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Do you have a system for sorting the end matter of your book? Mine is hopeless.
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I would suggest you join Pinterest. You can pin a book cover, or a page or two from the reference by simply pinning it to a board you assign to your book. This would work for the computer generated research and then you only have to really track your manual research. I write fiction but I use it to develop characters and settings and it works very well.
I used to stick to one notebook for everything until I filled it up, so I only needed to keep the notebooks in the order I'd filled them in to easily search through them; I'd just start with the curren one, and work backwards until I found what I needed, and I'd know by dates on things - and sometimes also entries where I'd mentioned the project when it was still just a vague idea - if I'd gone back far enough that there was no way I had more on the project. These days though, all my research is in neatly labelled folders, which are backed up as regularly as my writing folders (wich is at least once a week; more if I've done a lot more work on something than usual, or done a lot of research).I don't do a general acknowledgements piece like some authors do, because there are people I would be worried I'd forget, and others I wouldn't want to include who think they should be included. But my cover artist gets a mention at the start of the book (right below my copyright stuff) and if I've based the story on another - like my story "Asha's Big Adventure" which is an adaptation of three well-known fairy tales in one - I mention it in the publisher's note I always put at the front of my books about how my book is a work of fiction, etc.
Admittedly my books are either complete fiction, or semi-fictionalized accounts of my own experiences, so I don't really need to worry about sources beyond that. But even fiction requires some research, and if I did need to list sources, my organization system would make it easy to figure out which ones I needed to list for a given project.
I had to read the post twice because I didn't understand what you meant. I take it you mean people who helped you in the process of the book and you wish to try and accommodate them by acknowledging them? Hope I got that right.
When I was doing academic work, my theoretical method was to create all these files right from the start, build them as I went along and edit as necessary at the end. I was reasonably good at being self-disciplined about it just as soon as I really started to understand (from bitter experience) what would happen otherwise.
Anthony wrote: "Having recently finished cutting and revising the second draft of the current work, and sent it to my editor for a first read, attention has now turned to the Acknowledgements, References and Furth..."Ha that reminded me of my university days all over again..but I've chosen to write a popular material and forget about end matters..best to get it right from the start I'd say..
It’s an interesting point: do we need end matter – and especially reference and chapter notes – in historical novels at all? A novel, after all, is essentially a work of fiction, albeit built around a skeleton of historical fact. I must say I’m very much with those who favour the use of end notes and reference material. I'm not one of those authors who knowingly alter historical facts to suit my story. On the contrary, I must alter my story to fit the known facts. Accuracy, so far as the externals are concerned, is everything. So it seems important to let the interested reader know the sources of my statements, the reasons behind the assumptions I made, and those sections that are entirely imagined.
I think such end matter is not just a matter of polite scholarship, but the notes sometimes can further illuminate the text.
How often do we come across research material that is either too lengthy or not strictly relevant to the story to include in the narrative, but which is worthwhile background information in itself? The end notes are the perfect place to put it ... either in the printed version or certainly in expanded form online. They can often be as fascinating as the book.
I don't know that this type of thing is really what you're needing, but TreeSheets is amazing. It helps me keep things organized on my computer. http://lifehacker.com/5224297/treeshe...
Anthony wrote: "It’s an interesting point: do we need end matter – and especially reference and chapter notes – in historical novels at all? A novel, after all, is essentially a work of fiction, albeit built aroun..."Anthony,
Your point regarding if end matter is even necessary in a historical novel is well-taken. Out of curiosity, I checked the five historical novels, included among the books on my shelves.
Two: The Morning River & Coyote Summer by W. Michael Gear do include end matter. Three: Three Roads to the Alamo by William O. Davis, The Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan, & Hanta Yo by Ruth Bebee Hill do not. Therefore, I presume that it is up to the author.
Nice comment Jim. Can I ask out of curiosity, which do you prefer among your novels – those with end matter or without?
Anthony wrote: "Nice comment Jim. Can I ask out of curiosity, which do you prefer among your novels – those with end matter or without?"Anthony,
As a history buff, I like to check out the end matter. Quite often, I discover additional books and other sources about the era that I can read. That said; the inclusion or exclusion of end matter in a work of fiction doesn't make a lot of difference to me. I read historical novels for entertainment more than enlightenment.
...Chapter notes, photographs and illustrations, picture credits and captions – not to mention the horrors of an index.
I must say that, with me, the process of preparing the end matter is always a mess, and I wonder if anyone has a better method I could adopt?
In fairness, I do try to be systematic. I keep a list of contact numbers with the relevant book files on the computer, which is a good basis for the Acknowledgements page.
The trouble is that the list isn’t complete. There are some contacts I forget to put on the list – either because they’re people I know well, or have contacted only once or twice. If I'm to avoid the embarrassment and rudeness of omitting them from the Acknowledgements, it's a matter of scrambling through all the notebooks to discover missing names.
Whilst I usually number and use the same notebooks for each project, it's not always the case; and right to the end I'll find odd names I've forgotten scribbled on a scrap of paper or another notepad. Indeed, sometimes a name will come into my mind after we've gone to press, and I’ll have to insert it in the next reprint.
The References are much the same. If I have copies of the relevant books at home, it's a matter of going along the shelves, for I always keep the material together in the bookcase. Mostly. If I've copied particular pages from a library reference, I try to keep them with the imprint page in the chapter files for the book.
But again, things can get lost and forgotten. While I try to keep a running list of references on the computer, I'm afraid it's more consistent in its omission: and this present stage in the preparation of the manuscript requires a lot of frantic digging and scrolling through library catalogues trying to remember particular books, and worrying that I've left out something important.
Surely there must be a better way!!