Has anyone tried structuring their books using a database?
I'm just doing so at the moment, seeing as it's a new project. I will let you know how it goes... but... who has done this before? Any tips?
I'm really curious to know how it affects my writing.
Hi Nicola,
Sounds really interesting. Definitely worth experimenting with if you have the technical skill to do so. Geekery is most definitely creativity in my book.
Software engineers and writers of the world, unite!
;-)
Kind of...
If you have each paragraph tagged with keywords you can pull them out into a document which looks just like you wrote it straight into a word doc, however you can filter in or out certain content. You shouldn't need to scroll to compare two chapters.
I'm writing it as I wish it to appear in a novel, however there is the possibility of linking sections into video games or including mature content, or reading the story over from the perspective of your favourite character.
Something really surprised me yesterday - I sat down to plan and ended up with a 700 word story for 6yo children which was set within the reality of the novel.
There is also the potential to link it up with fan fiction in the future - especially if people can refer to guides about characters and events and then write from them.
I realise I am a hypocrite after being unimpressed by The Guardian article the other week, but I've been really thinking about this... and things become clearer when you crack open the database. I'm a geek at heart, please forgive me.
I tried it and rapidly gave up. This might reflect a lack of IT skills - but I found that the problem I ran slap into was that I couldn't see enough of the base at any one time. For example - I couldn't check what was going on in chapter 1 against chapter 7 or 15 without a lot of scrolling backwards and forwards. As I say - this could have been my lack of skill.
I also found that setting up and keeping up the database took up too much time for me.
What I have done a little of is to create a pencilled chart. I am fortunate in that I can get hold of 50 foot lengths of paper and (the important bit) put them through a machine that folds them to A4 or A3 size. I usually split these into shorter lengths to fit them into my room! These charts can be really useful because I can physically see from one end to the other in one go. I can even stand little markers on them. I imagine that people could tape A4 or A5 sheets together to achieve the same thing.
I suppose that one might print out a database and do something of the kind - but pencil on paper is just quicker for me.
Hope this helps.
David