Using Excel for Your Scene Summaries

I use an Excel spreadsheet while writing for a simple scene summary worksheet. The fields included are:

·         Chapter number

·         Scene number (computed after scene 1)

·         Number of pages in chapter

·         Number of words in scene

·         Total number of words (computed)

·         Day

·         Date (computed after scene 1)

·         Day of week (computed)

·         POV

·         Location

·         Scene Goal

·         Conflict

To simplify change, I only enter the date of scene 1. The rest are computed. That way, I can modify the starting date until all the scenes fall into place. So, I've added a new field before Date called Days. It is the number of days from scene 1 to the current scene. With this information I can easily compute the date and day of week of the scene.

While writing The Vengeance Squad, I wanted Chris and Tex to go to Massachusetts while it was snowing, so all I had to do was play with the starting date until the date for the scene in Massachusetts was at the right time of year for snow.

At the beginning a new book, I often want to insert additional scenes and sometimes delete scenes. Using the spreadsheet makes it easier. With Excel, you can use conditional formatting if needed. I use it to highlight chapters that are too long or too short.

It's not easy to explain worksheets in text, so if you're interested, I'll be glad to send you a copy of what I ended up which includes the formulas and conditional formatting.

Google Maps Takes the Fun Out of Research

In my work in progress, Vengeance Is Mine, the protagonist travels a lot. To make it easier for me, I only let him go to places I've been. That way I can create better descriptions of the locations. But the other day I wished I was in Albuquerque again to get a bit a detail I needed for a scene. I wanted there to be a house close to the Petroglyph National Monument, but I didn't know if there was one or not. In the old days, such research might require a tax-deductible trip to look around first hand. But, no longer.

Here's all I had to do. I opened Google Maps in my browser and typed in Petroglyph National Monument. Then I clicked on the little orange Google man and moved him to the streets around the park. I found just what I needed. There was a whole neighborhood near the park's parking lot. Close enough to serve my needs.

From Albuquerque, my characters went to Rowe, a small town in Massachusetts I know quite well, but a place where most people don't vacation. My memory of the place was good, but I had not been to a private airport in nearby North Adams that I wanted to use in the story. With Google Maps I was able to start at the airport and follow the road to Rowe. I learned there are many turns along the way. I looked for photos as I made my virtual trip in hopes of finding a winter scene but there were none. Luckily, I went to Rowe this year and a friend there had some photos taken while there was snow on the ground.

So, no longer must we go to a villa in France or spend time on a barge in the Netherlands to absorb details enough for a realistic description. All we have to do is turn on the computer.

Audible Books -- Great for Long Road Trips

Celeste and I attended the Berkshire Choral Festival this year, and decided to drive to Sheffield, Massachusetts so we could visit friends and family on the way. We had a wonderful time at the Festival, met some new friends, enjoyed learning new music, and participated in a powerful performance.

The visiting was great, too. I saw where she lived and met more of her friends, revisited with family. She met or revisited my friends and family. We stayed with friends and family most of the way.

I wondered if sitting next to each other in the confines of an automobile for 4,400 plus miles could take its toll on a marriage of four months.

But we made it.

Just before we left, my dentist suggested books on CD. She said it saved her marriage. I wasn't really worried about my marriage, but it sounded like a great idea. To be able to "read" while driving intrigued me. I bought two books, John Grisham's Playing for Pizza and Lis Wiehl's Hand of Fate, before Celeste mentioned CD books were probably available at the library.

So, I went to the Georgetown Library and found two more books, Marley and Me, by John Grogan and Starburst: A Novel by Robin Pilcher.

When we got home, we had only the second half of Pilcher's book remaining. So, I bought it in the Kindle edition to read the rest. We donated the purchased books to the library.

What I learned is that it is fun to listen to books on the road and it definitely makes the time go by faster. You have to be careful driving and be willing to hit the off button when driving requires your full attention.

Another thing I learned was that the readers are quite talented. I could feel gender, ethnicity, dialect, and mood all from a single person reading the book. By the time I started reading Pilcher's book on the Kindle, I could still hear the Scottish accents vs. the English and French accents of characters. It was amazing.

However, I also learned I don't want to listen to a book on CD at home or during short trips in the car. I need at least an hour to listen and then I can't wait too long before the next part.

How about you? Have you ever listened to a book?

For more information, see:

http://audible.com/
http://www.audiobookstand.com/
http://www.weread4you.com/
http://www.bookrix.com/

Let Your Computer Help Your Writing

In a recent post in The Writer's Alley, Krista Phillips talked about using software such as Microsoft's Outlook and Excel to keep track of the timeline in your novel. Her reason was to make sure you don't overlook an important event such as Independence Day as you are writing.

I used an Excel spreadsheet while writing Where Love Once Lived for a simple scene summary worksheet. The fields included:

• Chapter number

• Scene number (computed after scene 1)

• Number of pages in chapter

• Number of words in scene

• Total number of words (computed)

• Date

• Day of week (computed)

• Location

• Scene Goal

• Conflict

This worked fine for Where Love Once Lived, but when I started working on Vengeance Is Mine, I ran into trouble trying to line up events with the calendar. I had my amateur detectives finding clues hidden in a field in Massachusetts that was more than likely under five or six feet of snow at the time. As it is, they spend Christmas day in the Galveston jail. I decided I liked that and made use of it in a later scene.

To simplify change, I only enter the date of scene 1. The rest are computed. That way, I can modify the starting date until all the scenes fall into place. So, I've added a new field before Date called Days. It is the number of days from scene 1 to the current scene. With this information I can easily compute the date and day of week of the scene.

It's not easy to explain worksheets in text, so if you're interested, I'll be glad to send you a copy of what I ended up which includes the formulas.

Vengeance Is Mine--Part 2 of 2

I mentioned last time that I'm preparing for an agent pitch this Saturday by updating my Vengeance is Mine synopsis. As you know, I've been so busy with Where Love Once Lived, I've hardly had time to work on the new book. Here's the rest of the synopsis which was too long to show you yesterday:

The search turns international when a classmate of Sarah's comes over from London and warns Chris the killers are terrorists planning to bomb a site in the United States. The friend, who purports to be with British Intelligence, is killed in Chris's apartment while Chris is away on a search trip. Chris uses his computer skills plus clues found at the scenes to follow the gang from one city to another.

Clues take them first to an abandoned warehouse in Albuquerque where Chris discovers an intact hard disk from a smashed computer. Back home, he reads the disk and finds a clue that takes them to a small town in Massachusetts. From there, with trips back home in between to review the clues with Liz and Angela, they go to El Paso, and then Galveston where Chris and Tex are arrested and jailed.

While in jail, Chris comes to terms with his grief and realizes vengeance is not up to him. They are freed with Liz's help and they find a clue that leads them to the killers in an underground pedestrian passageway in Houston the President of the United States is using to go to a meeting. Angela is taken captive leaving it up to Chris and Tex to save her and stop the killers.

Afterwards, Angela introduces Chris and Tex to the President. Tex gets a full pardon from the President and a college scholarship from Liz's friend who has financed the search. Liz and Chris find Tex's estranged parents and reunite them with their son. Angela, Chris, Tex, and Liz, along with Tex's wife get together for the Christmas dinner they missed while in jail.

In an epilogue, the gang is meets twelve months later for another Christmas dinner and there is a kiss between Chris and Angela.

Let me know what you think about Vengeance is Mine.