How Do You Keep This Stuff Straight?

I missed my usual blog post yesterday due to some distractions in real life, and I'm getting to it late today because the blizzard warning we are currently under has led to early school closings and cancellations for tomorrow.  As much as one would like to be able to just write 12 hours a day every day, that is simply not a realistic expectation.  Nor is it necessary.  Real life priorities take precedence at times, and that is fine.  The writing will get done.

I had someone ask me recently how I kept all the plot elements and details of my story straight during the writing of the entire novel.  Their question was based on the fact that it takes much longer to write a novel than to read one.  Throw in the fact that this book has three separate story lines, all of which are happening independently of each other for much of the book, and it's easy to understand how continuity details can get lost over the months from when the book is started until the last word has been typed.

The way I keep everything straight is with a big ring binder in which I have organized several sections of documents.

The first section is the current manuscript text.  It's fun to watch this section grow as the book gets written.  It provides a nice sense of accomplishment, too.

The next section is a Chapter Sequence Summary table.  This is a document that organizes the chapters of the book by plotline, so I know what must happen in each chapter to keep the story moving.  I have columns in this table for Chapter #, Day/Time (of the action in the chapter – this is helpful for knowing how much time passes between events among the plotlines), and then one column for each major plotline.  This is a great tool because it provides a sequential visual of not only how each plotline is developing during the course of the book, but the pacing between plotlines as the reader will see them.  For example, I know that Chapter 14 will be about Faye and her new client and the current thing happening with them, Chapter 15 will be about Max and his search for Ae-Cha in Los Angeles, and Chapter 16 will take place three months prior and focus on Ae-Cha and her job interviews in Koreatown upon first arriving in this country.

This Chapter Sequence Summary is the first thing I consult when sitting down to write.  Which chapter am I writing, and what is supposed to happen?

The section after this is a group of documents called "Themes/Plot Notes", where I keep all of the research material I've printed out and notes I've made on the different plot lines or characters.  This is supporting material for all of the plot lines, and provides as much detail as I need to remember things about characters and plots.

The final section of supporting material I have is a Character Map, which shows all the primary characters and their relationship to each other in diagram form.  This helps me keep track of who knows who and why, and just as importantly, who has not met during the book.

Organizing my material this way not only helps me keep on track with each day's writing, but when something in the plot changes (as it inevitably does – the plots never seem to be finalized until the book is finished!), it also makes it very easy to go back by chapter and see what needs to be changed to accommodate the new material.

For example, I decided this morning (in the shower, of course), that Luc (Faye's new client) needed to have a military background.  This fact needed to be presented to the reader in a chapter that I had already written, which based on a quick check of the Chapter Sequence Summary turned out to be Chapter 14.  I sat down with Chapter 14 with an idea of how to present this information to the reader, but after reading Chapter 14, decided the info needed to be brought out in the Faye and Luc chapter immediately preceding 14.  Because there are three plot lines that alrernate throughout the book, though, that meant that Chapter 13 was not a chapter that dealt with Faye and Luc.  Another check of the Chapter Sequence Summary showed that it was Chapter 12 that needed to be updated.  I went to that chapter, read it through, added a few hundred words in the right place, and voila – the plot alteration was seamlessly worked into the story.

Being organized is important.  It results in the cleanest first draft possible, and makes subsequent revisions easy to make.  Every writer organizes themselves differently, but every writer organizes themselves.  These tools work for me.  Find whichever ones work for you and use them!  They are your best friend in making sure your manuscript is always at its absolute best!

Try to stay warm and safe during this crazy winter storm!  Cozy up to the fire and read something that takes place in a tropical location!    Thanks for reading.  -Jon