Novel Update
Jul. 26th, 2004 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lostcarparkRight, from here on, I'm going to try to post a novel update at least once a week.
Chapter two is developing a little slower than I'd like, and I'm not on my third attempt to write it. THe first two attempts didn't seem to "feel" right. It's a little tricky, as I'm trying to write it from an alien viewpoint, so I have to show the different perceptions without dwelling on them too long, as they are perfectly normal to the character in question.
While I've been doing that, I've started moving some of my notes from paper to the Psion. While I did much of my background development work on the laptop, I always found I needed to keep my overall plot summary on paper. It's no use having to wait for the laptop to boot if I have a flash of inspiration, and that's if I even have it with me. I also found it handy to be able to spread pages of notes around. Index cards were great for this. However, with the Psion, I can bring it everywhere and open it instantly and have my plot summary in front of me. The outline view is great for this, as I can see the list of chapter titles, than zoom in to a point-by-point summary of what happens in the chapter. I suspect that I'll still do some work on paper and index cards, but this is another aspect of the Psion that works better for me than a "real computer".
I've also started using the Psion's database applicatoin to store basic character data. I'm not sure if this is going to work, but it should be useful to at least keep track of which character is which. It's no RDBMS, but it will hopefully be a handy way of keeping note of who's who.
I've written over 10,000 words on the Psion now. This breaks down as about 7,500 on the novel, about 1,500 words on synopsis and characters, and about 1,000 words of other non-novel bits and pieces. Much of the time I find myself holding the sides of the Psion and typing with my thumbs. It's not touch-typing, but I can still get out quite a lot of words this way, and I can do it almost anywhere. Generally the keyboard isn't what slows me down.
And, most importantly, I've managed to get what I've written off the unit. It meant going back to an old Windows 3.1 version of the software, but at least it gets files somewhere safe.
While the writing is slow, I have got a good overview of what happens for the rest of the novel, and quite a detailed synopsis of the next few chapters. I'm not expecting miracles, but I'm pleased with the results so far.
Oh, and I'm getting very fond of my little Psion.
Chapter two is developing a little slower than I'd like, and I'm not on my third attempt to write it. THe first two attempts didn't seem to "feel" right. It's a little tricky, as I'm trying to write it from an alien viewpoint, so I have to show the different perceptions without dwelling on them too long, as they are perfectly normal to the character in question.
While I've been doing that, I've started moving some of my notes from paper to the Psion. While I did much of my background development work on the laptop, I always found I needed to keep my overall plot summary on paper. It's no use having to wait for the laptop to boot if I have a flash of inspiration, and that's if I even have it with me. I also found it handy to be able to spread pages of notes around. Index cards were great for this. However, with the Psion, I can bring it everywhere and open it instantly and have my plot summary in front of me. The outline view is great for this, as I can see the list of chapter titles, than zoom in to a point-by-point summary of what happens in the chapter. I suspect that I'll still do some work on paper and index cards, but this is another aspect of the Psion that works better for me than a "real computer".
I've also started using the Psion's database applicatoin to store basic character data. I'm not sure if this is going to work, but it should be useful to at least keep track of which character is which. It's no RDBMS, but it will hopefully be a handy way of keeping note of who's who.
I've written over 10,000 words on the Psion now. This breaks down as about 7,500 on the novel, about 1,500 words on synopsis and characters, and about 1,000 words of other non-novel bits and pieces. Much of the time I find myself holding the sides of the Psion and typing with my thumbs. It's not touch-typing, but I can still get out quite a lot of words this way, and I can do it almost anywhere. Generally the keyboard isn't what slows me down.
And, most importantly, I've managed to get what I've written off the unit. It meant going back to an old Windows 3.1 version of the software, but at least it gets files somewhere safe.
While the writing is slow, I have got a good overview of what happens for the rest of the novel, and quite a detailed synopsis of the next few chapters. I'm not expecting miracles, but I'm pleased with the results so far.
Oh, and I'm getting very fond of my little Psion.
