There you are, minding your own business, and WHAM! You've got not just an idea, but you've got dialogue and a scene running through your brain--you have no idea who the characters are (or maybe they are the ones you always write about), but this scene isn't part of whatever it is you're working on right now. Or maybe it is and you're not sure where the heck it fits.
Ah! Make a new file. But... what do you call it? And when will you ever get around to deciding where it might go?
Answer: TEMPORARY FILE
I've got a few of these. I also have a WORK BOOK, but it's different for different things.
A temporary file will allow you to write something down and you don't need to worry about where you're going to place it. It also gives you the ease of mind so that you can write and not worry about where you need it right then.
Panic not, you make up your file. When ever I have a new scene, either in my head, or I've been scribbling it down on paper, I can go and start typing away.
Then, when you're ready to slap a new scene up, go up to your menu bar, click INSERT, and the first thing on the drop-down menu is "Manual Break" when you hit on this a window comes up and you get a couple of choices. Choose "Page Break" so that the next thing you write is separate. But, of course if you want to continue with where you left off, you just keep on typing.
And then put it up on your desktop for easy access.
Just one of my many suggestions, if you don't do this already.
Ah! Make a new file. But... what do you call it? And when will you ever get around to deciding where it might go?
Answer: TEMPORARY FILE
I've got a few of these. I also have a WORK BOOK, but it's different for different things.
A temporary file will allow you to write something down and you don't need to worry about where you're going to place it. It also gives you the ease of mind so that you can write and not worry about where you need it right then.
Panic not, you make up your file. When ever I have a new scene, either in my head, or I've been scribbling it down on paper, I can go and start typing away.
Then, when you're ready to slap a new scene up, go up to your menu bar, click INSERT, and the first thing on the drop-down menu is "Manual Break" when you hit on this a window comes up and you get a couple of choices. Choose "Page Break" so that the next thing you write is separate. But, of course if you want to continue with where you left off, you just keep on typing.
And then put it up on your desktop for easy access.
Just one of my many suggestions, if you don't do this already.
Nice tip! I've come to love EndNote for this, too, because I can access it even from my phone (which I always have with me), and it syncs to everything. Not to sound like a commercial or anything :) But sometimes you just have to get the idea down before it goes "poof"!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great tip too, for those who have this.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've been working on a scene tonight that hit me while I was driving my route.
Guess I'd better get back to it!
Thanks for stopping by, Meradeth!
I have so many extra files floating around my computer! Every novel I write ends up with an "excerpts" file where I write future scenes or random snippets (some of which end up in the story, some of which don't), and some stories have maps and back stories. The problem comes when I have four files going and different scenes in some, and the same scenes in some, and then I have to sort them out. ;)
ReplyDeleteAlso in the excerpts files are the scenes that get cut as I'm editing, just in case I need them later.
I did have a file at one point that had random sentences in it, and I couldn't remember writing them! I read one and was shocked by it--it was a really dark sentence and I had no idea what had been going through my head when I wrote it.
Hello, Laura!
ReplyDeleteYep. I was having that problem too. I simply needed to create a file where it was either "temporary", or it was used for notes on the book. It doesn't matter what you call it, you need a place where you can file it all--and make note of the date also, that might help you a little too!