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Helpful techniques for an author
i used to keep everything in notebooks but now too many moves and arthritic hands have me writing on wp's now. if bad weather abounds, i whip out my trusty brother (if its storming my typewriter will suffice). i usually write in 3 stages - 1st draft in word, 2nd in ywriter (gets all my notes together and see where I'm going) then final in page plus. i have backups on floppies flash drives and zip disks but my stuff are always prone to failing (i dont always have internet so cloud drives are inaccessible). in the advent my hds fail (either gremlins or my smoking too much around my puters bad habit i know) i spend a few hours coaxing drives then putting the corrupted files back together. been doing it since windows 98... i've become a pro at stitching corrupted files lolz but seriously i need to plan better.
I have written a little app using "Autoit" freeware. When I run the app, it reads the date that the file was saved and adds it to the filename. Then it copies it to my external hard disc, my google drive and sends it to my kindle. It is quite sweet. One click!I keep a copy of my file saved with a name "Name.Year.Month.docx" e.g. I am just finishing my novelette, "Andrea, the Martian Robot" (Coming Soon). If I worked on it yesterday, I would have saved it as "Andrea.15.9.docx".
The app reads the file saved date and adds '10' to the filename sending 'Andrea.15.9.10.docx' to the kindle and to the other drives.
I would share the app, but it has to be set up specialy for every individual computer configurationn and needs to know your google account and password to send the file to the kindle.
If anyone just happens to know how to use autoit. I could share the code with passwords and drive paths removed.
K.P. wrote: "i used to keep everything in notebooks but now too many moves and arthritic hands have me writing on wp's now. if bad weather abounds, i whip out my trusty brother (if its storming my typewriter wi..."I used to use notebooks, but I was either always running out or misplacing the dang things.
I pretty much just stick with Word Office... or Libre since Office is no longer functioning correctly :P I keep things organized by either the story's title or, if I don't have a title yet, a sort of nickname. For example, my current novel I've been calling The Tempest AU, so I have The Tempest AU Notes, The Tempest AU cut scenes, The Tempest AU draft 1, The Tempest AU Draft 2 and so on. It keeps everything pertaining to the story together and makes it easy to find.
Once I finish a draft, I always save everything on a portable hard drive. I also print up hard copies, in large part for proofreading purposes, but I also just like having hard copies of my work (even if I am running out of places to put them). I don't do this with every draft, just one or two.
BACKUP: I keep a jump-drive with my latest projects. (on my key-chain) I also back that up on at least two other computers. In my line of employment there are spaces of time between jobs that allow me to write at work so the portability helps. I do like the cloud idea. A drop box is a wise move for PC's. I'm still working to recover files from our church hard drive after the motherboard failed. It would be devastating to lose a manuscript that way.
Matt wrote: "My books are saved in Dropbox. If they were accidentally deleted, I can go to Dropbox and recover them for a period of time.They also end up getting saved in Time Machine on my Mac.
I actually w..."
Saving things on Dropbox is a good idea, and one I haven't thought of. Good to know since you never know what disaster might strike.
I keep everything on a thumb drive, and any time I work on one of my files, I back it up to my computer's hard drive, and then also email myself a copy. Everything's still "cyber," but the odds of losing everything are pretty low.
Joe wrote: "I keep everything on a thumb drive, and any time I work on one of my files, I back it up to my computer's hard drive, and then also email myself a copy. Everything's still "cyber," but the odds of ..."Good idea. It's always good to have multiple copies of a work. There's nothing like going to look for something only to realize you got rid of it and never made another copy of it.
I have a portable USB hard drive connected to my desktop, and I keep all of my drafts in folders set for automatic backup. Every draft gets saved until a project is completed, and I never even think about it.
At the end of each when I finishing working on a file, I store a copy of it as a draft in an email.
Make sure you keep backups somewhere safe and hidden. It doesn't do much good keeping copies on a separate drive if someone breaks in and steals it along with your computer, or a fire tears through your home.
Hello Morris and Everyone:I just received this criticism from a regular publisher on my multi-cultural drama, written in the 3rd person.
"Our editor suggested you perhaps go back through the manuscript and work on your show verses tell.
Make sure you're showing the characters reactions rather than just narrating the story, you want to make sure you are pulling the reader in using all of the senses."
