Is anyone else this crazy?

[Writer61]

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But, I simplified my system by eliminating months from the timeline!!!!

 

[ElectricBlue]

However, on other occasions, I leave it deliberately ambiguous about whether characters are the same or not. Often I haven't made up my mind myself. For example, I use the name Rhian in two different stories. They may be the same person - I haven't decided. It gives me a plot opportunity to explore later if I want to.

I started doing this early in my writing, really early, leaving the potential to join up my various worlds. Ten years later, my worlds are nearly all joined up in one small way or another, usually through side characters. I sometimes wonder if long time fans notice (probably not).

I've used a central MC Adam for a long time, and I've recently got to the point where he's explicitly crossed over from The Floating World to the Emma and Bobbie world. It's kinda fun, like a long movie franchise branching out.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have 23 in various stages of completion, from a brief outline to awaiting publication (e.g., a couple are competition entries).

Oh, yes, my list has about 200 main and more important secondary characters, including a note on which story they first appear in, a basic bio, and a physical description. I don't track everybody (that would be nuts). I started doing this quite early, so it was not a significant chore to build up. The first benefit was that it alerted me to having an MMC and an SMC with the same given name.

Because I write in a universe with connected stories, I also have a timeline that shows (roughly) when each story is set and whether it links to another. The ages are there so that if characters from different series meet, I know the gap between them. It also helped me get "period details" right, e.g., avoiding mobile phones in one series.

As you can see, each series has a colour assigned, and I use the same one in a PowerPoint slide that I created to help me work out which story I need to write next.

Wait, what? When did you start using Adam as your get-about character?

@SimonDoom something bad's happened in the nexus!!

 

[SimonDoom]

Wait, what? When did you start using Adam as your get-about character?

@SimonDoom something bad's happened in the nexus!!

The great thing about mom-son stories is you can just refer to them as "mom" and "son" and it's all good.

 

[Writer61]

Wait, what? When did you start using Adam as your get-about character?

@SimonDoom something bad's happened in the nexus!!

His first appearance was in the series 'Adam in Asia', with all eight parts published in March 2024, although all were written earlier, before I found Lit. He is also the MMC in both 'Adam in Public' and 'Adam at Large', which respectively precede and follow 'In Asia'. I am planning to add three more stories to 'at Large' (one is complete, one is 50%, and the other is a fragment). Then I have outlines for four more stories in a fourth (and probably final) series, 'in Touch'.

My second MC, Laura, is exhausted.

My third, Ben, is raring to go, with six or seven episodes planned. I intend to write those before returning to Adam and the 'at Large' series.

Another, Tom, is waiting for the Jasmine Tea event next year, and considering what he might get up to after that.

@ElectricBlue, @SimonDoom, have I fucked your nexus?

 

[ElectricBlue]

@ElectricBlue, @SimonDoom, have I fucked your nexus?

It's been a standing joke between Simon and me for a long time, even to the point Simon threatened to write an Adam spoof story. That never worried me, not a bit, because I know what his Start/Complete ratio is like. It's something like #142 on his list.

Also, his mom is fucking hot, exactly the type of woman my Adam likes. His sister would be hot too, if he had one.

As an aside, my Adam character first appeared at the end of 2016, so he's got eight years on your dude. No cause for confusion, there.

Seeing your connectivity diagram, reminded me that I went looking for some software a while ago that could draw up a connectivity diagram, to see what the interconnection between all my stories looked like. Couldn't find one - I must go looking again.

 

[Writer61]

As an aside, my Adam character first appeared at the end of 2016, so he's got eight years on your dude. No cause for confusion, there.

Some of his stories have been in my head for longer than that, but I cannot remember when I started linking them with a shared MC.

Seeing your connectivity diagram, reminded me that I went looking for some software a while ago that could draw up a connectivity diagram, to see what the interconnection between all my stories looked like. Couldn't find one - I must go looking again.

I use Word, Excel and PowerPoint a lot professionally, so it's easy for me to use them for, ahem, relaxation. If you find something suitable for identifying connections, do share here. I suspect that it would be a good task for AI .

 

[ElectricBlue]

Some of his stories have been in my head for longer than that, but I cannot remember when I started linking them with a shared MC.

I use Word, Excel and PowerPoint a lot professionally, so it's easy for me to use them for, ahem, relaxation. If you find something suitable for identifying connections, do share here. I suspect that it would be a good task for AI .

AI would connect it up all wrong, and would have six threads when really there are only five.

