"The Easy Way to Keep Track of Your Characters," by CEBailey
>> 12 November, 2009
How hard is it to keep track of characters in your Nanowrimo novel when your fingers are flying over the keypad and word count is the only rule? Difficult, but not impossible. You can use a Quick Table to help. No matter what word software you write with, there are simple tables available. “Insert” a table into your word document periodically when you add new characters. Highlight an entire row or column to add more or delete them.
Answer the important questions like who, what, when, where, and why for each character as you go. Then as you are writing you can go back and add new attributes. These simple tables help you recall where items and even characters are located.
Answer the important questions like who, what, when, where, and why for each character as you go. Then as you are writing you can go back and add new attributes. These simple tables help you recall where items and even characters are located.
Here’s an example of one for my Nanowrimo novel:
Who | Where | When | What | Why |
Indigo | Outside Melbourne | Chapter One | Suede Jacket, age 13 | Main Character |
Farmer Eldrich | Eldrich Farm | Chapter One | Hunchback | Owns Indigo’s contract |
The General | Town Square | End of Chapter One | Fat, horse, light green robes | Buys Indigo’s contract for his service |
Piper | The Manor | Chapter Two | Sandy hair, freckles | The General’s charge |
The Cook | The Manor | Chapter Two | Scar, former solider | Loyal servant |
Once you have these tables in place, you'll save time re-reading and never drop a character or forget about a potential plot device. Your writing will never suffer from inconsistencies. More than that, with the information visible and organized, you can pound out a few hundred words confident that you haven't missed a beat.
Have I actually used this table? No, no, this is what organized people do. I waste hours re-reading and avoid mentioning specific characters and their possessions for pages, because I can't quite recall when or where I wrote about it. Or, I write another lengthy word document full of lists and random descriptions rather than tables. You know the kind, the short and dull novel about the novel...yes, I do that.
However, it is a nice table and were I the organized type of person I dream to become, I would use it. Plus, it only took a minute or two rather than the hours that slip away when I write the novel's companion.
Do you have any time saving tips that you use or wish you did?
6 comments (add your own):
haha! Love the advice you don't follow. Good idea. I use something similar, though I generally draw up a table in excel, listing where they are first mentioned. I organize it in different ways. My last manuscript took place in 3 locations, so it was organized by where the characters were first introduced, and then suborganized by how they were known to the MC. I usually have a comments column as well for additional notes.
Your table is nice and simple and would work well for most books I think. Well done!
I am going to start using them :). What I like most about the idea is that I don't need a separate document with Quick Tables, it's like a bitty excell file in Word.
Thanks!
I couldn't make a table because that would take too much time! That comes when I edit.
I write the information out on paper. Almost too simple, though.
I love this. I always lose track. I think I'll be using it. Thank you so much!
I just started using it on my Nanowrimo novel and it has been a huge help :)
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