Notes on Writing-Notes

[Megawatts]

I'm not sure if I've had 'writers block' for the last couple of years, or I just got tired of writing!
I don't seem to have any difficulty generating idea for stories, but just don't feel like putting them down on paper.

But I must say with all honestly that Nate's challenge has really re-directed my ' whatever' back into writing! It has been a very positive 'technique' for me! Really! Or maybe it's more of a process in which one must write within a jail-cell or constraint. Sometime the most creative processes emerge out of some type of imprisonment: in jail, in the army on duty oversees like in Iraq ,health problems, work problems, family problems. These are just a few and many more can find us.

So, I don't really know that much about motivation or drive but I do know one thing: Look and you'll find it!!

[Lester Curtis]

I'm really torn about making a printout of my novel project. I'd really like to, but . . . it's at 200 pages now, and I don't get much mileage out of one of those tiny $18 ink cartridges. The printer was free after a mail-in rebate when I bought the computer, but I really would have preferred to pay a few hundred for the machine and get the INK for free. (I know, wish in one hand . . . ) And, no, I won't buy the remanufactured cartridges; I did that once with a previous printer, and it leaked.

That wouldn't be so bad if the manuscript didn't keep changing all the time . . . keeping some sort of order of all the revisions in printout would be a project in its own right. So, I keep a backup on flash drive, latest revision only. Okay; I've got a couple old versions, and out-takes in a file called 'random.' Once in a while I access that to look for some detail or other.

Besides, I've got enough three-ring binders around here already (three of 'em just for this project) and I know I'd need a bigger one for the entire MS.

So, I do everything in the box o' chips, and very seldom print any of it.

[Lester Curtis]

Meanwhile, you didn't say "submission manuscript", you said you wanted a printout. So kill all the margins down to 0.3" and make the font very small, 8 point tops, single spaced. I bet that would shrink it down to 150 pages!

Sorry, I didn't gather from your post that you were using it commercially -- you didn't say "submission manuscript" either. If I decide to print this thing, I'll leave it as is, with 3/4" margins (leaving room for the 3-hole punch) and 12-point font for comfortable reading. I have actually thought of printing it double-spaced in a non-proportional font like Courier. Same amount of ink, but well over twice the pages. Naaah.

As I remarked above in the early posts, I reaffirmed that I have a physical, hands on, visual style of working, so I think you would also get some writing benefit out of a printout! Just drawing big nasty circles annotated "what was I thinking? My 'genius character' is a moron!" with a big arrow pointing to something, for me, is something that the "always clean" computer copy doesn't quite give.

I have also often enjoyed reading a printout and marking it up; double-spacing and reasonable margins makes markup easier. I've achieved the same result onscreen, though, by just highlighting the text and typing notes in-line.

Worst case, save your printer for smaller note files, like 10 pages, then just go to Staples or Kinko's and spend a couple bucks to get a spiral-vinyl bound copy. I definitely recommend writers have an emergency backup copy anyway, just to stopgap catastrophes.

The emergency backup is my main motivation. But I looked at Kinkos online to see what their prices were -- they don't publish their prices online. If I went there, I'd just get the thing printed and punch it at home and install it in a binder. Funny; when I was a kid in school, I hated 3-ring binders; these days I consider them one of the most wonderful tools I have. Of course, they get different treatment now then they did then.

[Lester Curtis]

"Comfortable reading?" - Who needs Comfortable in an Emergency Backup! : )

Well, that was MAIN motivation, not the totality. If I actually printed the thing, I'd quite likely want to sit in my nice cozy chair and read it.

And, in the event that I had to actually use the print backup AS an emergency copy -- and transcribe from it -- I would defintely want comfortable. The little bit of extra ink and paper don't bother me much to have a copy I can use without eyestrain.

The damn thing would go obsolete too fast, though. Just today, I rearranged the very first sentence in the book, due to a suggestion I got from an article on the Writers Digest website.

Hell, it could be worse -- a lot worse -- remember typewriters and carbon-packs? I do . . .

[Lester Curtis]

A late confession -- a couple weeks ago, I did go out and pay for a printout of my whole MS . . . 199 pages at that time . . . then had to buy a 2" binder to hold it. Cost about $25, and I honestly thought the thing would just sit on the shelf, but I've actually been USING it.

Don't know why, but I can sit and read that thing and find all kinds of little technical errors. Then I run back to the computer and make the corrections (and ALWAYS hit "save").

