Ok, so I started writing a story out of order. I know, not the usual way to go about things, but anyone who told you I was normal was lying ;)
I know it will be a story in 4 parts.
Rising Star
First Love
Betrayal and Loss
Phoenix Rising
I can get those to organize, no problems. That makes it so I can devote 3 weights per month and not run out of weights, and so my months organize.
Ok, so, when do I start making these organizer pages, since before I have something to actually go in there, it is just clutter, and before I have a significant number of pages in each, it is over organization.
I could eke 10 months worth of work on this without the organizer pages, but then again, it might end up seeming cluttered, and people will not have a good idea where a section of the story starts and stops.
I know. It is a bit confused. Welcome to my mind.
So, Make the empty part pages now, with the date range so people know where they stand?
Just toss random pages in until I'm done and then put the organizer pages?
Plan c, d, e, etc.?
Yes
Yes, you should do something. Even doing nothing is something.
Oh, you mean you want an answer to your question. Well, being a good consultant (yeah, I am one, a consultant anyway. Good - that's a subject for debate, I guess.) I'll say "it depends".
My suggestion - don't worry with an organizer page, until you have at least two "bits" to be organized. Empty place holders would only tend to frustrate readers... But, that's just my opinion.
Good Luck,
Anne
If you want your pages to look professionally organised...
The best plan is to wait until you need one.
If you have one story, put the chapters on your base page and sort them in order.
When you add a second story, make an organiser page for the first story and move the chapters/parts to the new organiser page. It will be fairly easy to do this, because you won't have far to move them. If the new story will have multiple chapters, you may as well make an organiser page for the first of the new parts. That way they're fairly symmetrical.
You might also think about what your whole plan is, and how many "levels" your organising scheme will consume.
Edna
-- MyStories
---- Fred Saga - 1
---- Fred Saga - 2
-- OtherStories
---- Fred Saga
------ Book 1
------ Book 2
Betty
-- Magic Stories
---- Poetry
------ Ode to a Toad
---- Sagas
------ Fred Saga
-------- Book 1 - Fred's Birth
-------- Book 2 - Edna's Part
---- Short Stories
-- Reality Bites
---- Book 1
---- Book 2
It pays to think about the final plan before you invest a lot in a scheme that won't carry you through, because it's tedious to have to run through dozens of files changing attachment points and levels.
As much as possible, try to arrange things so ordinary alphabetic and numeric sorting does almost everything, using weights as a last resort. This makes it quicker to place and update stories.
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Thanks
Had some PMs about this over the weekend. Decided to change how I was naming the pieces, including the day of the year in addition to the date. This makes sure that it will numerically organize.
Beyond that, I am thinking I will add my child organizer pages when I complete a part of the story. Sure it will be a lot of fixing, but it will cause less frustration on the parts of the readers, and it will be frustrating enough as it is, being all out of order and such.
He entered the hall to get warm. She left it two hundred years later.
Faeriemage