'shit point.'
But perhaps in this explanation, I just did. LOL
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chickin
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Quote: KLove, Friday, 8 Jul 2011 12:15i'm not as sophisticated as you, but I do keep a planner, and in it every scene has a) where it is set, b) whose in the scene, c) whose view point it is, d)word count, e) what happens. when I finished my last novel, for the final draft I used a graph (!) where each chapter was given a rating for excitment, love interest, conflict, etc, and I made sure that I kept the strands interwoven so that there was always something going on, and I didn't hit any long lulls -- or what someone else on here who used to work in marketing, called the 'shit point.' But perhaps in this explanation, I just did. LOL The graph sounds interesting. Just wondering how you graded each category. Something similar to the YWO star system maybe. I may consider that. Add a column and give a score for conflict, tension, love stuff ... what else should each chapter have? (ideally - rules - pah!)
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dendon
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What's a hyperlink?
How do you set one up?
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chickin
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Quote: dendon, Friday, 8 Jul 2011 12:50What's a hyperlink? How do you set one up? Right click in the cell and select hyperlink from the list - it's near the bottom on mine. It's self explanatory from there on in. Having them isn't a huge advantage, but it just saves the trawling through the docs looking for your chaps. I have a word count column too. Gives me hope and encouragement to see it totting up. This morning it reads 43,049 
I deleted my sig.
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dendon
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Quote: chickin, Friday, 8 Jul 2011 12:56Quote: dendon, Friday, 8 Jul 2011 12:50What's a hyperlink? How do you set one up? Right click in the cell and select hyperlink from the list - it's near the bottom on mine. It's self explanatory from there on in. Having them isn't a huge advantage, but it just saves the trawling through the docs looking for your chaps. I have a word count column too. Gives me hope and encouragement to see it totting up. This morning it reads 43,049 ooooo, thanx, will give a try, is a great suggestion BTW. I've also been keeping them as a monthly information point, so I can compare what I have managed to do in each time period, and how the story has progressed. I didn't think about the graph point though, that's a good idea too.
This post was last edited by dendon, 08 Jul 2011, 13:10
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dendon
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That hyperlink is amazing, I love it. Thanx for telling me about it chickin
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KLove
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Quote: chickin, Friday, 8 Jul 2011 12:26Quote: KLove, Friday, 8 Jul 2011 12:15i'm not as sophisticated as you, but I do keep a planner, and in it every scene has a) where it is set, b) whose in the scene, c) whose view point it is, d)word count, e) what happens. when I finished my last novel, for the final draft I used a graph (!) where each chapter was given a rating for excitment, love interest, conflict, etc, and I made sure that I kept the strands interwoven so that there was always something going on, and I didn't hit any long lulls -- or what someone else on here who used to work in marketing, called the 'shit point.' But perhaps in this explanation, I just did. LOL The graph sounds interesting. Just wondering how you graded each category. Something similar to the YWO star system maybe. I may consider that. Add a column and give a score for conflict, tension, love stuff ... what else should each chapter have? (ideally - rules - pah!) I ran the chapter numbers along the bottom, and then, say when judging 'conflict' (red line) if the protaganist nearly died (!) that would rate for 10, then for the next chapter, if little conflict, then the line would drop to a 2. however, in that same chapter, I might have a green line for romance, and if the protaganist finally, ahem, then that would get a 10. Effectively a line chart, with three or four different coloured lines all measuring different types of action / conflict. I only found useful after the ms was completed, as I'd rather write more organically in the first draft, but it was great to identify low spots that lacked any kind of dramatic tension.
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Notes on spreadsheets
08 Jul 2011, 10:41