The delightfulness of ring binders: upon modifying a large portion of text, I printed off the several new pages, colored their edges with highlighter, and stuck 'em in with the original.

I picked up a really cool little tip from an article on the Writers Digest website -- to check the consistency of your characters' dialog, start with a clean printout, then go through with highlighters and highlight each character's quotes in a different color (they suggest doing one color/character at a time). Then you can follow a character's speech throughout and look for inconsistencies.

[Lester Curtis]

For a while recently, I was struggling with the chronological order of a short series of events in my main character's life, and it was keeping me from writing the events themselves.

I had notes of these events in scattered places: handwritten notes in a notebook I work ideas in, dictated notes on a pocket voice recorder, and a couple of story calendars (concise and detailed versions).

Then I came up with this: yet another timeline, done in TextEdit (Apple's version of Notepad). It sits behind and to the side of my WP window, and I've also printed a copy to include with my concise calendar.

It's easy to edit, and keeps everything in order, in one place. Color codes give status of a passage at a glance.

NOTE: The board won't translate my tabs, so the column separation is lacking. It looks better in the original, trust me. Use your imagination.

All dates expressed in years and months in the left column give Leeta's (the main character's) age, in terms of the 14-month year of his home world, Sayet. Where there's a date below that, it is also Sayet's year and month. These also serve as chapter titles in the story.

****************************************************************

COLOR CODE: FINISHED
NEEDS REVISION
IN PROCESS
NOT BEGUN
***********************************************************

4 mo Alfred takes Ketenn & Leeta on mountain vacation

2 yrs 9 mo Kobler

3 yrs Sayet's location found; slavers there

3 yrs 11 mo Ketenn & Leeta arrive on Sayet

3 yrs 12 mo Leeta sent back to Earth

3 yrs 13 mo Leeta arrives back on Earth

4 yrs Leeta adopted by MacAllens

8 yrs 1 mo Leeta's birthday ride with Capt. Okeke

8 yrs 8 mo Leeta begins adolescence

9 yrs Nancy Shearwater

9 yrs 6 mo Maturation

10 yrs Leeta begins trade route
Farewell to Nancy
Farewell to MacAllens, Alfred, Griffin

?? TFT rejects Charter
Griffin moves Company HQ to Jettison

14 yrs 10 mo Leeta returns to Sayet
Leeta gets job, house, car, driver, etc.

14 yrs 11 mo Finish party scene after Leeta takes Hapahyen

15 yrs 1 mo Leeta & Hapahyen visit the G'Kuhru

16 yrs Neela & Onah born

17 yrs 3 mo Mifil & Kanti get boatworks

18 yrs Taki & Kee born

19 yrs 10 mo Hapahyen killed
3434, 4th mo


19 yrs 11 mo headstone
3434, 5th mo Melah delivers Schindl money
Charter mail about plaque
Kuah talks to Leeta at lunch
Plaque finished; talk w/family about it
Scholarship established


19 yrs 12 mo Schindl royalty check
3434, 6th mo Project update call from Passai
Hapahyen's posthumous Academy certificate -- notification
Leeta takes a day off

19 yrs 13 mo Hapahyen's posthumous Academy certificate -- presentation
3434, 7th mo


20 yrs Leeta meets Melah at spaceport
3434, 8th mo Leeta considers buying/improving property
Experimental craft launched



20 yrs 1 mo Schindl ceremony -- Leeta meets Melah again
3434, 9th mo Melah promoted to Grade 4 Bridge Crew (piloting for Goden)
Construction begins on full-scale ship
Crew selection begins for exploration ship
Notification that Leeta & family are offered berths on exploration ship
Leeta takes kits for ride in Xebec


20 yrs 4 mo Confrontation
3434, 12 mo Leeta visits Hapahyen's grave
Leeta posts his availability for a mate
Leeta resigns from office job
Leeta evaluating mate candidates (ONGOING)
Project administration (ONGOING)
Find an elder for the ship's crew


20 yrs 5 mo Leeta's going-away party at office
3434, 13 mo A day aboard the G'Kuhru with kits


20 yrs 6 mo Giving the car to Anji, with papers, cash, references
3434, 14 mo Leeta tells elders to donate Gahn's house
Leeta goes through Hapahyen's stored possessions


20 yrs 7 mo Cruise
3435 Leeta & Melah mated
Crew & passengers board exploration vessel
Naming the ship


20 yrs 11 mo Exploration ship launches
3435, 5 mo


21 yrs Leeta & Melah's baby born (female -- name?)
3435, 7 mo