(Originally published July 18, 2017)
I have a very long To-Do List when it comes to writing projects. It’s so long that I’ve had to separate it into sub categories:
Ideas to develop further
Stories to start writing
Plays to start writing
Stories/Plays I’ve started writing and need to finish
Finished works I need to edit
What even is this idea/story/play and where is it going?
And, finally:
Reference binders to create
Why bother creating a reference binder? some of you might ask.
Partly it’s because my brain can only hold so much information, and most of that space is taken up with knowledge on how to defeat every creature in Supernatural (I have my priorities).
And partly it’s because I recently created a really cool Erikson Family tree that had to be entirely re-done once I realized that I’d referred to Magnus (I) as someone’s great-grandfather and not their great-great-grandfather. (*le sigh*)
Now that I’m writing more stories set in Segment Delta, I’m desperately trying not to contradict myself (because I’m totally the kind of person who gets bothered by continuity errors). See, in the beginning I didn’t think too hard about the descriptions I threw in, because the book was supposed to be a one-off. Character needs an eye colour? Pick one at random. Need a location for a building? Let’s put it in the South end. Do pets exist in this world? Um… I’ll think about that later*…
But when I began writing a short story about characters that appear in The Six Elemental, the amount of times I had to refer back to the book (re: eye colour, hair colour, element) was ridiculous. If only there had been a handy character sheet to refer to…
So, in order to save myself further trouble, I’m going to take a few days and create The Ultimate Segment Delta Reference Guide! Maybe it’s a bit overkill, but I’m a nerd. (Did I mention that I was once bribed with office supplies?)
It’ll have character sheets, island maps, building locations, timelines, and anything else I find myself needing. Then, when I need to find out what eye colour I gave a certain character, or where the nearest pizza place is, I’ll have it on file!
But, like, a computer file. Not an actual paper file.
(No binders were harmed in the making of this post.)
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*They have some pets on The Centre, but not in any of the Segments. Yet.