Novel Writing on a Computer

The other day I was asked how I go about writing a novel on the computer and how I organize each novel I'm working on.

I find this is a really individual thing.

Some people make a file name for their novel, start at page 1 and keep going until they get to the end.

Personally, I like to separate each chapter into a different folder. I make my main folder, eg: "SHADOW RUNNERS" and then put each chapter inside that folder under a different file name, eg: Chapter One, Chapter Two - you get the idea.

I do it that way so if there are any glitches and I lose what I'm working on, at worst I'll lose one whole chapter, but I won't lose the whole book. And believe me, that has happened to me a couple of times due to power failures and computer failures. It's a wonder my heart is still beating. There's nothing worse than watching your work disappear and not be able to recover it. You go numb, then you get that awful sick, sinking feeling. Then, if you're like me, you'll cry. Show me a writer who hasn't had that happen at least once!

I'm also a manic saver. I have the auto save feature on every couple of minutes. I save my work all the time manually too. I save everything onto two separate CDs, onto a separate memory stick, and onto our secondary computer in the next room. Not only that, but I always print out each chapter after I've finished working on it.

Call me paranoid, but I've been devastated a few times by computer failures that obliterated months of careful writing and rewriting at times when I hadn't gotten around to printing my work out. Even though I managed to write everything again, I was always convinced it wasn't quite the same.

When I'm ready to put the whole novel together, I simply open a new file and import each chapter into it one at a time. AND I save it after each import.

Yes, I know that's time consuming, but it's safe -- if anything can ever be totally safe on a computer.

So there you have it. That's the way I like to work.

Now... have I saved that latest chapter? Have I printed it out yet?

I'd better go and take my own advice. See you later.