Keeping organized is hard to do

This is the first of a series of articles on tips for writing that fellow writers and editors have prepared. Its author is Stephen Nelson, who has two decades of experience in editing and writing publishing policy. Retired after 35 years from the Public Service, he edits novels for yet published and published authors as well as manages his Facebook Page called Growing Up On A Dairy Farm. He writes and posts farm related stories and photos. He is also a NaNoWriMo participant and achieved the 50,000 word count twice.

Keeping organized is hard to do
By Stephen Nelson
Sometimes I wonder if I work more on the preparation before I start writing my novel. I know I’m a Planner, but I expect most people don’t organize to the extent I do. Hopefully, what I share here will benefit other writers.
Whatever genre or subject matter I write; keeping material in different electronic folders is a handy way to efficiently access them when needed.
The main directory name is the subject matter title or the working novel title. The main directory holds the following folders or files:Raw Notes. This folder is where I put all the information I find about the subject or ideas for the novel.
By experience, URLs can be broken and inaccessible when I go back to them to retrieve the material I want to read again or use. It takes longer and makes a bigger file, but I copy and paste the information from the URL or website into this file including the URL, its title and date retrieved in the Source. This is good to have when compiling a bibliography.
Journal. This file is where I keep track of the day-to-day activity I do on the subject matter or novel. It could be from creating characters, researching, writing the post about someone, sending emails etc. Depending on the length of the project in time, I might colour code the entries by topic to find them easier.
Writing new entries above the last entry makes it easier to locate and avoids scrolling down through the file to begin.
Research. This folder contains the files for each item or subject researched. You never know what you might find that will be useful for your novel or story. A science fiction novel allows the imagination to roam. Science magazines can provide material that the average reader might not about. The writer could use the ideas as a base point to think “outside the box”.
Historical genres require research in weather (if non-fictional and critical to the story), occupations, toys and games, society, fashion, transportation, language, culture, current events of the day. You don’t want to have an invention used in an historical novel which wasn’t invented yet, unless it’s speculative science fiction for example.
Photos of houses, landscapes, fashion, toys, vehicles and people can give inspiration for writing descriptions. The facial features of different men or women can be combined into a character.
Contacts. I use an Excel spreadsheet file for my contacts. Column headings are the Name of the person contacted, Website URL or Magazine, Email Address, Phone No. and Approved. I put the approved email in a Permissions folder.
Bibliography. I list the sources I use as I write in a Bibliography file which saves me from doing it at the end of the process. It also avoids missing a source if I do the bibliography when I am finished the story or novel.
To Do. I keep a file where I identify things to add or delete. Under the novel’s chapter numbers, I keep track of any research needed, changing character names, adjusting chapter content, location and setting verification etc. I add the items I did to the Journal folder.