This is the first time that particular work received that criticism. Is it tougher to do this with a book written in the 3rd person. Anybody know any particular authors who are good at show vs. tell, and using all the senses?
thx, Steve
Steve wrote: "Hello Morris and Everyone:I just received this criticism from a regular publisher on my multi-cultural drama, written in the 3rd person.
"Our editor suggested you perhaps go back through the man..."
You might try Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike novels, The Silkworm or The Cuckoo's Calling. There is a new one coming out this month. Adult mystery/crime.
Steve wrote: "Hello Morris and Everyone:I just received this criticism from a regular publisher on my multi-cultural drama, written in the 3rd person.
"Our editor suggested you perhaps go back through the man..."
Hi Steve,
You're talking to a group of over 3000 authors. I'm sure there are tons here who might be able to help, workshop it for you. Would mind setting up a new thread for that?
Thanks!
I had a great story-line but my draft was dry and lifeless. Re-writing it in first person, active voice was a "Frankenstein" experience.... "It's ALIVE!!!"This taught me something about writing. No matter how much time passes, our audience experiences it the instant they read. First person, active voice is the difference between reading history and living it. I've never gone back.
"He said" becomes "I say" or "says Jim"
"Jason walked" becomes "Jason walks"
Then becomes now and all the action intensifies. Try it sometime.
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I back up once a week to an external hard drive plus every update goes onto Dropbox. I have to admit that my (very basic) notes with each characters details are written down on a cheap A3 drawing pad. That seems much easier for quick checks to me.
Michele wrote: "I have to admit that my (very basic) notes with each characters details are written down on a cheap A3 drawing p..."My detailed bios and reference data, like maps of my created places, are all on three legal pads on my desk. Funny how we all keep scribbles.
I email copies of book outlines and my draft manuscript to myself. This sort of gives me cloud storage without Dropbox, in a way, but I also like how it shows me where I was up to on each date. It's also an easy way of proving authorship and dates if I ever needed to prove that. eg. if someone stole my work and I needed to prove copyright infringement. I don't do it every day, but I'll email myself after every few chapters or after a major edit. It has saved my bacon more than once when I slashed a chunk of text and then later changed my mind. Sounds like Scrivener might be something I should look into! Thanks for the recs.
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Emailing a copy of your work to yourself is a good way to protect it if something should happen to your computer, but it doesn't replace a copyright if you need to take legal action. Your work is technically copyrighted as soon as you save it. It's recommended, but not necessary, to have a copyright symbol and the date in the work. All of this will help if you need to file a DMCA notice or send a cease and desist letter. If you plan to file a lawsuit if and when your work is stolen, you will need to register your work.
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/stopp...
I used to do something on my page that I'm looking to get feedback on. Whether it be you find it interesting or do it yourself:On my I used to list ideas for upcoming stories I planned on writing. I would put a picture and provide a small caption/synopsis as to what the story would be about. I did this for the good part of 5 months but took it down because I didn't feel it was really useful to anyone. Does it sound like a good idea and does anyone else do this?
Wow, this is great. I'm glad other writers are all on board with the technical aspects of the job. Out of curiosity, anybody ever used Github for backup? I've recently started keeping my content saved as flat text markdown files and backing them up as a private Github repository. It's going okay so far but I'm not clear as of yet if the pros are outweighing the cons of this method.
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I've removed many posts by this person and somehow this one got through without notice. Thanks for the heads up Morris. I'm going to remove your comment, too, since it contains a link back to their web site.
Scrivener is great software (well worth the $49 in my opinion). You can create character and location study templates and don't have to recreate them every time you have new characters.There is a research folder where you can store documents, timelines, images, inspiration ... This is all separate from the chapters folders but within the same project so handy, as well, when you need to go back and forth.
There's also a cork board, project notes, chapter notes, progress meter ... And Scrivener creates as many backups as you tell it to in RTF so the files are small. It auto saves and everything is saved in one project folder in one scrivener file.
I use scrivener for storage/version control/writing now and have copied the projects into a backups folder also. Then I use Onedrive to sync my computer to the cloud.
Just thought I'd share a couple of tools I use that has turned my process around and made organization a lot easier.
