Hey there! Today I wanted to share with you the word documents (besides the manuscript itself) that I always maintain when I’m writing a novel or novella. I don’t know if this will help if you’re trying to figure out how to write a novel faster, but I do think it’s a good way to keep things organized! If you use Scrivener rather than Word, the same principles can still apply.
THE FIX LIST
When you’re writing a first draft, issues and changes will occur to you as you go. You can keep going back again and again to change things, but sometimes that can kill your momentum. On the other hand, you don’t want to forget about them.
If you keep a document called “fix list,” you can use it to keep track of all of the things you need to change. Once your first draft is done or you just feel like you’re at a stopping point, you can go back and address all those issues.
THE BITS AND PIECES
Short snippets of dialogue, random descriptions, and other fragments may pop into your mind as you’re writing your draft. The stuff that comes spontaneously into your head is often really good material – but you may not even know where it goes yet.
Don’t lose it! Keep it all together in a document called “bits and pieces.” (Since I don’t always have my computer with me, I often write snippets like this down in my planner or my phone, and transfer it to this document later.)
THE OUTTAKES
Here’s something I used to do. I’d cut out a short exchange between characters, or even a whole scene… and then later, I’d regret it and wind up re-writing it again. So annoying, and such a waste of time! If you keep all your deleted material in a document, it’s there for you in case you change your mind.
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After every writing session, don’t forget to back up these documents, if you’ve changed them, as well as your manuscript. I email mine to myself and I often use a USB drive as well, though USB drives can fail eventually.
Do you have any suggestions for keeping things organized as you write? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Happy writing!
Great tips! I do keep a delete file for outtakes snipped from one chapter that can find a home in another.
As for a fix list, I usually don’t try to fix anything while I’m cruising. However, if there’s something glaring at me, I’ll change font to red for a sentence or paragraph. Also, if my story is plodding along and I need to write something detailed, like a fight scene that requires a lot of choreography, I’ll type FIGHT SCENE GOES HERE and keep writing.
Never thought about keeping a separate file for Bits n Pieces. It’s a great idea.
Hi Erneso! Ahh, that’s a good idea about red type — I don’t know why I never thought of that! I definitely put placeholders for scenes like that, too, sometimes because I need to do more research.
Thanks so much for commenting 🙂 Happy almost holidays!
Thanks for sharing, Bryn! I’ve been using two documents, one with The Story, one with Unused Bits, both including things to fix. I use this method for fan fiction, original fiction, and non-fiction.
It might be faster if I tried your idea to keep a separate Fix It document, so I could hone in on those details quickly instead of drowning in the distractions of the main text.
Love this idea, especially for the deleted scenes. You never know when you may need them in the future.
Fantabulous tips. Thanks for sharing.
Three great ideas in one quick hit. Thank you so much! I usually do bits and pieces within my document just writing them in at the bottom of the first chapter. I go back and cut and paste them elsewhere as I find places for them. Since I work in Scrivener, this is easier than transferring from Word because the formatting is already done. I could keep a separate document in resources in Scrivener that would do the same thing but, for that, it’s just as easy. I will now maintain separate documents for the fix list and the outtakes.
You might consider keeping a calendar of events in the novel. This helps keep things in the right sequence. It also helps to keep the first kiss and the first sexual encounter far enough away from the first meeting so the characters don’t hop into bed too soon.
So stumbled to your blog by accident (things happen for a reason) and found it very useful. I have my first book published in 10 days and although it’s a biography of my life, turned into a self help woman’s literature piece. Not going into too much detail on events, I felt compelled to go fiction route to be more detailed and your blog helped bring insight on approaching things very differently. Ive always had a gift on tarot reading (no knowledge/ it just intuition) and although I don’t have a deck now went to buy a deck to use it in story writing. Great blog btw.