Thread: Template for sequencing in novel – something simple needed.

As I get further into my novel I find various events occurring out of sync with other events. For example, I might write something that can only have occurred in 2008 and then later might write something else that can only have occurred in 1975. Or I have a guy doing something in one place that’s a minimum four hours travel from where he was only two hours ago.

Obviously this type of thing crops up with other writers. What I need is a simple method of recording and juggling these time and place types of things somewhere away from the actual writing so that I can make the story flow.

Ideas, anyone?

I'm not sure what to do about the timeline difficulties, but for distances, I drew myself a map with the paint application, so I'd know how many days travel, and whether I'd be traveling north, south, etc. where the sun would be, in my eyes or whatnot. Makes it easy to find the names of cities, rivers...
Unfortunatly, I can't change that map when I get new ideas, so I'd better draw one by hand in pencil for changes and tack in a useful place. Or, if this is based on our earth, photocopy or print a map and draw your notes upon it.

I had to make a calender. And now, I'm having to make another one, when I realized the sequencing of the first one didn't really work. I'll make as many as I need to, I guess. It's a lot of work but it makes the story seem real for me.

It seems like just a timeline of events would be easily drawn up, so then you can keep track of what's happened, and add events in between. I also second Eluxia's idea of a handwritten map to help, but sometimes all that's needed is google maps open in a window that lets you know exactly how long a particular journey should take. Is this the sort of thing you were looking for?

Eluixa - Why can't you change the map you make in Paint? I create many drawings in Paint, then edit as needed to get what I want. All you need do is open the drawing again in Paint, make your changes, then save with a new file name. This way you keep your original intact. You can erase and redraw parts of the drawing as many times as you like and keep as many versions as you like. Many of the illustrations in the Newsletter began as drawings in Paint. It's a much undervalued programme.

xO - Nick mentioned Google Maps, and that reminded me of how I made a map of McRae County, Mississippi. There is no such county, of course, but I borrowed bits and pieces from various locations and assembled a map, then reworked it in Gimp and added an index that used letters on the map to correlate with a timeline of events in the series of sketches I'm writing called Seven Miles on a Dirt Road. Thus a point marked 'g' on the map is listed in the index as 'Dead Dog Curve'. The references to this geographical point are cross-referenced to the timeline so I know that on a certain date something happened there or someone mentioned the site.

Why don't you just create a separate document detailing an itinerary for each of your characters? Just a simple outline format would be easy enough.

Char 1-

8:00 AM: Wakes up
-feels apprehensive about where he will be in just eight hours time

11:00 AM: Boards plane
-passes time mulling over personal conflict, then takes a nap

3:00 PM: Arrives at destination

With a separate sheet for each character, then you can easily flip through them and see the discrepancies. If you needed to note something that happened far back into the past, I'd probably use a sticky note to draw my attention to it, but if you're only using the computer, then you could just use parenthesis and change your text color so that you notice it.

I solve the problem by maintaining one plot and one point of view throughout my story. If travel time comes up, I check Google Maps for an estimate. Finally, just to keep track of everything, I have a calendar that contains all the major plot points. The added bonus there is that if I know when an event happens, I know what the weather is going to be like, which helps when setting the scene.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

As I get further into my novel I find various events occurring out of sync with other events. For example, I might write something that can only have occurred in 2008 and then later might write something else that can only have occurred in 1975. Or I have a guy doing something in one place that’s a minimum four hours travel from where he was only two hours ago.

Obviously this type of thing crops up with other writers. What I need is a simple method of recording and juggling these time and place types of things somewhere away from the actual writing so that I can make the story flow.

Ideas, anyone?

I keep a note pad to keep track of events for every novel. And I also keep a secondary file on my computer detailing my timeline for a story. I also keep a reference sheet I have made up which gives approximate speeds of travel possible by various modes (airplanes, production cars by decade, horseback, etc.) so that I don't violate any laws of physics unless I have a good explanation as to why.

I think I managed to keep it all in my head. But I am ok because my story only spans about 2 weeks. It spans across the globe but I am not giving names of countries or definate locations to the reader. I suppose you could make a time chart, starting with the first event and listing the others chronologically?

Originally Posted by garza

Eluixa - Why can't you change the map you make in Paint? I create many drawings in Paint, then edit as needed to get what I want. All you need do is open the drawing again in Paint, make your changes, then save with a new file name. This way you keep your original intact. You can erase and redraw parts of the drawing as many times as you like and keep as many versions as you like. Many of the illustrations in the Newsletter began as drawings in Paint. It's a much undervalued programme.

Oh, wow! Thank you Garza! My map found it's way to Documents somehow, and I thought it was now 'as is'. That helps immensely!

If you're looking for a software to help you track this you could try Evernote. I've been using it to organize quite a few different projects. If it doesn't look like something you want, no problem.

Eluxia - You are very welcome. One further tip. Do not compress you image until you have finished editing it. By default, Paint produces a bit-map, .bmp, image which is uncompressed. When you convert the file to a format like .jpg, the file is compressed. That's good and bad. Good, because the compressed file takes up far less space than the bit-mapped file. Bad, because a compressed file loses just a bit of detail. When you reopen the file, then save it as a .jpg again, it's compressed again. Do that a few times and you'll see a loss of quality. Work with your image as a bit-map until you have it the way you want it, then save as .jpg, .png, or whatever.

With something like a map used as part of a story guideline, you may never have a 'final' version, but want to continue to edit. In such a case plan to keep only one or two 'backup' versions, files you can go back to in the event you don't like your most recent changes.

Originally Posted by garza

Eluxia - You are very welcome. One further tip. Do not compress you image until you have finished editing it. By default, Paint produces a bit-map, .bmp, image which is uncompressed. When you convert the file to a format like .jpg, the file is compressed. That's good and bad. Good, because the compressed file takes up far less space than the bit-mapped file. Bad, because a compressed file loses just a bit of detail. When you reopen the file, then save it as a .jpg again, it's compressed again. Do that a few times and you'll see a loss of quality. Work with your image as a bit-map until you have it the way you want it, then save as .jpg, .png, or whatever.

If you have a better editing program than Paint, it's generally okay to save JPEGs in those; the algorithm is MUCH better and you'll see a lot fewer artifacts in the image. If you absolutely must compress the image in Paint, save it as a .png file instead of .jpg file.

Also, hard drives are huge and images are small. If the image is going to remain on your computer, there's really no reason to save it as anything other than a .bmp file if you don't have to.

Gamer_2k4 - Thanks for the additional info. What programme do you believe does the best for compressing, and is .png really that much better? I have both PhotoShop and Gimp. Which would you say is better for compressing?