So, I've been working on a few long term projects, but I just can't seem to make progress on them because they are so long term that to remember the details, I need to reread the parts I've already written before I continue writing and by the time I finish rereading, I've either run out of time in my day or I've forgotten how I wanted to continue the story. This happens everytime I get an idea because they seem to be few and far between sometimes. Any advice? Does anyone else have this problem?
Oh, yes, definitely. My problem usually arises in the editing process, once it’s already written, because as I go back (to the first draft), things as mundane as how old the main character is or how many years it’s been since X happened or what color his eyes are... those things totally leave me, or I’ve already mixed them up in the writing process. It’s why I edit all at once, and why I spend massive amounts of time shut up just editing/writing. Because if I don’t plow through it, I’ll forget, I’ll lose those details.
An editor once told me to get a notebook and jot down those details as you come across them/write them out. So if you’ve given your main character this fantastic back story, write it down somewhere in note-taking form. Fill this notebook with pages of descriptors. What color the car is they’re driving, how many children under the age of three and what are their ages, (hell, what are their names?!). Write down how old they were when they had sex for the first time. Explain to yourself all those things that might crop back up again, so that you can just check the notebook. I wind up doing a couple pages per character. And sometimes I make up details in the character sketch that don’t work in the novel, and I’ve crossed out a detail or bit of data like a thousand times. (Michael, dark hair, latino: age 32, strikethrough, 22, strikethrough, 37, strikethrough, 28.) So it’s a mess really, but it helps me keep those details in order.
It works not just for character sketch but for plot. Give yourself a plot graph, and plot (haha pun intended) each point of the plot on the graph. Rising action: our hero feels isolated from his community. Climax: he saves a woman’s life! Falling action: she falls in love with him. Resolution: he discovers his community is judgmental and the woman is too and he disappears to live his life blissfully alone. Whatever. Just write it down.
Another thing for keeping it straight - don’t. Did you notice I said on my second go around? During my editing process, I work on those things. I keep track. Don’t let yourself get in the way of the story. Even your shoddy memory. So what if you can’t remember what color car or how many people he goes to school with or if he’s wearing a trench coat. Put in a place holder, use the wrong color, misremember the backstory. It’s fine. That’s what the editing process is for. You don’t have to be perfect first time out of the gate.
Now if you’re worried about threads of meaning, about continuing motifs, about deeper literary techniques that you might be missing out on doing because you’re forgetting that you keep using roses to symbolize death and decay, then I understand that too, and it does make it more frustrating. But again, you *can* make post-it notes and stick them to your computer screen that say: DON’T FORGET, IDIOT: ROSES. I mean, that’s simplistic, but if you’re attempting to pull together a theme for your novel or short fiction, and you keep losing track of those threads (oh duh, forgot, I’m making birds crop up every now and again to show the ominous nature of this character), then put that in your notebook too. Put that back in when you edit.
Ultimately, my advice is: get the story down first. Don’t try to be perfect, don’t aim for literary genius. Just get the words down somewhere. Go back the second time and make it clever and factually consistent. Go back the third time and use correct verb tense. Etc.
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