I currently have each Chapter for my novel in a different file. Does anyone know how (in MS Word) I can get each Chapter to continue the numbering from the previous chapter? Or do I have to do it manually?

Or do people generally put everything into one big document?

Any wise words appreciated!

Thanks

Scotgal

I keep my novels divided, as it seems easier to manage. I add the page numbering manually. There is a 'continue from previous section' but I don't think it works across documents.

JB

I know there's a way to do it in Word, but I never remember how, I suspect because I don't want to. I find it maddening to have it through-numbered, because all my notes about work still needed are based on page numbers. If you change something that upsets one chapter's pagination it doesn't matter much, but if everything in the whole damn novel shifts, it's awful trying to find the bit you meant. And yet the professionals hate my preferred numbering, which is chapternumber-pagenumber for each chapter, like a computer manual.

Like JB I just do a tiresome manual fiddle before I send it to anyone. And another when I've revised it and sent it back. And...

Emma

<Added>

Missed out the first stage - I keep my chapters in separate files. I can't imagine how unweildy it must be to have everything in one file. And if it crashes...

Emma

...Which is exactly what happened to me last week. I kid you not. My computer is prehistoric and can't handle big files. I didn't know this, and put the whole MS into one document. Whole chapters became encrypted, or undelined, or in smaller font. Had I not the foresight to save the novel online and on my mate's flashy computer, I would have effectively just lost two and a half year's work.

JB

Thanks guys. I'm sure it's possible, but it might be even more time-consuming than doing it manually.

I'm almost at the stage of printing the whole thing out, and I'd love to see it all nicely paginated .....
if I find the answer I'll let you know!

I don't know how to pick up the number from a previous file and add 1, but you can in some versions of word tell it what number you want to start at.

If it's the same as mine then when you select headers/footers you get a menu bar. There is a:

# Icon for inserting page numbers.

+
+ Icon to the right, for instering the numbers of pages.

# "with a hand" ,can't draw that, to the right again. If you pick this you can "format the page number" and in the pop-up box tell it what number to start at.

I had a quick look at the Microsoft website, and it seems that you can do something with Master documents and subdocuments. I might try it later.

I might have had a go at that once. Let us know how you get on!

Personally, I can't see the advantage to separate files for each chapter. How do you edit for continuity, repetitions, balance? How do you check the overall wordcount?

If you really want to keep all your chapters separate, what you could do when you're ready to print out, is to copy them in sequence into one single Word doc, then paginate that.

Dee

I guess the advantages to separate files per chapter are that it doesn't take ages to load/save/spellcheck/search-and-destroy/backup/close/email, and you don't keep finding you're printing more than you meant to. I have a very strong sense of the structure and balance of each chapter, which I don't think I would if they didn't stand alone.

I don't check the overall wordcount almost ever, once I've done the first draft and I know how long each chapters is. I might later check an individual chapter I'm revising, to see if it's got a lot skinnier, but I more depend on keeping an eye on whether particular scenes it are under- or over-written.

I don't think I check for repetitions at all until I read it aloud, which is a late stage.

Emma

Re the word count: I have a separate Wordcount file, into which I have added a table, with a column for each chapter, and a column for each wordcount. I use the "Sum" field to update the wordcount as I edit each chapter.

I would find one long document too unwieldy; I email it between computers quite often, and, as Emma said, it would take ages, if I'm working on just one chapter at a time.

But I might, as Dee suggests, try copying it all into one document for final printing out.

In Microsoft Word (versions up to Word 2003) you can, as you've discovered, create a Master Document and insert sub-documents into it. When you look at the Master Document, you can either just see the references to the individual files/chapters or you can expand one, some or all of them. So you can be working in your Master Document then open up a single chapter and work on that. Or you can just go directly into the individual chapter file without opening the master.

If you want the total word count, open the master, Expand All, then do the wordcount.

In Word 2007, which I've just installed, it at first looks as if the Master Document facility has disappeared but it hasn't. You go into View, then select Outline. You'll find all the Master Document stuff in the Outlining toolbar.

I used the Master Document method for a while, but have now settled for keeping the whole thing in one big file. If you create a Header Style for your chapter headings and modify that Style to make it belong to a 1,2,3 numbering system, you can use Go To + Header Number to jump to a particular chapter.

Either way, it all gets a bit complicated!

Chris


<Added>

PS Should have said that, if you set up page numbering for the master document, when you show it with all the sub-documents 'expanded' the page numbering runs through the entire work.

That's interesting Chris, didn't know that was possible in Word, though I think I'll stick to one doc too. I've actually never thought about splitting it out. I think I'd go crazy trying to remember what is where and if I have to change a name or something.

Alexandra, seeing what is where isn't a problem, because you can view the whole lot as if it were a single document when you want to. You are right though about it getting complicated when you want to start changing file names, especially if they include the chapter number and you want to change the order!