Keeping track of multiple characters

[Writer61]

I was working on a piece recently and realised that the back story of one character could stand on its own. It might even be a series. That got me thinking about recurring characters within a series and even crossing over to others. This opened up some opportunities for linking together what I had previously seen as standalone stories, allowing characters and themes to be developed. So far, so good.

I know that other authors do this. So, how do you keep track of all the overlapping characters and events? Just in your head? On paper? With a spreadsheet? Using specialist software?

 

[AchtungNight]

In my head and double checking my old stories now and then. Even then I still get continuity errors sometimes.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I use a Word document to store some reminders about key future events, but otherwise, it's all mostly in my head.

 

[Djmac1031]

Right now, just in my head.

I've only really done it once. In my series The Jenna Arrangement, I wound up needing an account character. And I realized I already had one, Carrie's dad, in my other shorter series, Caring For Carrie.

I then realized both Carrie and Jenna were only a year apart in age; it would be very simple for them to both know each other.

And so when it was time for Jenna to see an account to manage her trust fund money, she went to visit Carrie and her father.

I later decided to intertwine them a little more by making Carrie headed off to the same college Jenna was already attending , and becoming on of her roommates.

I was very careful while interweaving these stories to do so in a way that didn't require readers to HAVE to have read the other series to follow what was going on. Especially since the Carrie series dealt with incest, and I didn't want that crossing over into Jenna because I'm well aware incest stories aren't for everyone.

My only other real crossover is this bar named Sharkey’s. It tends to appear in several of my stories. Many characters from my various stories frequent the place.

Oh! Almost forgot, our shared Angels & Demons Universe with @EmilyMiller

Now that? Yeah, we have pages of copious notes lol.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Keeping track of multiple characters​

Ooh! I get to post this again



From You Spin Me Round

Emily

 

[MillieDynamite]

Eon Timeline is out there, my editor/publisher uses it for his complicated stories and series. I use a spreadsheet at times.

I was working on a piece recently and realised that the back story of one character could stand on its own. It might even be a series. That got me thinking about recurring characters within a series and even crossing over to others. This opened up some opportunities for linking together what I had previously seen as standalone stories, allowing characters and themes to be developed. So far, so good.

I know that other authors do this. So, how do you keep track of all the overlapping characters and events? Just in your head? On paper? With a spreadsheet? Using specialist software?

 

[Pabiporffor]

Before I start I make a list of their characteristics. Normally they're based on people I know with a little exaggeration thrown in. That way I can ask myself what so and so would do, (or at least what they would do given half a chance).

I don't like to make the characters too different in a story because I believe birds of feather flock together, we rarely associate with people too different to ourselves.

Just as you know a friend would get along with someone or not, the same applies to fictional characters. I've long been tempted to cross over some of my more promiscuous characters but I wonder without reading my other stories first if people would really understand.

 

[VallesMarineris]

I now write exclusively in Scrivener, which includes a wide variety of writing tools, way beyond what you get with just a word processor.

When you start a new project, Scrivener includes folders to hold notes, ideas, scraps of dialogue, whatever, for places, characters, research, etc., pretty much everything you need. Re characters, you can create a file for each one where you record notes and ideas about them. If you want to put a character in a different work, it has a tool to copy the file, or the entire Characters folder, to the new project.

It even comes with a name generator, if you have trouble thinking of character names.

If you're creating a large work, novella- or novel-length, Scrivener is the way to go.

 

[RejectReality]

Time to pull these old screen shots up again I also had a database for my fantasy stories as Dark going on my website, but haven't had the energy to recode the interface since some base code had to updated, so that's idle.

My biggest problem when I don't have a quick reference like this is getting caught up in the existing story while looking for some fact and losing hours reading the existing work again.

 

[Writer61]

I now write exclusively in Scrivener, which includes a wide variety of writing tools, way beyond what you get with just a word processor.

I have a license for Scrivener but recently had trouble opening some old files, which has made me a bit nervous of it.

 

[Writer61]

Ooh! I get to post this again

View attachment 2330606

From You Spin Me Round

Emily

Pleased to have given you a reason to repost it, but what does it show?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Pleased to have given you a reason to repost it, but what does it show?

A ten guy gang bang, where the FMC is restrained on a turntable.

I actually found someone’s proudly displayed project when seeking illustrations.

It’s not quite the same as my one, but the same principle.

The two guys crossed out are explained in the story. The lines were me trying to keep track of orgasms.

Emily

 

[Djmac1031]

The lines were me trying to keep track of orgasms.

Only you, Em. Only you.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Only you, Em. Only you.

I know. I mentioned the ND, right?

Emily

 

[VallesMarineris]

I have a license for Scrivener but recently had trouble opening some old files, which has made me a bit nervous of it.

