Extra words

Sort of, I keep finding that I've missed out descriptions of places and people in trying to get the action written down, so I keep adding extra little scenes in that have a note under them saying 'when you come to edit put this description somewhere in the previous scene'... I'm sort of afraid my inner editor might get loose if I try and put the description actually into the relevant scene.

Oh the beloved Asterisk.

Not only am I not writing my novel in order of scene or chapter (i'm marking them out though) but i'm littering it with asterisks and arrows and large {'s, whatever they are called. Sorting that stuff out is for the second draft. Aaaand for a future me who I know will despise his past me for making so much work for him. Hi future me.

Try using Word Styles. I use Header 2 for my 'chapter' titles (there's a good reason not to use Header 1 at all, but I can't remember it) and Header 3 for 'Notes'. I make the latter reddish (red feels like a teacher's marked it) in a larger font, with a negative left margin and numbered. Set up a keyboard shortcut (Alt-` for note, Alt-1 for normal... working along the top line of the keyboard) and finally insert a contents page. You get:-

Contents
Chapter One - It begins.........................1
1. Put a better opening line in..............1
2. Describe Frank here.........................2
etc, etc.

A lot of effort and fiddling, but now can spot your notes easily, know how many there are and the contents page is both a complete list of things-to-do and acts as a hyperlink to them. When there aren't any in the contents, there aren't any to hunt for in the text.

And a contents page counts towards your word count.

Cheers,

David.

Cheers,

David.

So glad I am not the only hitting the story narrative full throttle! I have thought to myself many times these last three days that my descriptive passages were thin on the ground, even for me!

I am liking the use of chapters designed just to describe people, locations, to later edit directly into the text. I feel sure I will turn to such chapters when the stream of my story telling abandons me for a while. Which it wil at some stage I am sure.

I'm using yWriter (big thanks to whoever it was suggested that by the way, it's awesome) it keeps stuff divided into scenes and it's always possible to add in an extra one, and it keeps notes associated with each scene, sadly for my word count such notes aren't added to the total, but it does make them very easy to find.

Ditto on yWriter. What a find that is. A great piece of freeware.

Only problem with that for me is I'm using a notepad and pen lol. Also can I point out to those who are using microsoft word the very nifty Comments feature, which adds a comment in a side margin, hilights the text in red the comment is for and points to the comment from it.

In Word 2007, follow these steps:

1. Select the text you would like to comment upon
2. Open the Review ribbon, select New Comment in the Comments section
3. In the balloon that appears in the right margin, type your comment
4. Click anywhere in the document to continue editing the document

To insert a comment, follow these steps in Word 2003:

1. Select the text you would like to comment upon
2. From the Insert menu, select Comment (or click on the New Comment button on the Reviewing toolbar)
3. In the balloon that appears in the right margin, type your comment
4. Click anywhere in the document to continue editing the document

The text will have red lines surrounding it, and a dotted red line will connect it to the comment.

To delete a comment, simply right click on the balloon and select Delete Comment.

All true, but it doesn't generate a list of comments in the contents page and I prefer the control over the layout.

Mostly importantly my way counts towards your wordage - twice, once in the text and once in the contents page itself.

Each to their own, of course.

Cheers,

David.

Cheers,

David.

You shouldn't really include your contents and notes in the word count, though.

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