by James R. Preston

Nature tends toward disorganization. Entropy. Entropy rules the universe, and it lurks out there, waiting for your files. Bad things can happen to your files. As W. B. Yeats observed “Things fall apart.”, and it is your duty to guard the worlds and the people you have created. 

Never clean out your filing cabinets— you don’t know what might be in there.

I speak from experience.

Recently I ventured into the dark, musty recesses of a steel box full of old writing and found a review I’d written of Stephen King’s The Stand in its original truncated version, and, never one to pass up a chance to stop work, I stuffed folders back into the box and started reading.

Now for a commercial: Why you should read this essay.

I know what you’re thinking, “An essay about managing my files, electronic and paper? Maybe I’ll go floss my teeth.”

I did not design this essay, it came to me. And it was like the road described by Bilbo Baggins: it leads on and on and began to assume greater significance until I realized. . .

The 5 rules below are more important than just files.

They lead to larger topics that can influence your whole writing effort. Thinking about files will be like that road: it will open up an important part of your writing life.

So, let’s “ease on down that road.”

1. Save files, but be careful!

Technology has enabled us to save as many copies of our work as we want, but that’s a double-edged sword. You need to keep track of which iteration is the most recent and you need to decide what to save. Just the most recent draft? A separate doc for notes, probably. Links to sources, absolutely. You need to know where your information comes from. This leads to the next rule. 

2. Shirley, Shirley Bo-Birley.

You’ve got to play The Name Game, and that means you make up the rules. Even if you have a big-time publisher, it’s up to you to keep track, if only for your own peace of mind, of of the most up-to-date version. There’s another reason that involves a true-life adventure of mine that I’ll share later. 

Helpful Tips:

• Be consistent. If you reduce a title to initials, stick with it. For example The Andromeda Strain might reduce to TAS followed by the date. 
• Be aware that you will have different iterations of the ms. While “Save As” is your friend, plan from the beginning how you want to differentiate those iterations and incorporate that scheme into the document title. 
• Be suspenders and belt. Not only do you want to back up in multiple places, you want to write that naming plan down and keep it handy. It is all too easy to get lost in a maze of files, folders, and sub folders.

3. Check your backup copies.

If they are electronic do a Restore every now and then to make sure they’re good. One of my employers stored all their data on a set of seven magnetic tapes, carefully removing the backup tape at the end of the day and rotating in the next in line.

The system crashed and, when they opened it up, the most recent backup was bad, and the one after that. The problem had propagated through all seven tapes.

The moral: check those backups! Boot them up every now and then just to be sure.

4. Consider storing a backup set offsite, or in the cloud.

If you have a fire you want to save your pets, not your PC.

5. Avoid scribbling notes on scraps of paper — unless you have to.

This rule requires a bit of elucidation.

If you are like me when you are drafting a new work you carry it around with you in your head, day and night. When the Dave Clark 5 sang about “Bits and Pieces” they were referring to love and in many ways when you’re deep into a story, that’s what it’s like.

You’re in love with the story and you carry it with you constantly, but it’s not always possible to stop and work on your draft.

True Story:

Some time ago I was awarded my employer’s seats at the symphony and whipping out a cell phone during the performance is a definite no-no. But I was able to discreetly scribble notes on the program.

Sometimes you don’t have the luxury of sitting at a keyboard.

Part Two of this rule says you must transfer those notes to a more permanent home the moment you get a chance. I have that symphony program, but only as a souvenir. I sat up after we got home to keystroke them. 

How do these rules connect to a larger world?

And now we have followed the path of file safety and come to the point I promised, where it all connects.

Those words on paper, electronic or physical, represent your best efforts to bring a new world and new people to life. You owe it to them, and to yourself, to safeguard their existence. Entropy is out there, disorganization and pure misfortune lurk everywhere; it is the rule, not the exception. Things fall apart.

A couple of examples.

Dune 7

The new Dune books that carry on the famous story of Paul Maud’dib, his mother Jessica, and the sand worms almost didn’t exist. After his death, Frank Herbert’s son, Brian, found a key in his belongings and tracked it to a safe deposit box. In the box he found several of the large 7” floppy discs along with notes for “Dune 7.”

No one knew about the notes, discs, or the book they described. As a side note, there could be another rule about making sure the files you have so faithfully saved are in a readable format. Software makers — Microsoft is notorious for this— love to push out updates.

This Dune 7 story is pretty well-known, but in researching the background for this essay I discovered some Internet folks who doubt it.

So here’s my bit. 

Years before his death, I got to sit and talk to Frank Herbert after a lecture. It was a fascinating conversation and he was very gracious to a beginning writer. (Analog had just published my first story and was looking at the sequel.)

He was clear that the Dune books would continue. Years later I got to talk with Brian Herbert, his son, who confirmed the story. 

One more, and I love this one because it’s about paper.

Paris in the 20th Century

Verne, author of iconic stories like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, has one more novel that you may never have heard of. Decades after his death a safe was drilled open because the combination was lost, and in it was Paris in the 20th Century, Verne’s first novel. Over a hundred years later his great-grandson found the manuscript in a safe. 

And in the End

I started down this road because I needed to go through my files. For those of you thinking “My publisher will take care of all of this” you may be right, unless . . . In July my publisher unexpectedly passed away. His small organization was thrown into disarray. I’ve got other writers asking me what to do, asking about their missing files.

“Ars longa, vita brevis,” from Hippocrates. 

“Life is short, art eternal.” (If you kept copies of your files.)

About that review that sidelined my productivity. . .

I’m proud of it. At the end I pointed out that the novel was too short. Fortunately, in 1990 King published the complete novel. 

There’s another benefit even beyond the obvious one.

Caring for your precious files keeps you acquainted with them, it forces you to examine your work and spend a moment thinking, “Yeah, I wrote that and it’s not bad, not bad at all.”

Thanks for reading and being part of the WITS community! Now, get back to work. Type faster!

* * * * * *

About James

James R. Preston is the author of the multiple-award-winning Surf City Mysteries. He is currently at work on the sixth, called Remains To Be Seen. His most recent works are Crashpad and Buzzkill, two historical novellas set in the 1960’s at Cal State Long Beach. Kirkus Reviews called Buzzkill “A historical thriller enriched by characters who sparkle and refuse to be forgotten.” His books are collected as part of the California Detective Fiction collection at the University of California Berkeley. 

Find out more about James at his website.

Top photo purchased from Depositphotos.