New stance on the book

Emma B

Ok the book is still a struggle. It's like a big tangle I'm trying to unravel! This is my third time trying to go over it. I just wish there were more hours in the day.

So at the moment I am going through the book in whole. Trying to do it in a timescale so I don't miss where I have perhaps duplicated things. I still feel I have additional parts I need to put in.

What I am trying to say is- Any tips??

At least I know I have learnt ALOT of how I would do things differently.

HPRW

Emma, if you know how to use the endnote function in Word, that might help you unravel it a little.

What you do is summarise each scene in a few words, and add them as endnotes (not footnotes) to the text. When you've done all that, you're left with endnotes which provide you with a very rough outline of the whole thing, and make it easier to see what's missing, or in the wrong place.

Once you've got your story straight, you then go through the text compiling a style-sheet as you go (which notes how you format titles, use colons and brackets, all that sort of thing; also can note details about characters, locations, etc., to make sure you keep all the details straight) so you've got something to refer to each time you do something repetitive.

It does speed things up for me, at least.

Jools

Emma, I'm not nearly as far on as you are with your book, but I'd like to say that I have been using yWriter4 and find it extremely useful. It's free to download and it helps to map out and keep track of your book. You give each scene within each chapter a brief outline or summary so you can spot duplication immediately. It also flags up the character names in blue within each scene so you can spot at a glance who's in each one. Give it a look.