Organizing Research—Electronic Files

When I first began writing, all research I did was at the library. Now with the internet, I find myself turning there first. When I find a reliable site with valuable information, I save it.

Knowing that not all internet sites are reliable, I still use books, too. I like to keep paper to a minimum, though, so scanning articles or saving them to a file are great green options.

How do you save all this research and still be able to find it when you need it? First, there is the old standby—My Favorites on Internet Explorer. Create folders and sub-folders as you need them to separate by subject. Keep the folder structure parallel to the structure in your computer files. Export your Favorites file on a regular basis to back it up.

You can also save your bookmarks to online sites. There are social bookmark sites like Digg.com and Delicio.us, which share your bookmarks with others. Or there are sites like Mybookmarks.com, which saves your favorites on the internet so you can access them anywhere from any computer.

When you come across a site with information you'd like to save, just add it to your Favorites folder.

Knowing how the internet keeps changing, and sites disappear, I like to create a backup of my pages. I copy and paste the content into a word document and save the document on my computer using the same folder structure as my Favorites. Then when the page disappears, I still have the information.

If you are the type who likes to keep paper to a minimum, then I suggest scanning any articles or book content you want to save. Rather than keeping a hard copy of the article in a file, scan it and save it. You can always print it out later if necessary. If the source is not obvious on the page, be sure to note it somewhere in the document.

You can save your research by project, or by subject. Sometimes information is needed across projects, especially if you are writing a series. These articles should be saved to a general folder. Then articles specific to a project can be saved with that project.

What are some of your favorite research sites?

Handling InBox Overwhelm

Who isn't overwhelmed by emails these days? Check out this post on my organizing blog for tips on how to manage the mail clutter.

Managing Your Email Inbox:
http://primabydesign.blogspot.com/2012/02/managing-your-email-inbox.html

What do you do to keep your emails in control?

Organizing Electronic Files

From our first post, Blythe Gifford asked this question: "How can I best organize my electronic files surrounding a manuscript? Versions, partial scenes, and all those pesky things!"

The first rule in saving your files of any type is to be consistent. This applies to file and folder names as well as contents. So when you start work on a manuscript, you will want to create a master folder for this project. For purposes of this article, let's use "Gone With the Wind" as the working title. This will be the name of your main folder.

Within this folder will be subfolders for the different areas of work, such as Blythe mentioned above. But to keep file names simple, we'll go with initials. We'll start all our subfolders with "GWTW_," then add the contents of that folder. So for your characterization notes, your folder would be named "GWTW_characters".

Here are some subfolders you will want to create: Research, chapters, partial scenes, submissions, contest entries, plotting, book signings, marketing, etc. Most of these will be consistent between manuscripts. But you may need to add new folders for special projects.

Within each subfolder will be files and possibly more folders. For example, your submissions subfolder will only have one file containing a list of all submissions related to the project. But your characters subfolder will have a separate folder for each character--"GWTW_characters_Rhett", "GWTW_characters_Scarlett," etc. Then within each character's folder will be their characterization chart, family tree, and any research related to that character such as photos you scanned.

Your characters, once created, will not change. Chapter as you write them, though, will have several versions. Save a copy of each version as you create it. Always save earlier versions of your work separately--do not save over them. You might need to refer back to them some day.

To follow our example, say you have two separate versions of chapter three. The first folder will be named "GWTW_Chapter3_v1_mmyy." You could use either the date or version number alone, but having the two together will make it easier to find files when they are listed alphabetically in your folder. The second version would be named "GWTW_Chapter3_v2_mmyy."

For miscellaneous notes and scenes, create a general folder (GWTW_Misc) for saving these files. Be specific in naming your files. If you attach these files to a specific chapter at some point, then move these files to the appropriate chapter folder.

Again, the key is to be consistent. Whatever string you use for naming your files, use that same naming system for all your works in progress.

Finally, the most important thing to remember is to back up everything! Use an online backup service such as Carbonite for ongoing security. In addition, back up your files to a flash drive or external hard drive once a week or month. For maximum security, copy your files to a flash drive and give it to a friend or family member for safe-keeping. It never hurts to be too careful.