I've tried many way to keep my notes organized. I
currently have 6 novels planned for the Exalted Bloodlines series. I'm
considering doing a few side stories as well.
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As I'm sure you can imagine, that means a lot of
notes. When you consider all the notes I have from research to weave my
mythology into the history of the world and from developing a culture, well,
let's just say organization is important.
It's taken me a lot of experimentation to figure
out a system that works for me. I started with just writing things down. Very
quickly, however, I had notes everywhere.
So, I did the logical thing and collected all of
my notes into one notebook. However, I quickly encountered several problems.
1. Changing ideas meant crossing things out. I'm anal retentive about
"final notes" and couldn't stand that
2. Later additions would be pages away from their relevant notes. Nothing
too terrible at first thought, but a pain in the butt when you're referencing
things later.
3. You have to keep the notebook with you. If you leave the notebook
behind and you have a sudden idea, you can't double check your notes, or add
to/adjust them.
4. There's only 1 copy. I was lucky I never lost my notes. But if I had,
they'd be gone forever.
So I knew I had to use another system. Already an
avid user of Google Drive for my ancestry research, I decided to give that
platform a go for my series notes.
I'm not going to tell anyone what they should or
shouldn't do, but I highly suggest trying Google Drive. Allow me to give you a
run down of my favorite features.
1. It's everywhere. I have access to my files anywhere I go. As long as I have my phone, I
have all my notes. And if I'm concerned I won't have decent signal, I can make
the files available offline so so it
doesn't matter.
2. Unlimited Storage. Google files, whether they be docs, spreadsheets, or presentations, are
"free" to store. So you can have an unlimited number of files.
3. Sharing. If I want to share a section of a WIP or the whole manuscript, I can
just share it via email. The other person can view, comment, or edit, depending
on the settings I choose.
4. Version History. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had a "brilliant idea"
only to come back a few weeks later and determine that I was an idiot. Google
maintains a version history documenting every change from the time the document
was created, and they can be restored as necessary.
5. Downloads. Downloading is super simple for back-ups, and you can download
individual files in a wide variety of formats. Need to work in Word? No
problem. Want an ePub to read through things on your phone? No problem.
6. Organization. Last, but not least, I've made it back to the main topic,
organization. You can sort your files however you want, and you can have as
many folders as you want, so whatever organizational structure you prefer, you
should be able to maintain it.
I know there are pitfalls to storing things
"in the cloud", but there are problems with all of the
organizational/storage methods I've tried.
Google has worked best, so far. I keep notes in
folders for each book, as well as a separate folder for series notes in
general, with individual files for each topic point.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter how you organize
things, as long as it works for you. If you have a favorite
organizational/storage structure, let me know in the comments, or shoot me a
message on Facebook, Instagram,
or Twitter.
Rachel de la Fuente (meaning of the fountain) lives in
Maryland with the love of her life and two furry children that meow. The Most
Special Chosen is her first novel, but it's hardly her first story. She's been
writing since elementary school, and telling stories since she could speak. She
is an avid fountain pen enthusiast with a bit of an ink problem, and often
writes book notes and sections of stories by hand.
Rachel was born and raised in southern California, but
spent many summers with family in Mexico. Her parents loved traveling, so she
also spent many vacations in various locations, soaking up foreign cultures and
sights. She still loves to travel, and is committed to crossing all of the
locations off her bucket list.
Rachel is a proud Slytherin, and when not writing,
spends much of her free time reading, cross stitching, and watching
documentaries.
You can find and contact Rachel de la Fuente here:
- Website: http://racheldelafuente.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorracheldlf/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorracheldlf
-
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_racheldlf/
- Newsletter: https://racheldelafuente.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d9c28d9c11226013eb8c0544e&id=fb56c60d55
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