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Lizzie D
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« on: July 29, 2010, 05:43:51 AM » |
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I have been writing my novels, by saving and numbering each chapter separately. I have also numbered pages from 1 to usually about 15, for each chapter. It dawned on me, that others might not be doing it that way. Maybe I should write and save the entire manuscript in one document, with pages numbered from one to however many hundreds?
If saving each chapter separately, should the page numbers flow from the beginning to the last chapter in order?
I'd like to know how others handle this please.
Thanks.
Lizzie
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Skip Slocum
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« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2010, 10:05:54 AM » |
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I just write one document, not worrying about page numbers as my copy is a draft anyway. I do try to wrap up a chapter in about 4,000 to 6,000 words.
A conversation between two or three characters will wrack up the pages while the word count remains low.
Skip
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DavidMcK
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« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2010, 05:43:15 PM » |
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Hi Lizzie D,
I write each chapter in a separate file. I find this makes it easier for editing and printing and generally going over my work.
Although, when I am finished editing I bring the whole work into one file, add the page numbers, and give one final big edit.
I don’t think it makes much difference, each to their own.
David
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Annmarie
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« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2010, 05:43:45 PM » |
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Lizzie, it would've never occurred to me to save each chapter separately!
Here's the reason: A novel is a whole story, and I'd lose sight of the whole if I saved chapters in their own documents. I need to look forward and backward in the story in order to write whatever scene I'm on at the moment. With multiple documents, that'd mean opening and closing, flipping windows, that kind of thing. It's too much work.
Each full draft of my novel has its own doc. I'm on the third complete rewrite, so I have docs titled: Novel 1, Novel 2, Novel 3 (replace Novel with my working title).
Just as Skip said, everything before the final version of a novel is a draft. It's going to change a lot before it gets done. You'll rearrange those chapters many times probably, you'll shift scenes, cut some, write new ones. I think it's far too complicated to do this when the chapters are saved on computer separately.
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Stop whining. Start editing.
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Lizzie D
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« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2010, 06:47:32 PM » |
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Thank you for your thoughts on this. I think it will be easy to combine all the chapters into one doc when done.
I presume, when an agent requests a specific number of chapters, you just take that which is requested and pop it into another text or doc file to send?
One more question please. When the manuscript is finally to your liking, do you then add the (for example)
Smith/The Bobcat.1/1, or add this as you go along. I have been adding this to each page as I write, but have found I spend a great deal of time replacing it in the correct upper corner of each page, after making changes. I tend to think, I have been making a great deal of extra work for myself.
Lizzie
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Skip Slocum
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« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2010, 08:19:12 PM » |
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Lizzie, I believe you are making extra work for yourself. Even after you have completed the story, you will need two or three edits then a Beta read or two, another run at it with any changes then off to the editor for them to have a look.
Add the page numbers right before the Beta readers see your story so they can make notes on what page a mistake is found. IMO
Skip
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Maimi
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« Reply #6 on: July 29, 2010, 09:06:32 PM » |
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Hello Lizzie, I also write in one document. The first page is the one with the title, my contact information, a blank for the final word count, and any other information agents require for the cover sheet. The next page is a table of contents that auto populates as I write. The first numbered page, where the story starts, has the Smith/The Bobcat/1 in the header from the start. You can format your page number in the header to automatically populate so you don't have to manually update them. You can also tell it whether or not to start the count from the previous page or not (this is handy since you don't want to include a cover sheet or table of contents in the page count). I also put a break at the end of each chapter and place the next chapter heading at the top of the next page. The breaks group the pages in a chapter together so I can select an entire chapter with a click, then drag and drop it between different chapters if needed. Bottom line: Going through the information of the word processor's Help section taught me how to make the program work for me (Headers, Page Numbers, Table of Contents)--that and some looking on the internet if I ran into trouble. If you set the document up from the beginning you won't have to keep going back to make changes. It took some playing around on the breaks and page numbers in the beginning, but was well worth the time. I presume, when an agent requests a specific number of chapters, you just take that which is requested and pop it into another text or doc file to send? Yep. Maimi |
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Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Gyppo
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« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2010, 09:44:42 PM » |
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I suspect Lizzie is numbering every page as she goes, and perhaps hasn't worked out the header and footer thing yet ;-) If so, as Maimi said, it's worth the effort of learning how these things work. It saves so much hassle later. Make the machine work for you, rather than vice versa.
I admit to writing individual chapters as separate files, but this is a hangover from using a slow old computer which took ages if asked to scroll through more than about twenty pages. However, EditPad lets me have a whole novel's worth of chapters open at one time, and just jump around by clicking on a tab. A bit like using a tabbed browser.
But once I have the whole thing roughed up then I copy it into one long document and start messing around with it.
But whichever method you use, please make sure you have more than one backup.
Gyppo
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Lizzie D
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« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2010, 10:15:16 PM » |
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After reading all your thoughts, I think for me anyway, I'll continue to write each chapter and save separately. It's always pretty easy for me to jump from chapter to chapter. After all is completely finished and ok, then I'll plop them all into one complete manuscript. I do have title pages already done and don't include them in the word count.
I do use headers and footers quite a bit. Mostly for page numbers at the moment.
My first manuscript is currently with a Beta reader/Editor. How many editors/Beta readers does one usually ask to read? I have only asked two so far.
My worst problem, has been trying to find a processor which all can read. Some of you might remember, that a while ago, I posted here about some not being able to open my Works files. Not having Word, I found AbiWord, which seems to work very nicely. It is also free - which is even better. So I've been copying files from Works, over to AbiWord.
I also have OpenOffice, but am not quite sure I get along with it very well at the moment.
Lizzie
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bonitakale
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« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2010, 03:09:12 PM » |
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OpenOffice will do a master document and subdocuments, if that appeals to you. That way, you can open one chapter at a time, but can make global changes when you decide to change the hero's name.
Oh, and when you send the ms in, you don't number the pages separately by chapter. Not 5/3, but just 143. If you're doing separate chapters, it's probably best not to number the pages at all till you put it all together. Then you do a header that includes a page number, and voila--even if you add 50 pages in the middle, the program will do the renumbering just fine.
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« Last Edit: July 31, 2010, 03:11:56 PM by bonitakale »
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Orangutansaver
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« Reply #10 on: July 31, 2010, 03:41:24 PM » |
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Ok I am going to be different. I write a chapter of about ten pages, then write the next chapter in someone else's point of view perhaps. I then go back to the first part of the story and make it up as I go along chapter by chapter. This helps me to see how it's going and to keep track of the number of pages per chapter. The agent told me she prefers no more than around ten to fifteen pages per chapter and ten is good enough.
I also keep a track of what is in each chapter so I keep hold of the story as I go along. By doing organic chapter writing it provides me with momentum and helps to keep my writing to a minimum without going off track. My objectives will be to ensure that by the end of Chapter 3 my character will have discovered she is not... etc etc. By Chapter 4 she is making plans what to do about it. By Chapter 5 she makes a further discovery and by Chapter 6 the mystery begins to unfold. I think it is important to have aims and objectives as you move through the story.
Lin x
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