A dilemma: Writing and Version Control

[elfs]

Writers, do you keep a separate version control repository for each book or project? Or do you have a master repository for all your writing, and use subdirectories and branches for organizational purposes?

Comments

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Master directory with subdirectories for the works which are multiple chapters.

[mauraanderson.livejournal.com]

Master directory split into a subdirectory for fiction and non-fiction, then split by project under those.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

The prowriting folder holds all the writing for hire.
Each piece has its own folder within, holding the piece, and any peripherals.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Version control?

Ha! HahahHaHAAA!!!1!

(He asked if we use version control!)

ROFLMAO.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

(most authors think Subversion is a political act and CVS is a drugstore.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

ROFL!

[invisogoth.livejournal.com]

master with subdirectories

[maellenkleth]

Master directory, subdirectories, AND a properly-structured backup routine.

[mauraanderson.livejournal.com]

+1 on the backup routines - with multiple storage sites both on and off site.

[anthologie.livejournal.com]

My older work lives in a directory called "writing" with subdirectories for books (and subs for each book), poems, essays, articles (with subs for each newspaper I've worked for, and sub-subs for each year, and sub-sub-subs for each month), etc.

My current book lives in a folder on the desktop, which makes it easier to access. Inside, it has folders for notes (it's nonfiction), interview transcripts, first drafts, edited versions of those drafts from folks who edited them, and another folder for revised drafts.

Separate repos

[anh-irrsinn.livejournal.com]

I'm using git, and I keep a separate repo for each writing project. It keeps me from having to download every piece of writing I've ever done in order to get my current project(s).

That said, on any given computer that I write on I'm likely to have a "Writing" directory with working copies of the relevant projects in there anyway.

[pakraticus.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure you're even asking the right question.

Are you an author that is willing to show the public all of the warts in your writings before you deem them done?
If you're like most authors I've interacted with the answer is "No!" And if the answer is "No!", just shove them into a directory and keep backups.

The next question is how do you handle software projects with several components including documentation and enjoy it the most? Your answer to that is probably your answer for writing.

If you like showing the warts and have multiple people that help you edit, I'd suggest finding a way to include that in the repository.

Then again, I always got stumped when I figured out that a good diff alg for source code is absolutely useless for documentation and prose :-).