#the great gatsby headers

[ithinkwehitametaphor]

So dumb question but what does your header "Daisy, I think we hit a metaphor mean"? I have always been curious about it.

Not a dumb question at all. :D It's a line from a comic strip about the Great Gatsby:

[Daisy is in the car with Gatsby and she accidentally runs over her husband's mistress...]

I think I chose it more or less at random because I found it funny at the time and it was unique and somewhat obscure.

[seethefakemuses]

tag someone you want to get to know better

tagged by @incarnadinedreams. thanks for tagging me, so sweet of you!

favourite colour: honestly, changes every week but rn it’s deep ocean blues

last song: hot gum by sofia isella

last movie: tale of tales (2015)

currently watching: nothing, but i intend to watch the great gatsby (2013) again sometime soon.

currently reading: langya bang. i’ve only just started it, though.

currently working on: expanding my cooking repertoire lol.

current obsession: well, my header is Jiang Cheng Derangement Syndrome for a reason.

tagging @miss-fiery @citrusandbergamot @habitualhaunt @redemption-revenge

[wappyblog]

ffgh finally updated my neocities for the first time in months <3 I'm trying to aestheticize my homeschooling so I have the motivation to do shit lol!

on today's agenda:

- upgrade to supporter plan

- start second site

- make header for personal site

- walk to the grocery store. get snacks

- start The Great Gatsby

- go to goodwill, look for sewing stuff

- start battle jacket mayhaps?

[thecraftyfoxthewriterscorner]

Saving Multiple Drafts of Your Writing

(And using the "Heading" Styles in Microsoft Word for organization.)

Hey Story Crafters,

When I was in undergrad, there was a book and a poem I studied (in different classes) that introduced me to the idea of being a professional editor: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland. The works themselves were intriguing to read and study, but it was the behind-the-scenes part of the creation process for these works that caught my interest. When I learned about Maxwell Perkins’s contributions to Gatsby (for example, his suggestion to reorder a couple of chapters and his reasoning for it), it was the first time I truly recognized that:

Authors keep multiple drafts of their work.

A good editor can help an author’s writing shine.

When I learned about Ezra Pound’s contributions to The Wasteland, I realized it was possible to be both an author and an editor. And that writers keep several drafts of their work.

I’ve gotten into the habit of keeping multiple drafts, too. I use Microsoft Word for writing and editing, so I can’t speak to other programs like Scrivener. I prefer not to use Track Changes while editing my own writing, which means when I make big changes—like reordering entire paragraphs, or deleting them completely—I need to save multiple drafts in addition to the version I’m tweaking, just in case I need to retrieve a paragraph that I, in fact, did need.

A writing tool I think gets overlooked a lot is Word’s “Styles” function on the “Home” tab ribbon. (This includes me. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize the benefits of using headers.) It’s incredibly useful for working with long manuscripts (while writing or editing), or when trying to save multiple drafts of chapters.

Using “Heading 1” and “Heading 2” makes navigating longer documents a little easier. The heading titles will show up in the “Navigation” bar when you search the document (PC: Ctrl + F | Mac: Command + F) and click on the “Headings” tab. So if the chapter numbers (or names) are listed as “Heading 1,” the different drafts can be listed as “Heading 2,” and sorted under the appropriate chapter.

Also, each heading (both Heading 1 and Heading 2) comes with a nifty black arrow to the left side which, when clicked, retracts all the text sorted under the heading. The subheadings are still visible in the navigation bar.

Example:

Caption:  Photo of an example document using Word’s “Heading” styles for organizing multiple drafts of chapters.

The heading styles are useful for worldbuilding, too. If you’re creating a story world from scratch, the worldbuilding notes can end up being as long as a book, depending on how detailed you get. Keeping your notes organized in a single document using headings can make it easier to navigate your notes, same as with navigating different chapters in long manuscripts.

For example, your notes may look like:

Caption:  Photo of an example document using Word’s “Heading” styles to organize worldbuilding notes.

To tie off the Gatsby and Wasteland thread, by studying the behind-the-scenes process of both works, I also learned the author-editor relationship isn’t about the editor “correcting” the author. It’s about the editor pointing out areas of the manuscript that could be made stronger, and offering potential solutions to the author. It’s a collaborative effort, a relationship that only works if the author trusts the editor’s feedback.

Until next time!

Best,

Leah

Substack Post: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/saving-multiple-drafts-of-your-writing

Interested in learning more about me, and the kind of energy I’ll bring to a writer-editor relationship? Subscribe to my Substack newsletter (it’s free!), or check out the archives.

Are you searching for an editor to work with on a completed (or soon-to-be-completed) manuscript? Get in touch! I’d love to hear about your project(s). I’m looking to work with authors of:

Fantasy

Dark Fantasy

Science Fiction

Horror

Send me an email!

[canvasedits]

like or c @bluntism

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[sempsds]

credit @selenabused

like this post if you save

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like/reblog or credit me on janveyre (twitter).

[twitterrpacks]

Like/reblog, © on twitter @goghbatch

[syreheaders]

♥ → tag (@) syreheaders if you are reposting

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like or credit @ interstrllar

[filmographyedits]

like if you save it or give credits to @stargirlsx on twitter.

[perfecttdaydream]

taylor swift x the great gatsby

[canvasedits]

like or c @bluntism

[iconsfinder]