Sounds nice. Think I will buy it at some point in the future.
for back ups, I definitely do the email to myself route. I began this before I retired, using my long lunch hour to write at work, and email it home to work on over the weekend. I would just cut and paste the lunch work in order onto a pc word doc then add the scribbles from bits of paper and fast food napkins I wrote at the horribly long stop lights in town in rush hour!
Justin wrote: "I used to do something on my page that I'm looking to get feedback on. Whether it be you find it interesting or do it yourself:On my I used to list ideas for upcoming stories I planned on writing..."
Funny, I sometimes create a book cover that 'feels' like the idea I have, and keep it open in a small window while I outline on the story. I don't know if it helps me any but it sort of keeps me in the 'mood' of the book while I gather ideas.
Last month Jay wrote: I have a portable USB hard drive connected to my desktop, and I keep all of my drafts in folders set for automatic backup. Every draft gets saved until a project is completed, and I never even think about it.I just had a thumb drive undergo catastrophic failure after hammering out most of a chapter on it (long story). Bad news is I wasted half of a day trying to solder the bloody little broken contacts back. Good news is that my re-write of the vanished chapter is going better than the original... Lesson is, if you use a thumb drive, make sure it's a nice sturdy one.
LOL. I have my hard drive on the floor and have broke two jump drives while just stretching my legs. I learned to not put the things in until I am ready to copy data.
I've only just started at the art of novel writing. I've a few ideas I'm working on. No idea were this journey is going to take me.I'm using a google drive folder on my laptop to store all my work which is autosync'd to my google drive account whenever I save new revisions.
I've opted for Storymind, a cut down/alternative version of Dramatica I believe, for all my story planning. All notes, characters, elements, etc are developed and stored in story cards in there. Every time I come up with a new base idea for a future project I open a new Storymind document and enter it into the first 'whats the big idea' story card and save it for future use/reference.
I'm planning on using yWriter to actually write the novels. From early play throughs it seems that automatically keeps backups/versions for various phases - draft, revision, final,etc. It also allows you to work on smaller chuncks - scenes and chapters - a little easier than having multiple word processor files. Add to that its free.
I keep my current projects on a USB jump drive with backup to my home and office PC. There are opportunities at work where I can jump in and do some writing so it helps to always be ready. The jump drive is on my key chain.
I was advised by an editor when writing my non-fiction books to set out briefly what you want to write. Break each chapter into sub-chapters and then break these down further. Writing fiction does not quite fall into the same structure as NF but the principle is the same. What you get is a skeleton upon which you build.
Colin wrote: "I was advised by an editor when writing my non-fiction books to set out briefly what you want to write. Break each chapter into sub-chapters and then break these down further. Writing fiction does ..."I follow the same the same process for my non-fiction. I then enter all the subchapters into Scrivener and I"m good to go.
I save all my writing on onedrive. That way I am able to continue writing on my phone, Microsoft Surface, laptop and indeed any other computer I happen to want to use.
I have my book covers all saved to one folder along with promo banners and other promotional type pictures. For someone who likes to be organized I found I was kind of slacking when it came to knowing where to look for some of my content. Yes, I'm the only one who looks at it but if it's not right I cringe or get lose, one of the two lol.
I started writing a few of my books on paper first, then when I had a few chapters written I typed it all up, wrote out a loose outline, and wrote the rest of it by computer. Often when I am writing a book, even if I'm not actively writing I'm still thinking about it. I do lots of art of my characters and sometimes just thinking in terms of scenery, what a particular setting would look like, where the furniture would be in X character's house, etc. Just planning stuff.
Once I have the first draft written, I take a break from it for a few months. I read other fiction to give my mind some space from my book. It also helps me recognize good writing when I read other writers. That way, when I edit I can recognize the flaws in my own work by comparison.
Once I have the first draft written, I take a break from it for a few months. I read other fiction to give my mind some space from my book. It also helps me recognize good writing when I read other writers. That way, when I edit I can recognize the flaws in my own work by comparison.
Everyone seems to have covered backups, so nothing more to add there.I'm not a huge fan of track changes, so when I'm editing my book, I change the colour of any text I add or change, and a word or two before and after any deletions. It's then easier for me to review those changes once I've finished taking them in, rather than having to re-read the whole thing again!