Go to the .scriv file in the Finder and pick "Show Package Contents" from the pull-down menu. (A package is just a special folder in MacOS.) All the data are there. Look for the .rtf files for the text, which I suspect is what's most important to you. You can import an rtf file directly into a new project.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Mostly in my head, but I do now have a doc that's notes about certain characters and what years they are living in different places, when X meets Y and Z, when they have children, etc. And which leg Jake's dragon tattoo is on, because I think I've had it go from one to the other at least once.

I wrote a complex bit of fanfic once where a series is left with a bunch of characters all with very complicated feelings to each of the others (8 are siblings), and all fanfic has to address at least some of those and be aware of the others. I ended up having to make a spreadsheet, showing what all of A to J each think of each other a year later...

 

[Writer61]

Go to the .scriv file in the Finder and pick "Show Package Contents" from the pull-down menu. (A package is just a special folder in MacOS.) All the data are there. Look for the .rtf files for the text, which I suspect is what's most important to you. You can import an rtf file directly into a new project.

Thanks for that idea. Unfortunately, that has not helped, all I can see are the titles of character and scene notes, none of the text.

 

[VallesMarineris]

Thanks for that idea. Unfortunately, that has not helped, all I can see are the titles of character and scene notes, none of the text.

One more try. Here's what I see in .scriv that I opened:


Not easy to find, but it's there. I'm in version 3.0, by the way. I'm not sure if v2 has the same structure.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I was working on a piece recently and realised that the back story of one character could stand on its own. It might even be a series. That got me thinking about recurring characters within a series and even crossing over to others. This opened up some opportunities for linking together what I had previously seen as standalone stories, allowing characters and themes to be developed. So far, so good.

I know that other authors do this. So, how do you keep track of all the overlapping characters and events? Just in your head? On paper? With a spreadsheet? Using specialist software?

The same storyboarding Excel file that I use for my stories includes a spreadsheet where all characters get entered as they are introduced. I can track which of my other stories they appear in from there. Here is just an example:

 

[MillieDynamite]

I do have one story I've been working on, on and off, for years. It's an updated Jekyll and Hyde story (gender-flipped). Helen Jekyl and Eddie (feminine) Hyde. In case you don't get it, they are both women. I've written it and rewritten the thing. Finally deleted it, made some notes, and started over recently. I'm to devote as much time for the next few weeks to this, and hopefully, it will be my Halloween entry this year. As it will be a novella or Novel, it won't do well, but hey, give me points for trying. I'm going to use as many characters from the original as I can. However, there's a lot more suggested than actually covered in the story.

I've been going back through the original today, making notes. I'm even doing the date somewhat like RLS did: 20**. It will be told from Doctor Jekyll's and Hyde's points of view with snippets from other characters' views. It will be all first-person or third-person from news reports or newspaper articles.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I know that other authors do this. So, how do you keep track of all the overlapping characters and events? Just in your head? On paper? With a spreadsheet? Using specialist software?

In my head, random access. My memory seems to do okay by itself.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I should do more along these lines. I find myself having to go back in the story or other stories to find out someone's eye color.

 

[Voboy]

I've tried many methods.

I've got well over a hundred stories here now, and all but one or two are connected to one or two or ten others. Characters overlap routinely.

In the beginning, I kept careful track: I created a master sheet that sequenced all my stories, I had a spreadsheet of characters, I listed names (to avoid dupes)... all of that. Only the master sheet is still something I maintain. The other stuff lost its importance over time, once I realized that if I couldn't remember all the relationships, then neither would my readers.

I tell myself it's not terribly important to maintain continuity, especially since I tend to write in first-person with borderline-reliable narrators. So any errors can be chalked up to the notion that different narrators might see things differently, or misremember relationships, or misspell names.

So. It's no longer something I worry about unduly.

Now I simply add a headnote to my stories, placing them roughly into my universe so that interested readers can follow up. But all my stories tend to stand alone, so that's not critically important.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Keeping track of multiple characters​

Aside from BDSM paraphernalia, one thing I’m kinda aware of is a small detail. My she-demon Emma is described as having platinum bars through her nipples in the first story in which she features fully formed. She tells the MMC to pull and twist them…

And then I kinda totally forgot about it later. I’m not sure that I ever mention her not having them. But neither she, nor any other character ever refers to them, and I kinda think they probably would have.

My get out is that it’s a demon thing. She used to be able to grow a cock when she felt like it, before her powers were downgraded as a punishment. But perhaps she can grow nipple bars instead?

Or maybe I’m just a total hack!

Emily

 

[Writer61]

One more try. Here's what I see in .scriv that I opened:
View attachment 2330634

Not easy to find, but it's there. I'm in version 3.0, by the way. I'm not sure if v2 has the same structure.

I am also in v3. The folder structure is similar but no RTF files within them.

It has been a couple of years since I opened them previously. There was a message about updating the file format but I didn't pay a lot of attention. After several years and a change of computer backup is no help.

However, you have tempted me to give it another try.