It is a bear sometimes.
My “Mage Duel on a Bus” novella has ground to halt. Not only am I unsure of the ending, but I need to work out the continuity of not only the novella, but where it fits and how it affects and is affected by all the other pieces in this setting.
oof dah…
I suppose this is the danger of writing stories using the same setting. You build a mythology and continuity and you have to live with it once you’ve published a piece. Or several pieces that are part of a larger whole. I’ve been writing and selling stories in my Magical Twin Cities setting since 2005. I’ve sold 13 short stories and one novel using this setting. I’ve written three yet-to-be-sold novels, outlined three more novels, and now have this novella as part of the setting. I have a lot invested in this Magical Twin Cities setting (Beloved Spouse says I need to come up with an actual name for this setting, something unique, descriptive, and recognizable).
There is a lot of continuity to deal with.
What’s worse, if the Oklahoma rural fantasies I’m writing are part of this setting (right now they don’t have any published characters in common, but do share a magical system), then it adds another seven short stories and one novella to the whole mess.
Not that I’m complaining. This is a great problem to have. But it is a problem, because I have to keep everything consistent with everything else and there are stories all up and down the setting’s timeline. I suppose I need to create some kind of spreadsheet or wiki or something to help me keep track of everything (characters, timeline of events, changes to the setting, rules for magic, rules for monsters, etc) going on in this setting.
And all the other settings I’ve been writing stories for. Besides the Magical Twin Cities setting, there is the Oklahoma Rural Fantasy setting (seven short stories, one novella, and touched on lightly in two of the MTC unsold novels), the Space Opera setting (12 short stories), the Sword and Sorcery world (The Dolenbyd Cycle, with five short stories and a yet-to-be-sold novel), the Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction / Urban Fantasy setting (two novellas and three short stories) and the Gaslights and Grimoires Steampunk setting (two novellas).
As an aside: Yes, I count yet-to-be-sold novels, novellas, and other works as being part of the continuity. I am a firm believer that I will sell everything I write. Seriously. Yes, once I sell them they will come in for some serious rewrites which may change how they affect the overall continuity of the series, but rewrites after you’ve sold the novel are just part of the editorial process.
So, my fellow writers, readers, tech-geeks, and friends, how would you suggest I handle keeping track of…well…everything?
I’ve never needed to track continuity between multiple works of fiction, but I have needed to do the same during roleplaying games – and sometimes the continuity within a given work of fiction can be something of a beast.
Spreadsheets are a good means of handling the charts of material, but they don’t permit you to get too detailed with the information they contain. Wikis (or their home equivalent) can be useful for containing information, but don’t necessarily give you the sort of cross-referencing that you might need.
I’ve personally typically used drawn timelines with key events noted in relation to each other. Sometimes I’ve used print outs of historical calendars to track the span of time between events, which are then footnoted to more detailed descriptions — but in reality, most of the work of data tracking is done within my own head. All the other tools are just a way of helping me to create a mental framework into which the narrative(s) can be fitted. In that sense, whatever helps get you there is going to be the best possible answer – and only trial and error will help resolve that question.
These are some of the things I’m trying to sort out.
A list of characters, including what stories they appear in, where they fit in the setting, and who they are connected to.
Timeline of events. Mostly the big ones, so I can remember what happened at what point in the timeline of the setting.
Supernatural add ons and major physical changes to the setting. For examples, adding phantom streetcars and what it means to the setting if I burn down Landmark Center.
Rules for magic. How it works, limitations, how it behaves, who uses it, etc
Rules for monsters. What they are, what they can and cannot due, how they fit in the setting, etc.
I am sure there are things I haven’t even thought of yet.
The novels I’m writing at the moment have a team of about three hundred people. Obviously, only a few of those feature heavily in the books. I need to be careful of the others though, making sure I don’t have a character turn up in the second book who I mentioned being killed in the first or talk about someone getting promoted who was already a senior member of the team.
I created a spreadsheet with every team member I’d named, a few details about each one (country of origin, a bit of physical description, rank, etc.), whether they die, whether they get promoted and so on. This means I can glance at this spreadsheet when I need to mention a background character and make sure I’m not contradicting myself.