Managing Your Manuscript

Manuscript Folders

The first thing you'll want to do is create a manuscript folder that you'll use to store every piece of information about a manuscript, including its revisions, cover letters, query letters, proposals, supporting files, such as images and notes (particularly useful if you're into world-bulding), and submission records. The manuscript folder should be the one, and only, place you need to go to find a manuscript and any important information about it.

You'll want to name the folder something useful. I usually pick a shortened version of the manuscript's title. For example, if I were creating a folder for this article, I might called it ManYourMans. There are a few guidelines you should keep in mind when you're naming a folder (and a file) on a computer. I discuss these guidelines in an article I wrote called What's in a Name. While this article is mainly for technical writers, the basic ideas are useful in any situation.

The manuscript folder works even if you're not using a computer because you'll still want to keep all of the information for a single manuscript in a single place. The best way to do this is in a desk drawer, in file boxes, or a filing cabinet. You'll use filing folders (the kind you can get at any office supply store) and name those folders in much the same way you named folders on your computer.

If you write your stories on the computer, but then must keep paper-based information about it, you'll need one folder on your computer to store your revisions and other digital files, and another for the printed-out manuscript, sample copies, and anything else you might end up with.