Need Help Keeping Track of Details

With my current WIP (about a group of 5 boys and a girl), I wrote about 3 chapters that I know will not make it past the 1st editing stage. I wrote it basically as a way for me to get to know my own characters. It also helps me find the 'this is where the story starts.' So now, I'm just over half way done with the story and when I mention someone's name, their characteristics pop up, just like an old friend from high school.
In earlier WIP's, I used a character description/personality page and printed it out. I did that because of the thread on here that is something like "What would your MC do?" or a game in your MC's voice. I tried with the first WIP I have realized that he didn't really have any characteristics that I could name. That made me attempt a complete rewrite and understand that if I don't know my own characters, likes/dislikes/general personality, how can any readers? That story is trunked for now, but maybe I'll get back to it eventually.

Lisa,

There are a number of methods, all suited to your personal way of organization. I tend to use legal size sheets of yellow paper for brainstorming and idea tracking. Some use software and there's a fantastic program Fahim has come up with for some of that (located in Tech Help; just do a search).

However, the key is: it's tailored to your needs. If you're not big on organization, I'd suggest doing some reading on time management and organization. That might get you started. However, if you're already doing things like lists and calendars and all that, then start discovering what your "best method" is.

Have fun.

I use one-page Word character charts that list all essential info. Easy to open, easy to add to/change. I don't have a link to a sample, but I'm pretty sure Googling "character chart" will get you a few choices.

Good luck!

I am about to be incredibly unhelpful. I keep it all in my head. I've tried using systems like index cards, Post-It notes, wall charts, and so on. But I find that far more time-consuming than it's worth.

I actually try to get to know my characters and story so well the details become part of me. Novel idea, I know, but that's what works for me. In the first draft, I expect some errors in consistency, plot holes and the like. I don't want to bother worrying too much about the details until I have the whole thing written down. I check for that stuff during the rewrite and edit process. Beta readers find the rest.

That's what works for me. Good luck finding something that works for you.

Use your word processor's search feature. Look for specific word combinations. Sarching for your main character's name will turn up too much, but searching for "John inched" might turn up that scene where he was on the park bench next to the smelly bum.

Also, hyperlinks.

I do this more assiduously with my gaming stuff than I do with my limited fiction writing, but it works. Try creating one or more separate files for your background information and link liberally to your source material from your WIP.

Well I write little character summaries that I add to over time. Just a separate word document, nothing elaborate. Just a general age range, occupation, nicknames, short description, and the longest part being the character history (which I write in short fragments rather than attempt to write it out like a story) This helps with back story. For example, one of my characters lost his wife in an epidemic. Then I realized that every character from the same city should also have lost someone in the epidemic. (otherwise its not much of an epidemic) So by the end of it, my poor main character had lost not only his wife, but 2 nephews, three nieces, a sister, a couple of in-laws, and an uncle, and everyone else had suffered similarly.

The index card system is simple, you just write the relevant information on an index card, which may or may not be color coded, then file them alphabetically. Or you could punch a hole in the corner and string them on a string or ring. I prefer to use the computer, because A. its harder to lose, and B. encourages you to look at them all at once, so you can see how they interrelate.

Lisa F said:

I need some simple ideas for keeping track of details (names, places, eye color, etc.). I'm on my first chapter and I've already found myself having to scroll through what I wrote to remember little items. Please post your system. I would like to read through several so I can find something I think will work for me. I've heard about an index card system - does anyone know how that works?

Click to expand...

Well, I'm afraid I can't be much help to you here. When it comes to the simple details, they seem to stay pretty fresh in my memory.

I have, however, been known to jot down the larger plot ideas when they hit me. This usually happens when I'm driving, on the toilet, in the middle of the grocery store...pretty much at the most inopportune moments. But still, nothing complex to offer; I simply write it down for later remembrance. Oh, and if these ideas happen to hit me when I'm at my computer, I simply open a new document, type out the idea, and name it "ideas" file or something.

Good luck.

Lyx

OneNote

How's the index card thing work?

