# This sucks a LOT



## Cyprus X (Nov 18, 2009)

Sup all. I'm the new writer here on FA if you remember me. Here's what sucks:

My entire storyline was corrupted. My brainstorm ideas, my free typing, my character profiles, my prologue, my other 2 chapters I worked on....everything was screwed 

I don't know how the hell that happened, but it did! I was pissed, took me forever to think that stuff up :cry:

 And this all happened on Friday the 13th too...

Oh well, have no choice but to start over...starting now.


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## Atrak (Nov 18, 2009)

Okay, please explain what you mean...


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## Cyprus X (Nov 18, 2009)

Alright. Last week all my documents are all corrupted and cannot be repaired. I don't know how my entire folder was messed up and what did the damage to it. My computer's free of spyware and viruses every single day too.


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## Atrak (Nov 18, 2009)

Oooooooooooo....I see. I thought you meant that the story had something wrong with it plot-wise, and sucked because of it. Well, I know how you feel. I had a power failure, that caused my computer to reset, wiping all the data off it. I thought I had lost my series and lost all drive to work on it. Then I found a backup copy I didn't know I had  .

Anyway, if you're not like me, and can rewrite, then do so. Don't copy your story word-for-word (if you could remember it  ), but instead think about what was wrong with it and write it better than ever before!

If you're like me, then just move on. Forget about this one, except to maybe daydream about. Think of another story, and go with it. Incorporate some elements of your corrupted story into your new one, but make it different from the other, and better  .

These are the best options that I can give you. They aren't the only options, as there are infinite options for every situation. Don't let this discourage you, however, but let it make you stronger than ever before in your will to fight fate (or coincidence or bad luck or w/e).

Life was bad for me this weekend as well. Wasn't Friday the 13th, which are, ironically, my lucky days  , but instead was my unlucky day, Saturday the 14th XD . Fate has apparently crapped on my life. *shrug* I wiped the shit off, and continue on. You might say that I hit a speed bump in life, and my ass still hurts from the bounce  . I'll live, but I'll do more than that, I'll *flourish*.

Don't let life get you down. That's one of the awesome powers of writing: getting away from life. Your computer crash made you sad, annoyed, and a little despairing? Write a story! Reincarnate yourself as the protagonist and write about how you overcome obstacles like those in your real life. But don't plan it out, *feel *it out.

Heh heh. I'm all about emotions when it comes to writing ^^ . It helps, mentally, and spiritually.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 18, 2009)

Yesterday, when I was working on my NaNoWriMo novel, it suddenly wouldn't let me save it, saying it was corrupted.  This has happened before with OpenOffice (the only thing I don't like about the program) so I did what I always do and copied the last chapter, then closed the program and opened the document again.  This time, though, it gave me a message that said: "NanoEntry.odt is a corrupted file and cannot be opened."
I about had a heart attack.  But happily, OpenOffice was able to fix it and save all of the lost data, because it always makes backups as you go along.  And I had a copy of it saved in my Gmail account as a Gmail document.  So I didn't end up losing anything, thank the gods.  I tell you, if I'd have lost everything, I probably would have just quit the contest.
So yeah.. even though it may be a bit of a pain, you should always save your long important works in multiple places.  And I mean, at least three.  I used to have a flash drive, which was the third place I was keeping my NaNo novel, but my cat knocked it to the floor while I was away and my dog chewed it to little bitty plastic chunks.  So be aware that anything could happen at any time that could kill your progress.
Of course, now you just learned this the hard way.


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## Cyprus X (Nov 18, 2009)

Okay, now I know I'm not the only that has this problem lol

And I also have OpenOffice. Maybe I should find another program if that's an issue.  And I guess it can't hurt to start over, but I'll do that in the morning. I can't think about anything if I'm tired.


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## wendyw (Nov 18, 2009)

I used to have an old mono word processor before I ever got a computer. You couldn't insert text, only overwrite it and the keyboard responded at about half my typing speed. Saving to the floppy drive was slow, noisy and stopped you from typing so I got into the bad habit of not saving often.

Now, because this was a semi-portable thing with the screen built in I didn't have a desk for it. I just put it wherever was free and got to work. One day, after typing up several pages of something, I got up from the dining room table to get myself a drink while it saved, walking straight into the power cable.

After that I started saving more often on it, even if it was noisy and slow.


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## SpartaDog (Nov 19, 2009)

My advice: Buy a 5-subject notebook and write everything down in that first, then type it up when you get the chance. That way you have the file and the hard copy as a backup.