I was thinking of one of those big swirling network diagram tools, where there's a bunch of data fields and the program figures out the connectivity. Doing it your way is basically manual, where you have the interconnectivity clear in your mind.

 

[Writer61]

AI would connect it up all wrong, and would have six threads when really there are only five.

I was thinking of one of those big swirling network diagram tools, where there's a bunch of data fields and the program figures out the connectivity. Doing it your way is basically manual, where you have the interconnectivity clear in your mind.

Yes, I am basically doing it manually, but that is enough for my purposes.

I cannot imagine having so many connections between stories/series to justify the cost/effort of using a network tool.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yes, I am basically doing it manually, but that is enough for my purposes.

I cannot imagine having so many connections between stories/series to justify the cost/effort of using a network tool.

I've got 140 chapters/stories over eleven years, close on 1.5m words, with dozens of cross over points.

In one story, there's an older women listening to two women talking about Adam, who very probably knew him in another life - she gets a single sentence, but I know she was there. I compound it by having a younger character, Alex, who might or might not be related. It's really because I'm lazy, and most of MCs are fantasized versions of me, at different times in my life.

 

[Erozetta]

I know most people probably don't have two dozen WIPs like my ADHD AF ass does, but people can definitely have even more than that already published. Anyway, I realized that I was starting to lose track of what names I was using for characters, and didn't want to end up using the same name for different main characters. Long story short, (no pun intended) a couple of days ago, instead of writing, I used the time to go through my posted stories and all of my WIPs and make a spreadsheet:
View attachment 2584440

I don't entirely mind if a supporting character or one-off mentioned name is reused for a different person in a different story, but I've already noticed I have two "main" Daves, and a couple of other overlaps as well.

I know that, at least my own work, is all just stupid, mostly average porn stories on the internet, but they're meaningful to me (one of the few such things in my life at the moment) and I want to do them well. But at the same time, I still feel vaguely ridiculous for the amount of effort I'm putting into this silly, ultimately pointless smut.

Does anyone else go to these lengths or am I just nuts?

So, I started submitting my work to another site and decided to start with three stories. It wasn't until after I realized two of those stories had a main male character named Wes. I immediately thought, "Well, God damn, I can't have 2/3 stories here with a MMC with the same name. I should find a fourth story, so it's half and half at least! Ah yes, this is a.... God fucking damnit." (A third Wes has appeared.)

Also 24 WIPs is probably just under how many I have going.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

Thanks, everyone. It's good to hear that I'm not the only one who goes to this much trouble or gets this invested in their stories... makes me feel like I'm not a total freak. (Or at least, not a freak except in the ways I intentionally want to be freaky. )

 

[mirafrida]

I don't have a spreadsheet, but I do have a document with all the character names from different stories, so I can catch myself if I fall into ruts

 

[Writer61]

I've got 140 chapters/stories over eleven years, close on 1.5m words, with dozens of cross over points.

In one story, there's an older women listening to two women talking about Adam, who very probably knew him in another life - she gets a single sentence, but I know she was there. I compound it by having a younger character, Alex, who might or might not be related. It's really because I'm lazy, and most of MCs are fantasized versions of me, at different times in my life.

I can see why you would like a way to map the connections.

Since it occurred to me that I could set my stories in the same universe, I have really enjoyed making connections between them. Only this evening have I realised that the MMC of my Jasmine Tea story could be Adam's grandfather. As he is partly modelled on my own grandfather and some of Adam's experiences are based on my own, that is quite a pleasing thought.

 

[RocketGrunt]

I keep separate notes for each series. A novel, stand-alone, or serial has all of its notations together and I do not allow them to cross pollinate. None of the cast list from my urban fantasy detective novels are to be found in files dedicated to my dungeon system harem serial or my xinxia lesbian plants serial or my Cthulhu mythos harem serial or my monster girl harem parody serials. The stories are often quite thematically different, and characters are completely different even if they share names. The Kimberly in Stop Enslaving My Friends is a completely different person from the Kimberly in Pocket Monster University. The Kaitlin in SEMF is completely different from the Kaitlin in Fighting Them There.

It would be confusing and make searching difficult if they were in the same files, so they aren't.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

I can see why you would like a way to map the connections.

Since it occurred to me that I could set my stories in the same universe, I have really enjoyed making connections between them. Only this evening have I realised that the MMC of my Jasmine Tea story could be Adam's grandfather. As he is partly modelled on my own grandfather and some of Adam's experiences are based on my own, that is quite a pleasing thought.

I don't know your universe, but if your stories all take place in the "real world" like most stories on the site, then yeah, we're all writing in the same universe.