Name(s) of character

• hair/eye/skin color
• traits (smoker, limps, stutters)
• job
• names of family/friends
• Function in the story (has info for hero; tries to shoot the hero; IS the hero)
  

What do they want?

What are they willing to do to get it?

Tape it on the wall.

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I had to write a book VERY fast, so at the end of a chapter I'd print it using single-spaced, double columns, 10 point font, small margins so it looked like a magazine page. (I wanted to save on paper.)

Then I taped the book on the wall. I'd high-light names and note plot points to I could keep track of what was going on. My 100K book took up only 50 pages this way.

But as you get practice at writing--say 2 hours a day every day--you'll start remembering all your stuff.

If you're dry on descriptions, try imagining an actor playing your characters. It helps you get a visual fix. You're the film director, casting is up to you, and you don't have to pay them.

Right now, I'm using a spiral notebook. I also have a three ring binder but that's mostly for plot ideas, rather than character ideas and details. This may change as I get more disciplined but I'm thinking of getting a new computer soon so I don't want to put on my hard drive just yet. My story's on a floppy disk, though.

I usually can keep everything in my head since I work on it day to day, but little details like the shape of their eyes I'll forget or some detail like that. I just have a separate word final with the entire cast in there with info like what Gillhoughly suggests.

One thing I do notice that I do is I change the spelling of some characters names half way through. Luckily word has the replace all feature.

callalily61 said:

I use one-page Word character charts that list all essential info. Easy to open, easy to add to/change. I don't have a link to a sample, but I'm pretty sure Googling "character chart" will get you a few choices.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Yep, this is the best way to go, IMO. Just create a separate document that lists the characters and important places with the important details that you may need for later on in the novel or for background.

I think I have mentioned before that I *might* have OCD, especially when it comes to organization. lol.
For my current project I have a folder full of stuff, but most important is my excel spreadsheet. On the first sheet I have a schedule. It has my start date, my goal end date (there is a deadline for this project), and weekly word count goals. It also has some formulas built in to track my percentage complete, and everything broken into my stages of 1st Draft, 2nd Draft, Edit, Submit. I also have a sheet for each main character (usually main female, main male, and villain) that I copied one of those character trait sheets to.
Then I use Freemind to keep all my other info together: timeline, with links to wiki pages on important events (it is a historical), family tree, and my overall outline. I put everything in it. For this project I also build blueprints and floorplans so that I keep the blocking consistent.
Now...I can't say that my system is for everyone, or that it even helps me more than it hinders me. I am currently writing a regency romance, so historical accuracy and those details are really important. But I also love research, and get lost in it a bit. I am currently trying to front load all my research and info (hence the detailed blueprints, character sheets, and wiki links) so that when I start writing I don't have to pause for new research. We'll see how it goes.

I tend to use a combination of several of the methods mentioned above.

1. Usually start with a yellow legal pad and sketch out each character's personality and back story. (I also do this for worlds/cities/places that are key to the story.) I use bullet points to keep things neat. Depending on the character I might use one sheet of paper or two (or three if there's a lot I need to remember). A page might look something like this:

Laevanora - a genetic construct built by her ego-ridden but genius grandfather.
- She has mysterious powers that make her stand out amongst her peers.
- She is not a clone, having been "built" from the DNA of her mother and father. This means that legally she is their child, but in a more technical sense she is something other than human; all of her dominant traits having been carefully culled out of the myriad possibilities available from the donor material.
- Etc.

2. I create an OpenOffice document with all my characters in it. I repeat the information previously written and add to it. This would include physical descriptions, more detailed back story, notes on interactions between characters, and so on. Everyone goes in one big document. (For sanity's sake I usually force a page break at the end of each character dump.)

3. I take the basics and put them on an index card with the character's name at the top. This is my quick reference. It would include physical description, job/profession and anything key to the character's personality but not any of the back story. If necessary I do the same with places/cities/worlds.

4. As I get familiar with the characters I start writing little "dumps" of their story. This would be one to two page clumps of roughage from either the story or back story. With a MC I tend to wind up with about twenty pages by the time I'm finished. When I get stuck with the story I read through the roughage. It has big chunks missing but it gives me the basics in a more "story-like" form.