I also recently started doing a backwards read, as the last stage before publishing. I read the last paragraph on the last page, then the second last paragraph, and so on, until I'm back to page one. The theory is that your brain has to work harder to figure out what's going on. It's all about picking up typos that your brain otherwise ignores. It really works! Even editors miss the odd typo here and there, and this helps to catch them.
I sometimes switch font and remove all formatting to achieve the same result as reading backwards, and that sounds like a good tip to try.Morgan
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Morgan"
I'll have to try this one out. Do both for super edit mode?
I keep all my books and business ideas for inventions on my flash drive. I put none of it on my hard drive since hard drives can easily be hacked and infected by computer viruses. I don't use cloud because they are vulnerable to hacking also. It's how I protect my writing until I publish it. As far as paper copies and hard copies, I always keep them on hand.
Angel wrote: "I keep all my books and business ideas for inventions on my flash drive. I put none of it on my hard drive since hard drives can easily be hacked and infected by computer viruses. I don't use cloud..."You're not paranoid if they're really after you. :)
Thanks all, this thread is very helpful for a writer like me.
I heard that you shouldn't talk too much about the story you're writing because what drives you to write is the urge to tell a story and if you verbally tell the story, you'll lose motivation to write it down. So I've always kept what I'm writing close to my chest and when people ask about current projects, I say very generic things. ("Right now I'm working on a scifi. It takes place on Mars. That's all I can tell you.")(And then my friends say, "Are you afraid I'm going to steal your plot?" and I say, "No, I'm afraid you're going to steal my motivation!")I think this works for me because after avoiding answering probing questions about my work, I do find myself feeling that urge to sit down and write. But other writers I've talked to say talking all about their current project gets them excited to write it.
So this may depend on your personality, but I'd say less is more when talking about your current story line.
Veronica wrote: "I heard that you shouldn't talk too much about the story you're writing because what drives you to write is the urge to tell a story and if you verbally tell the story, you'll lose motivation to wr..."I've always found this on a first draft. I think it's because (if you're a pantser anyway) the ideas come up from your subconscious. If you talk about it too much, it's as if you 'talk out' the book, and I think it's because the subconscious now feels it is done so provides no more ideas. It's fine once the first draft is done and you are in edit mode, but I never talk about a first draft that is incomplete.
Only one book I've written and published has ever stayed the same from beginning to end when I first thought of it to the moment I turned it over to the publisher, including the characters' names and personalities. It shocked me. If I speak about the latest project, I use vague terms. I don't want to jinx whatever it is I've got going on.
I realise I do something without even thinking about it these days - I write down names that I like the sound of, and then use them in stories where I need a name (could be anything, not just a person's name).Alp
I'm so happy to see people taking the file backups seriously! They've saved my fanny on several occasions, both at home and at work, and I'm fastidious about it. I back up my work on an external hard drive that I keep in a firesafe box and also on Google Documents.
Sherri wrote: "I'm so happy to see people taking the file backups seriously! They've saved my fanny on several occasions, both at home and at work, and I'm fastidious about it. I back up my work on an external ha..."My laptop is starting to get old so it's struggling to handle some of the resource heavy programs. I've had Word's autosave feature save me a few times when I'm in the middle of writing and crash the computer by shifting to another program.
Not sure if this is the right thread to ask, but I've done some searching on previous posts and I see that people say it's all right not to have your own ISBN if publishing on Kindle. You can use the Amazon ASIN.However, are there downsides such as :
a) the publisher is shown as Amazon, and it's obvious it's self published (I plan to use an imprint for the Createspace POD and definitely have my own ISBN for that)
b) problems with tracking sales or some other analysis that can only be done if a book has its own ISBN?
c) presumably if I wasn't exclusive with Amazon, I would definitely need own ISBN for e.g. Kobo?
Support for Indie Authors
Books mentioned in this topic
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Volume 1 of 2 (other topics)The Silkworm (other topics)
The Cuckoo's Calling (other topics)
After I lost all my notes on a trilogy that I'm planning, I started backing up everything diligently. I even bought an external drive that backs up all my work daily. With everything I have in place, I have multiple copies of my most recent work so if the system crashes, I will be able to pick up right where I left off.