Keeping an Ideas File
Filed Under: My Writing, Writing Advice, creativity
When I first started writing seriously, I kept a little text file on my desktop where I would rapidly jot down ideas for the premises of stories. Eventually, this turned into a notebook that I tried and failed to carry around. Then it turned into a collection of random documents on Google Docs. It’s current incarnation is a folder on my EverNote account.
With evernote, I can record voice notes, type ideas in on the computer or my phone, include photos, and more. Pretty much anything I want to remember and have accessible from anywhere, I throw into Evernote these days, and that includes story ideas.
But I wanted to talk about the importance of capturing more than just the premise for stories. I’ve started trying to capture any kind of fascinating tidbit that I think might be useful at some point. When I see a person with a trait that I think would make an interesting concept for a character, I put it in. Collect everything, because I am finding that when inspiration is running a little low, these notes can be the kernel of creative energy I need to steamroll through a project.
I also carry around a flexible-cover Moleskine notebook, and I do jot down story ideas in here, but I also use that for website thumbnail sketches, doodles, and more. Because I do all my writing on a computer, it works very well for me to have this central, searchable tool for my random bits of ideas.
Somtimes, writing a story is like playing Katamari Damacy. You just keep rolling the sticky ball of your brain around until it accumulates enough junk to let you go to the next level.
Comments
07-10-2009
I love the Katamari metaphor. That is exactly how I work. And I might lack plenty of things, including skill haha, but I never lack for ideas.
07-10-2009
I use a little Zoom H2 hand held digital recorder to capture ideas for songs. I carry it in my bag at all times. When I have an idea for a melody, I’ll just hum it or sing it into the recorder and work on it later. I hate to lose melodic ideas.
The H2 has the added bonus of recording at a fairly high quality, so I kind do a really quick rough demo of a song to have for archival purposes and stick the mp3 into iTunes. That way, it is easier to find later if I want to do a more elaborate recording of the song.
07-21-2009
Hi Jeremiah – I also have a Moleskine (or lots of them!) and also now use Evernote, which is just fantastic!
Here’s a post I did on it as well http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2009/06/29/evernote-book-research/
Thanks, Joanna @thecreativepenn
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