5. By this point I'm usually familiar enough with everything that I no longer need the references. But I have them (in several different forms) just in case.

The repetition of information is something I learned from a friend in college. When writing a screenplay he always wrote the whole thing from beginning to end even when editing. It took longer but it helped him familiarize himself with the story/characters/etc because he literally knew it forwards and backwards by the time he'd been through a couple of editing sessions.

I adapted that idea for my pre-writing and found it works pretty well.

No great ideas to add here cause so many have already been dropped off. Funny thing, I was reading a blog from Caitlin Kitteridge (Night Life) who commented about a similar issue. She was scrolling through one of her books before it was to head back to the editor and discovered some major whoops's such as mismatched details and a dangling plot line. It happens. We start to get lost in the story and can forget some of the basic details. Once you've found a method of keeping track then it won't be such a bother. I think I'm going to try a couple of these myself.

Pike

When I'm writing, I'm writing quickly. I don't want to have lots of windows open on my computer. So, I use butcher paper and black magic marker. You can tell when I'm in the middle of a project because my office has no walls--just plot and character notes, plot outlines, a continuity thread, and maps.

However, I usually draw my characters and world from pre-built sketches that I keep on file (old fashioned filing cabinet). I'm always building new people places and things for future works, some of which I may use and some of which I may not. But, if I need someone i can pull out out of the bag, so to speak.

Now I'm probably a great one for discussing details (where did I just put the computer) as I'm a supremely (is that how you spell it, where is the &^% dictionary?) organized person (what was the question, again?) keeping a multitude (I couldn't have lost the dictionary that fast, could I?) of details in my head (it is still screwed on, isn't it?).

What I do is keep a note at the end of the manuscript. Not much, frequently just the name and who the person is, or the place, whatever. If I need something, I can go to the end of the manuscript and look at it. If that isn't enough, I can use the search function on my computer. Advantage for me is that it's all on my laptop, which means where ever I am (this planet, out-in-space, Toledo), I have the information I need.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I keep a character profile in a Word doc for each main character. It lists everything from physical description to quirks, goals, motivations and conflicts to family history, etc. I fill it out as much as I can before I start writing, then add to it as the story progresses. Works for me!

LIsa,
I use Excel. It does several things for me. One, I can name all the characters and list their date of introductions into the story with one column. Another column can be used for places introduced into the story, and on and on.

Also, when using Excel, you can use the 'find' function to find every instance of a particular word, character, place etc etc.

The columns can be made to access any sort of data you want, and all the data is easily searchable.

Lisa F said:

I need some simple ideas for keeping track of details (names, places, eye color, etc.). I'm on my first chapter and I've already found myself having to scroll through what I wrote to remember little items. Please post your system. I would like to read through several so I can find something I think will work for me. I've heard about an index card system - does anyone know how that works?

Click to expand...

I use a ridiculously anal-retentive Excel spreadsheet. Actually, several spreadsheets (one that breaks down travel times between locations, so it doesn't take one guy 2 weeks to walk somewhere, and another 3 months to ride a horse the same distance).

One lists all of my characters (including the most minor characters), and all of their details, included whether they've "entered" and/or "exited" (so I don't forget to make them make an exit, or introduce them, etc). Sometimes I won't fill in a detail such as eye color until I actually make a reference to it in my story...then I fill it in on the spreadsheet and refer back to it if I'm going to reference it again and can't remember. I find it very helpful, easy to keep track of, and easy to find info I need.

I personally use word.

I take advantage of the Document Map feature, which allows me to organize information and details into sections and to quickly switch between them.

It looks a bit like this:



With the document map you can click between all of headings and it takes you right where you want to be.

Word document called "Continuity Log." First page, character's physical details. Second page, character arcs. The rest: specific things from each chapter, like: "Jeremy drives a green Honda Civic, 1995" or "Tumblebee's Cafe is at the corner of Gedney and Curwen."