Calendars are wonderful things. Like, for instance, you can write on them, "don’t forget to write the article for Starbursts," and then. . .well, you can see how it works for me. But just as calendars can help us all keep track of our real lives, they are wonderful tools to help keep track of our fictitious characters’ lives, as well. Not that I didn’t already know that. I mean, in my historical romances, I always worked with a calendar. I charted more women’s menstrual cycles than my gynecologist! But somehow, working on my new series of hysterical mysteries, Life on Long Island Can Be Murder, I got so caught up in the joys of writing that I forgot I was the one in charge of the stories.
Sensing that there was something "off" when I re-read my first draft, and looking for any excuse not to forge ahead, I decided that organizing would be a useful thing to do with one of those ‘I just can’t think anymore!’ days. Can I say here that my life would have been infinitely easier if I’d done this organizing before I’d written three quarters of the book? Can I encourage anyone out there who is working on a book without using a calendar to stop and do this oh-so-obvious thing?
What did I find when I started plotting my book, chapter by chapter, on a calendar? That, incredibly, there were three weeks between the time my character’s daughter graduated from Middle School and left for camp. (Anyone with kids knows that you’ve got a week, tops, between school and camp.) I also found that while my main character had a traditional Thursday night out with the girls and also saw her psychiatrist on Thursdays, these scenes often appeared days apart, and with no reference to each other. Memorial Day reared it’s wonderful, very advantageous, wasn’t-that-lucky head (who knew?!) just where I needed it. There were dozens of things that came to light. Scenes that needed their orders switched. Changes in POVs because of pacing, or variety, or because suddenly I could see how much better it would work if someone else revealed that bit of information.
A book that was all over the place was suddenly developing focus. I had a handle on it.
This was a great thing, this organizing!
So I took it a step farther. I made a chart on the computer that had five columns. (Well, actually it had four and then I realized that I needed another, and I have no doubt that as I go along in my revisions, I’ll realize that I need six!) This is really easy to do in WordPerfect by going to Insert>table , and then telling it how many columns (five or six or whatever) and how many rows(the number of chapters or scenes, depending on how you want to do it. A utility bar appears at the top of the screen and if you need to add rows or columns you simply hit Table>Insert. Watch out for whether you want it above or below the row you are working on.)
My first column is simply the chapter number. Because I often have more than one scene in a chapter, I followed the chapter number with the scene number (ex.: Ch 2 S3).
The second column has the day of the week and the date. My protagonist’s husband is in retail and works on Saturday, but the kids are home. A scene that takes place on Monday ought to make some reference to the weekend past, don’t you think?
The third column has the POV the chapter is in (or the scene if there is more than one scene in a particular chapter). Seeing too many scenes in one character’s POV led me to consider using someone else’s and oh, what that led to! Of course it worked better that when Teddi’s husband was interviewed on the news we got her best friend’s slant on the man’s swagger.
A very short summary fills the fourth box – something as simple as ‘Teddi meets Si for the first time.’ Since a good deal of the chapters are already written, this was fairly easy. For additional ones, I add a little more detail or actually write down the plot point that needs to be covered.
The last box has what changes have to be made to the scene, or what details I shouldn’t forget (the hole in the yard! The weather. Bobbie is now a genuine friend – change all this!!). As you can see, I use the very sophisticated exclamation point rating system to remind myself of the degree of importance.
I’m using this chart as I write, hoping it will keep me on target. And I promise, pinky swear, that I will never start another book without a calendar in front of me.
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