(I actually do have a couple of Sci-Fi WIPs that are in a completely different universe, but most of mine are intended to be real-world as well.)

I keep separate notes for each series. A novel, stand-alone, or serial has all of its notations together and I do not allow them to cross pollinate. None of the cast list from my urban fantasy detective novels are to be found in files dedicated to my dungeon system harem serial or my xinxia lesbian plants serial or my Cthulhu mythos harem serial or my monster girl harem parody serials. The stories are often quite thematically different, and characters are completely different even if they share names. The Kimberly in Stop Enslaving My Friends is a completely different person from the Kimberly in Pocket Monster University. The Kaitlin in SEMF is completely different from the Kaitlin in Fighting Them There.

It would be confusing and make searching difficult if they were in the same files, so they aren't.

To be clear, I ALSO have a set of notes I keep for each story/series individually, which includes far more than names (any established detail, really. Birthdays, allergies, favorite flavors of ice cream... any detail I establish goes into my reference for that story. I even have house layouts for some of my more elaborate WIPs).

Anyway, this combined spreadsheet is more to ensure I don't end up overusing the same name than it is for keeping track of specific story details.

 

[Writer61]

I don't know your universe, but if your stories all take place in the "real world" like most stories on the site, then yeah, we're all writing in the same universe.

I think our view of what a fictional universe is may differ.

My stories are all set in something very like the world we inhabit, but they include places, people, and organisations that do not exist IRL. I think it is unlikely that these inventions appear in any other author's work.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I don't know your universe, but if your stories all take place in the "real world" like most stories on the site, then yeah, we're all writing in the same universe.

What he means is that the stories that share a universe could touch each other. Looking at my own work, April's Fool and What's Left of Me are in the same universe. Those characters can interact with each other, and do. Plugged In is also set in the real world. It's probably set in the same geographic region at about same time. But I don't think it's in the same universe. Daniel and Katherine won't interact with Dafydd and Emily. The unnamed agent-narrator of Whatever It Takes is in a third version of the real world, totally separate from and unrelated to the other two. Each of CATGIRL HEIST, High Flight and The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo are in independent universes as well for more obvious science-fictiony reasons.

 

[caleb35]

I know most people probably don't have two dozen WIPs like my ADHD AF ass does, but people can definitely have even more than that already published. Anyway, I realized that I was starting to lose track of what names I was using for characters, and didn't want to end up using the same name for different main characters. Long story short, (no pun intended) a couple of days ago, instead of writing, I used the time to go through my posted stories and all of my WIPs and make a spreadsheet:
View attachment 2584440

I don't entirely mind if a supporting character or one-off mentioned name is reused for a different person in a different story, but I've already noticed I have two "main" Daves, and a couple of other overlaps as well.

I know that, at least my own work, is all just stupid, mostly average porn stories on the internet, but they're meaningful to me (one of the few such things in my life at the moment) and I want to do them well. But at the same time, I still feel vaguely ridiculous for the amount of effort I'm putting into this silly, ultimately pointless smut.

Does anyone else go to these lengths or am I just nuts?

You're not nuts; I had to start tracking names a long time ago or I know that I'd reuse many of them.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

I think our view of what a fictional universe is may differ.

My stories are all set in something very like the world we inhabit, but they include places, people, and organisations that do not exist IRL. I think it is unlikely that these inventions appear in any other author's work.

That's a legit point I hadn't thought of.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

View attachment 2584443

I wondered if you were going to show up and say something.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

I know most people probably don't have two dozen WIPs like my ADHD AF ass does, but people can definitely have even more than that already published. Anyway, I realized that I was starting to lose track of what names I was using for characters, and didn't want to end up using the same name for different main characters. Long story short, (no pun intended) a couple of days ago, instead of writing, I used the time to go through my posted stories and all of my WIPs and make a spreadsheet:


Does anyone else go to these lengths or am I just nuts?

Each of the major novel-length stories I'm working on (4 currently) has it's own spreadsheet of characters, timelines, chapter maps, process tracking, and playlist (if applicable). Then one of them has a spreadsheet tracking the name changes because I'm re-skinning a FanFic I wrote years ago to make it not FF, so I have to change all the names, change a few background details, and keep track of how I stripped out the things that will make it identifiable to the world it was.

Yes, I also have a spreadsheet of all my couples and polycules so that I don't re-use them together and make people accidentally think that a new story is a continuation of a different story. It also tracks when and where they all live so that I can figure out if I can use any of them as easter eggs or crossovers.

So, no, you're not crazy at all.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I had such a list but gave up on it after 26 stories or so.