How do you save your manuscript?

Do you save it all to one document? By chapter? Do you create a table of contents or something else to help you easily move from one section to the next? I'm looking for ideas...

[Devil Ledbetter]

Hi Lia,

I recently switched from saving separate chapters to using one big document. I find it much easier to work with, and find my story flowing better because I can better see chapter transitions, balance, structure and such.

I put Chapter# at the beginning of each chapter, then just do a "find Chapter #" in the search to get where I'm going. If I don't know the chapter number I'm looking for, I use a different key word. It's actually easier than when I kept chapters separate.

My WIP is at 295 pages and I have no trouble getting around in it.

[Gillhoughly]

I keep the whole book as one document, and use the search function to locate stuff.

I also keep a copy in a different file and update it from the original at the end of each day's writing. This has saved my work many, many times over the years. I don't always get along well with tech stuff and have been doing this since I lost 50 pages by hitting the wrong button.

My ultimate backup is hard copy. To save paper I use double columns, narrow margins, and very small font, single-spaced, printed on both sides. It looks like a magazine page. If the unthinkable happens and I lose both 'puter copies I have this as a fail-safe.

It's also very good for proofing. There's just so much you can spot on paper that is invisible on screen.

Naturally it's always marked up and gets out of date as I make changes, but better than losing everything.

[blacbird]

Most people seem to regard my manuscripts as being beyond salvation.

caw

[ErylRavenwell]

I break it into three manageable parts of about 150 pages each. I use the "Find" function to jump to a section I want to revise. Usually each chapter has a few unique words that occur no where else.

Backup on USB.

[Sean D. Schaffer]

I usually write my work hardcopy on a beat-up old Royal typewriter. However, when I do write on the computer, I usually save one chapter at a time, and then as I have finished the work, I copy-and-paste all the chapters together into one large file.

Of course, my first 'computer' was in fact an old Brother word processor that didn't have enough memory to open a file more than, I think it was 25 pages in length. So needless to say, I had no choice in those days but to save each chapter as a separate document.

I guess I just don't think to explore new ideas all that often.

[jmindigo]

My whole story goes in one document. When I come to a chapter break I just write 'Chapter #' and keep going, which is easier on both me and my computer to keep up the flow of a writing session. When I need to find something I just use the Find function and also if there is a scene I know I'll need to come back too I'll make note of it in my notes file for that story.

[Enzo]

One document, with a table of contents on page one.
Next to each chapter title in that table, I keep the page number of the chapter updated.

[Raphee]

I am experimenting with yWriter nowadays. It allows me to keep track of chapters. But i do lose the whole novel structure that I prefer.

The good thing is that once my first draft is finished I can export my work from yWriter to word as one document.

[JimmyB27]

How do you save your manuscript?

ctrl+s

[Jamesaritchie]

I save as separate chapters, and as a single file. I save as separate chapters because my publishers always seem to want a copy of the novel on a CD or DVD, and they always ask for it to be saved as chapter by chapter files.

I save as a single file because this makes searching a bit easier, though you can search separate files globally, as well.

[Siddow]

One document, using Document Map in Word to make it easy to jump from chapter to chapter. I copy from my desktop to a flash drive and then put a copy of it on my laptop. When it's done, I print it out and put it in a three-ring binder for editing.

About once a month, I copy all documents to a CD, too, just in case. So there's typically 5 copies of everything; 2 hard-drive, 1 flash drive, a CD and a hard copy.

Paranoid? Eh.

[Jamesaritchie]

Originally Posted by Siddow

One document, using Document Map in Word to make it easy to jump from chapter to chapter. I copy from my desktop to a flash drive and then put a copy of it on my laptop. When it's done, I print it out and put it in a three-ring binder for editing.

About once a month, I copy all documents to a CD, too, just in case. So there's typically 5 copies of everything; 2 hard-drive, 1 flash drive, a CD and a hard copy.

Paranoid? Eh.

I'm paranoid. I keep all my writing in a single file folder, and I copy that file folder to CD (Well, now to DVD), at the end of each writing day. I also copy it to an online storage site, and to an external hard drive.

[scribbler1382]

I have a Shaman come in every few hours and memorize what I've done, then I fly him to his tribal home, where he and his clan make cave paintings out of it.

[CaroGirl]

I keep all the chapters in one file and use Word's document map to navigate chapters, the search function to find words and phrases, and the replace function to make a global change. I also know at a glance how many words and pages are in my document.

I email the whole file to my hotmail account about twice a week, and, of course, I save my work every day.

[Cav Guy]

I use WriteItNow. Before I moved to that, I saved one chapter per document.

[Spiny Norman]

I usually save my manuscript by swinging in on a chandelier, fighting a cadre of guards, and then kissing it before taking it in my arms and dropping out of a low window onto my trusty horse Concord and riding into the sunset.

That or ctrl + s.

[MajorDrums]

One document, USB.

[DeadlyAccurate]

One document, backed up to a password-protected directory on our website. I should probably email it to my email account, too.

[Spiny Norman]

Originally Posted by DeadlyAccurate

One document, backed up to a password-protected directory on our website. I should probably email it to my email account, too.

I do that constantly, too. It's almost obsessive.

Originally Posted by Spiny Norman

I usually save my manuscript by swinging in on a chandelier, fighting a cadre of guards, and then kissing it before taking it in my arms and dropping out of a low window onto my trusty horse Concord and riding into the sunset.

That or ctrl + s.

Who says chivalry is dead?

[Tirjasdyn]

I use ywriter which saves chapters in separate files in the same folder. They are all open when I work in the program. I work off a USB drive, the contents are backed up on dvd and online.

but really the best way to save your manuscript is to delete the first chapter. Works every time.

[ClaudiaGray]

My initial document is a brainstorming one, where I just drop in random ideas, thoughts, etc., from the very start of the process up until the end.

Second comes my outline. This evolves over a period of months and may be edited as I go, although I always have the "bones" of the story together before I consider this done.

Third come individual chapter documents. In the early writing stages, especially, I find this helps me to focus and to have the gumption to go in and make edits or rewrite as needed; there's a mental barrier against changing too much in a 300-page document, but not against making changes to a 10-page document. It also comes in handy in revisions sometimes.

After I have written all the chapters, I create the first complete draft. I put all the chapters into one doc so that I get a good sense of how it reads through.

I then go through and edit from the complete document. If I discover that one particular chapter is really, really not working, I go back to the original chapter document, do a complete overhaul there, and then cut-and-paste that into the overall document. I also resave with different names at different times (I am working on one now called "EvernightRevThru411"), so that if, for whatever reason, I decide, "You know, that description worked better a week ago," I can go to the complete draft as it stood a week ago, pull those words out and restore them to the current version.

I also make sure that, at least once a week (usually twice), I back up my work in three places: laptop, desktop and flash drive. Every couple of weeks, I send myself a copy to my gmail account, so I have a version that exists independent of my hardware. You can't be too careful!

[Aprylwriter]

I usually save it as an entire document, because it's easier that way. I just started rewriting my novel, and I'm putting the new draft in a new document. I also save the same novel on more than one disk, just in case.

Apryl

saving the entire document makes it a lot easier to find things you want to change with regard to edits.