Timelines, the way I track them.

Well it happened again. Totally lost fifteen minutes of blogging due to some sort of sync issue.

Anyhooooo's. So where was I again, again.

That's right. I was going to launch into a big spiel on how I manage timelines. How the writing process can differ between authors and how as of late I have being working with a new fellow writer.

When asked how I write, I always find this a very interesting question. Mainly because my process for writing has evolved dramatically over the 30+ years I have been undertaking it. Some of my methods for getting the idea from mind to paper have been good, some I can tell you right now have been a complete disaster. That is not to say that those failures will not work for you.

So I suppose what I am trying to say is that the question even though straight forward has many different answers but from a personal point of view which one is right for you. Now that is the real question. 

So timelines and how to manage them:

Big piece of A3 paper, this one is still my favourite. Visual and lots of scribbles to sort out the mistakes if or should I say as and when you discover them.

Kanban boards, this is a good way of keeping track of items between joint writes and multiple stake holders. There a number of free tools out there you can use for this task.

One note, this is another handy tool with great connectivity and sharing capabilities for multi device, multi user engagement. Think virtual whiteboard meets big A4 folder.

Timeline management on large projects can be complex and scary. A good example of this in my recent works would be (the tower - not confirmed title).  Lots going on here but each chapter needed to track, floors, items, characters, moods, who was alive, who was dead but in flash back. This was quite confusing and needed to be visualised in someway so that both myself and my editor could keep track of where we were. Especially when we started to move things around.

I must admit, I have read it a few times now but I have a niggle in the back of my mind that we have missed something obvious. I will let you guys spot it for me.

Back to it, I suppose what the original version of this thread said was this. There are many different ways to write and to keep track of it all. Find one that suits you, work with other writers and see what suits them. Find something that works in the middle.

It's late, I am tired but sleep will not find me. #insomnia.