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## panzergulo (Nov 19, 2009)

The other replies here are all great, there are numerous ways to make sure you don't lose your valuable data. My advice here is to save as .txt. Raw text has less material vulnerable to corruption. And with good luck, in the case of corruption, you still might be able to save the file, at least partially. I have used only that file format when writing my prose for two years and never have I had any problems. Plus, it's much more compact than .doc, .odt, or even .rtf. Sure, you lose the formatting, but then again, how are you publishing your stories? If you want your stories to show up directly on FA, you're not having any formatting to begin with. BBCode, yes, but that's totally another thing.

I had a passage about backups in the original Computer tips for the writers and readers of FA, but it seems the current version doesn't have it. Is there somebody who would like to say something about that subject in that thread? Mentioning USB drives, USB sticks, email backupping and, if you're fortunate enough to own more than one computer, saving your progress on several computers would suffice. I dunno, I can link this thread too, or concentrate the knowledge myself.

Anyway, backupping your progress somewhere outside your own computer is probably the best solution. Keep it up, OP, this shouldn't stop you, just slow you down a little bit.


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## kally (Nov 19, 2009)

I just put it wherever was free and got to work. One day, after typing up several pages of something, I got up from the dining room table to get myself a drink while it saved, walking straight into the power cable.






[M. Le Renard removed pointless advertisement link.]


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## Atrak (Nov 19, 2009)

Want a sure-fire way to make sure your work is safe from anything less than a minor apocalypse? Post it on FA! ^^

Or, if you're shy, make your own blog and post it on there, or even on your myspace. As long as you don't give your blog url out, it's not likely that anyone will even see it among the billions of other blogs  . And myspace can be limited so that only your friends can see it.

Doing that would not only save it in 3 different places, but in places around the world, and they have backups themselves, I'm sure ^^ .


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## Poetigress (Nov 19, 2009)

If you have web-based email with decent storage capacity, just email the file to yourself. It's no substitute for making other, more local backups as well, but it's easy enough to do and gives you an offsite copy.

I will also admit to killing trees and doing hardcopy printouts periodically. It would be a pain to have to retype something really long, but better that than have to rewrite it.

EDITED TO ADD: And to the OP: Yeah, it sucks, but look at it this way: You lost the text, yeah, but not the story. The story, the characters are all still there in the gray matter, and what you rewrite may well turn out better than what you had before. You might well find the same sentences and phrases coming back to you as you write. Just relax and know that you did it before, and you can do it again. It happened to me in college with an essay -- the whole thing just gone and having to start from scratch without even the notes -- and I wound up feeling like what I wrote the second time was far better than what I had the first time.


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## Cyprus X (Nov 19, 2009)

*yawn* I had a good sleep 

And I read all these tips and ideas once I logged on. Don't know which one's better. So Imma try them all


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## Poetigress (Nov 19, 2009)

atrakaj said:


> As long as you don't give your blog url out, it's not likely that anyone will even see it among the billions of other blogs  . And myspace can be limited so that only your friends can see it.



LiveJournal is good for that sort of thing as well, as you can make an entry private so that only you can see it.


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## Atrak (Nov 19, 2009)

kally said:


> I just put it wherever was free and got to work. One day, after typing up several pages of something, I got up from the dining room table to get myself a drink while it saved, walking straight into the power cable.





wendyw said:


> I just put it wherever was free and got to work. One day, after typing up several pages of something, I got up from the dining room table to get myself a drink while it saved, walking straight into the power cable.



I'm getting the sense of parallelism and possible even repetition  .


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## Poetigress (Nov 19, 2009)

Obviously the original poster just took all our advice and decided to back up their identity and experiences to someone else.


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## Penelope Dairas (Nov 20, 2009)

_Data you don't have two backups of is data you don't care about._
- Old Klingon Proverb


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## Atrak (Nov 20, 2009)

Well, knowing Klingons, they probably thought that backup meant retreat, and Klingons would rather die than backup!


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## Duality Jack (Nov 20, 2009)

I have 2 laptops Everything is on both :V


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## wendyw (Nov 20, 2009)

atrakaj said:


> I'm getting the sense of parallelism and possible even repetition  .



I am both confused and puzzled by the fact I appear to have gained a clone.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 20, 2009)

Clone problem solved.  The powers that be determined it was a spambot, as PT suspected, so now you can see red type and a line going through the name.
I don't think cloning yourself would be a viable way to keep your writings safe, though.  That whole 'nature vs. nurture' argument, you know.


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## Atrak (Nov 20, 2009)

Hmmm...I like the new title...maybe I should change mine to match...

                                                      Atrakaj
                                               SPAMMER DOUCHE!


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## Cyprus X (Nov 20, 2009)

Lol? Well whatever floats your boat I guess


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## PheonixStar (Nov 29, 2009)

I got a blog, and I post daily to the blog. Whatever I write on a given day goes to the blog. 

I can always retrieve it later if my own stuff gets hosed, you know?

And  you can make your blogs private, you don't have to allow others to read it, if you feel it's not ready or is something just for your own use.


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