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One file or many?

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melindamusil

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Just curious... do you prefer to store your WIP in one long document or multiple files? For a long time I've been storing individual chapters in different files but i'm debating merging those into one long document.
 

Kerosene

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Depends on the person and what program they are using.

I used to use Word, with just one long draft file. One draft, one file. All the drafts in a folder.

Now I use Scrivener, which creates its own files and such. Each folder is its own book.
 

defyalllogic

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I tried many files and it was an total fail. I want to move things around and read through for tone and pace and see if it makes sense. I couldn't do that with a bunch of separate files.
 

alleycat

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This might be better in Basic Writing Questions. I'm going to port it there and leave a temporary redirect in Tech Help.
 

LJD

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One file. Then I use the navigation pane in Word to flip between chapters.
 

DeleyanLee

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Yes.

Individual files for anything I'm playing with that doesn't figure into the story-as-I'm-writing-it. One long file for the "official" draft.

And I start a new file if I'm changing something significant, so if it completely fails, I have an untouched version to go back to.
 

WinterDusk14

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Depends on the length of the book.

In my fantasy novel, I have different files for each part of the book, so in a single file I have multiple chapters in it. While my horror novel, a bit shorter, is stored in a single file.
 

thothguard51

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What ever works for you, but bear in mind that when you submit, its going to be in one file.

I used to do all chapters in separate files but then when I copied and pasted into a single file, I also brought with me any formatting issues. Now a days, I do all my work in a single file, but I save each version to a new file, like, Book Title V1-1, Book Title V1-2...etc, etc, etc.
 

katci13

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One long draft. I save a copy of the rough draft in case I delete something and regret it later, but I need to be able to hope to chapter two whenever I want to fact check or pick up a detail I've forgotten. I tried to use Scrivener. I take that back, I opened Scrivener and stared at at it. I plan on trying it out one day...one day.
 

Ellielle

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I hate the endless scrolling I have to do in one large document, so I keep smaller ones for the majority of a draft. Towards the end, I'll toss them all together into one document to do a final pass where it's all together, so that document ends up the complete and final product. For that draft, anyway.

Then, for the next draft, I'll pull the large file apart and start again with individual files.
 

SRHowen

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.rtf is an issue sometimes with conversion in word, esp Word 10, formatting nightmare.

Tried scriver did not like it.

One file.
 

rwm4768

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I do one long document, though I save a lot of version of it, especially when I'm taking the story down a path I'm not certain about.
 

shadowwalker

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Each chapter is a separate file until the story's finished, then I merge into one.
 

seun

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One file. To be honest, it's never occured to me to use more than one, but whatever works for you is the way to go.
 

Aurelee

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One file. Unless I write on my laptop, then I sort of jump between the two and save everything in individual chapters until I can mash them all together again. I don't really like splitting my work into many files, it feels like I am not progressing with the story if I can't see it growing in one place.
 

jeffo20

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On my first serious attempt at a novel, I started with one long document, then split it out into separate files for each chapter, thinking it would be easier somehow to work with. It wasn't. One big file for me, using Word.
 

aikigypsy

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I started off working with separate files for each chapter, in Word, and then, to keep track of word count for NNWM, I tried drafting in a single file, and worked that way for a while. I think that now I prefer breaking it up into one file per chapter for anything longer than a novella, and pasting those chapters together for the final pass/cleanup/formatting.
 

Bufty

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I can't imagine working on separate files for chapters. It would cause me to go nuts trying to go back and find something. But if it works for others, good on 'em.
 
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