Story and Calendar Management
It's been a long few weeks, Lurkdom. I've reread my WIP about six times and now have 13 pages of revision notes to implement. In addition to the crazy amount of notes, I also have a 3 page long task list of things this revision must accomplish.
My revision process will hit the triple digits hours-wise.
The first thing on my task list was to create a timeline of events. This step may sound like a procrastinator's task, but when your story includes a ticking clock device, it's important to make sure that everything works within that time frame. (It's also important that events that happen on a Friday actually do happen on a Friday.)
Here's a snapshot of my timeline as it currently stands in my WIP. Not all the dates/days are specified within the story, so I had to guess a few things. The problem with that is that there's way too many unknowns. Then you develop the problem of large gaps in time. (If you don't believe, continue to look to your right.)
All events are written on post it notes. On days when there are multiple events, I used flags to write the events in. On the flags, each color represents a different character.
By putting my story's events on a timeline, I can see that way too much is happening in one spot. The entire novel is supposed to be over a seven-week period; there's no need for so much to happen in two weeks straight.
Now that I know what my current timeline looks like (and I've had a good cry over it), I can look to see what can move and what needs to be included. After a few hours, I've come up with a more evenly spaced out plot.
I still have the same time frame as before, but I moved the bulk of my events around. The addition of the dark blue post it notes tell me where to adjust time within the manuscript or ask me what else can happen in the white space. (The first two blue notes in September ask me this.)
There are still some events that are chunked together, but not as bad as before. Now when they're chunked, there's a legitimate reason. (I'm looking at you top right hand square.)
Of course, while working on this, new scenes popped up. I have no idea where they are supposed to go just yet so I grabbed another post it note (in white) and stuck the scene ideas on it. Then I slapped in on top.
Is this the final fall of all the scenes? Probably not. I have a lot of work cut out for me, but having a revised framework is useful. With the calendar, I know what happens on a particular day and whether or not it's feasible. I know where there is some wiggle room and if a particular character mentions the deadline is X amount of days away, I can double check.
Does anyone else use this technique as part of revision? What else do you do?
My revision process will hit the triple digits hours-wise.
The first thing on my task list was to create a timeline of events. This step may sound like a procrastinator's task, but when your story includes a ticking clock device, it's important to make sure that everything works within that time frame. (It's also important that events that happen on a Friday actually do happen on a Friday.)
 |
| What PHOENIX RISING currently looks like. |
All events are written on post it notes. On days when there are multiple events, I used flags to write the events in. On the flags, each color represents a different character.
By putting my story's events on a timeline, I can see that way too much is happening in one spot. The entire novel is supposed to be over a seven-week period; there's no need for so much to happen in two weeks straight.
Now that I know what my current timeline looks like (and I've had a good cry over it), I can look to see what can move and what needs to be included. After a few hours, I've come up with a more evenly spaced out plot.
 |
| What PHOENIX RISING *may* end up as. |
There are still some events that are chunked together, but not as bad as before. Now when they're chunked, there's a legitimate reason. (I'm looking at you top right hand square.)
Of course, while working on this, new scenes popped up. I have no idea where they are supposed to go just yet so I grabbed another post it note (in white) and stuck the scene ideas on it. Then I slapped in on top.
Is this the final fall of all the scenes? Probably not. I have a lot of work cut out for me, but having a revised framework is useful. With the calendar, I know what happens on a particular day and whether or not it's feasible. I know where there is some wiggle room and if a particular character mentions the deadline is X amount of days away, I can double check.
Does anyone else use this technique as part of revision? What else do you do?