I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned before what a terrible memory I have.
It’s bad. It’s always been bad, and it’s certainly not improving as I get older, either.
The bad thing is that people do expect you to remember small details about what you’ve written. :) And they should expect that. After all, we made it up.
But for some people, it’s not that easy. I have a hard time remembering the names of people that I see fairly regularly at my children’s extra-curriculars.
What I’ve done to serve as a crutch is to have a series bible for my series as well as sort of a cheat-sheet for each book that I’ve written. I’m starting my 8th book now, and details start getting a little foggy for books that I’ve written a while back.
Penguin Berkley was great to supply me with a style sheet that the copyeditor compiled for my series. I follow it to make sure I keep details the same. There are things in there like the name of the place where a particular character goes for manicures. One character’s sorority is mentioned there, as well as the name of a blues band, etc.
A style sheet is very helpful for reminders on how we treated recipes in the book (we left numbers as numerals in recipes—didn’t spell out 1 tablespoon as one tablespoon), as well as little reminders like this:
Sentence punctuation in italics if whole sentence is in italics; sentence punctuation in roman if only part of the sentence is in italics—quotes always in roman.
My series bible helps me keep track of character ages, traits, habits, hobbies; setting details; and any details of recurring subplots. I know a couple of writers who keep track of these things on an Excel sheet, but I use Word. I type out each character’s name, how old they are, where they live in the town, what they look like, where they’re originally from, etc.
Finally, I have a detailed cheat sheet for each book. This is, basically, a long synopsis. Sometimes I can’t remember the ins and outs of all the plots (and mysteries can get convoluted with clues, red herrings, and alibis.) These cheat sheets are lifesavers.
I have a meeting with a book club next month and they picked Pretty is as Pretty Dies to read. That’s fantastic, but I wrote that book back in 2005-2006ish. It was edited after that, but written 5-6years ago. A refresher is necessary. :)
How do you keep track of your story details and what program do you use to do it (or do you keep track in a notebook?)
Elizabeth – What a good, good idea to keep a series bible and cheat sheets! That’s such a good way keep everything straight in your files. I do keep lists of characters and their traits, so in that way I keep cheat sheets, too. I’ve also found that the “search” function in word is incredibly helpful for making sure I haven’t given a character two different names, or made the character blonde in one scene and brunette in another.
But my best help is my beta-readers. They are so kind and helpful at letting me know when I’ve made that kind of mistake.
The series bible and style sheets sound like awesome ideas. I haven’t needed to do anything on any real scale yet. Being unpublished, I only have the one book at a time to keep track of, and so far, I’ve managed to juggle it all using my memory and a little Word file. When the time comes, though, I’ll definitely have some sort of program to sort through all the details.
I’ve been using a program called Scrivener. It’s a pretty handy tool to help organize characters and chapters. It’s even got a document sheet that I can view throughout the novel. But, keeping track is vital.
I keep a separate file on my computer with all the details of each character, their age/DOB, even eye and hair color. (my memory is really bad too)
Right now I am using a program called Rough Draft for my novel, but I am thinking of converting to Word. I started a new novel in Word and it seems more user friendly.
I have heard great things about Scrivener, but I believe it is only for MAC computers. I wish they’d hurry up and invent one for a PC!
Good to know other writers struggle with this. I’ve gotten back edits on the first novel in my series and the second book is almost dine. I found myself going back and forth a lot. so I created a doc where I listed all of my characters, their family members, and their characteristics. I’ve heard of Scrivener and want to check more into that.
Sharon, Scrivener for Windows is expected this month or next but it’s available as a beta now.
See http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivenerforwindows/ for more information.
I love the term ´cheat sheet´:D
I do something similar; for each novel I have a character file (full names, ages, colour of hair, eyes,wigs, address etc) and a plot file (a short paragraph about each chapter), maps of the village (who lives where and such).
Recently I have not been too good at keeping my character sheet up to date so I know that I have to be careful with hairstyle etc when I return to “The Halloween Murderer”.
I found a funny error today: Minty Flint had suddenly turned into ´Aunt Flinty´ instead of ´Aunt Minty´.
Great ideas here!
I use MS OneNote. I have a section for each manuscript. Each character has a page with a picture and bio as well as links to information about hometowns, occupations, etc.
I keep track on a few word files – I use the charts for some and bullet lists for others. I’ve also used spreadsheets – still not sure what works best for me :)
Those style sheets and series bible sound like a great idea. Not that I’ve updated it in awhile, but I have an Access database I put together to keep track of my characters and my writing works. The current structure doesn’t allow for much detail. I may have to add more fields in my character table.
B.E.–After I finishe a book, I think I’ll remember the details *forever*! But I don’t. It’s amazing how quickly the details of my story start slipping through the cracks in my mind.
Clarissa–I hear good things about it. Will have to check out their beta for Windows.
Sharon–I love Word…except when I don’t. :) I think our programming friend, Mike Fleming, is working on a terrific product that could help us all out. In the meantime, I guess I’ll use Word (and fuss most of the time!)
Mike–Thanks for the info, Mike!
Margot–The search function can really be a lifesaver! I’ve used it, too. And you’re so right about beta readers…they’re great to spot these things.
Dawn–Funny, I use ONe NOte too, but hadn’t thought of using it for my series bible! Good idea.
Mollie–Family members…good point. That’s another good thing to add–how different characters are related to each other.
Claire–The more you do, the better, I think. You can even do a little blurb about character outlook–how they approach challenges, general personality type, etc.
Dorte–I didn’t mention it, but I think it’s GREAT to have a little map showing where everyone lives. Otherwise, that’s something that can easily be a continuity error.
I kinda like Aunt Flinty! Sounds like a tough old lady!
It’s like you’re reading my mind! I’m halfway through the first of a series and there’s a little voice in the back of my head whispering “You know, you should write those details down. You’re not going to remember her brother’s name!” I’m such a Luddite, though, that I’m actually keeping it on loose-leaf paper in a binder. Hello 19th Century! Thanks to you and your commenters for the great advice.
I just keep track in a notebooks, as mine are not that complicated.
What a great idea! The funny thing is, I’m doing just that–writing out the details for a script I want to write during the Script Frenzy competition in April to make sure everything stays consistent, yet didn’t think to do the same for my novel! *slaps forehead Shoulda had a V8!
Sheila–The nice thing about putting them on computer is that they’re easy to search that way. And we can print out copies to take with us on the go, too.
Alex–Notebooks work, too! Whichever works best.
Krissy–Oh I know the feeling. I missed a lot of easy opportunities to make cheat sheets for books. I was reading the books straight through to do final edits on them before publication and it would have been the perfect time to have compiled these synopses and bibles. Ah well…better late than never!
Jemi–I think as long as we have it all written down and searchable, then we’re in good shape!
For my characters I have character development sheets, but for subplots or certain scenes I wrote, I have to scroll back throw my WIP. I think I’m going to steal your idea and make a cheat sheet!
I’ve been using Scrivener too and LOVE it for my “bible.”
Thanks for the post!
I like to use a personal wiki for sketching out ideas and linking stories. Never thought to call it a series bible, though, but I definitely like it.