New Ideas

Jewel101 · Mar 22, 2006

How do you write down your new ideas. Do you notetake? Use complete sentences? Jot down the gist? Outline?

Personally, When a good idea hits me I jot down the gist in incomplete sentences. If the idea gets further developed (i.e. more ideas for that idea comes) I randomly write them down. Then, If I get enough Ideas to write a book, I organize and write a timeline.

Danger Jane · Mar 22, 2006

I write the basic idea down somewhere and race to find paper. Can't afford to lose that concept.

Linda Adams · Mar 22, 2006

Mine are usually a single sentence, the seed for the story. I add them to a Word file called ideas and ignore the file after that. If the idea sticks with me, then I'll work on the stakes of the story next. That's where I'll play with a lot of different things to see if I can come up with something that's big enough to fit the payoff the story. Once I have that, I'll try chapter summaries to work out the story setup.

BuffStuff · Mar 22, 2006

For random story ideas, I have a "Story Idea Journal". I write down the idea and anything connected to the idea, itself. When I've decided on using that idea to write an actual story, I have a Story Development Journal, where I take that idea and do far more concentrated work with it: developing the idea further, outlining, etc. And then I have a 3rd Journal where I write the story itself in longhand.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 22, 2006

Jewel101 said:
How do you write down your new ideas. Do you notetake? Use complete sentences? Jot down the gist? Outline?

Personally, When a good idea hits me I jot down the gist in incomplete sentences. If the idea gets further developed (i.e. more ideas for that idea comes) I randomly write them down. Then, If I get enough Ideas to write a book, I organize and write a timeline.

I don't write them down at all. I found I get far too many horrible ideas on paper that way. I do my best to forget them. If I can forget them, I figure they're better off gone. But if they're still in my head a month or two later, I write the story, not the idea.

scribbler1382 · Mar 22, 2006

There's something to what James says, but I personally subscribe to the "always have a pen and paper at hand" method. Whether this means carrying my PDA in my pocket or a folded piece of paper, I always have some way of getting an idea down. In a pinch, I'll use my cell phone to call my house and leave a message on my voicemail. The thing I haven't worked out is how to parse all these various pieces into some sort of central repository. I'll take any tips on that.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 22, 2006

ideas

scribbler1382 said:
There's something to what James says, but I personally subscribe to the "always have a pen and paper at hand" method. Whether this means carrying my PDA in my pocket or a folded piece of paper, I always have some way of getting an idea down. In a pinch, I'll use my cell phone to call my house and leave a message on my voicemail. The thing I haven't worked out is how to parse all these various pieces into some sort of central repository. I'll take any tips on that.

I actually did that at one time. After a year or two I found myself with a pile of notebooks that were full of things not worth writing about. Worse, I often tried to write about them, anyway. It was another pro writer who told me that he went through the same thing, and in the end found his memory was a better judge of quality than his pencil. Following suit has worked well for me.

I do think it may be a different thing if you're walking around thinking about a work in progress, and the solution to a problem you've been having pops into your head.

LightShadow · Mar 22, 2006

Usually starts as a single sentence on the back of a receipt, on a napkin, or written inside the book I happen to be carrying at the time.

Jewel101 · Mar 22, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
I don't write them down at all. I found I get far too many horrible ideas on paper that way. I do my best to forget them. If I can forget them, I figure they're better off gone. But if they're still in my head a month or two later, I write the story, not the idea.

I agree with you. In my mind, an idea worth writing down is one that won't leave me alone that actually has substance. Certainly keeps the amount of scrap paper down. hehehe...he...he... Anyway...

Danger Jane · Mar 22, 2006

Sometimes I'll write a scene from the idea, if it keeps nagging me. I like to have them recorded somewhere, though. And if the scene keeps nagging me after I've finished with it, it could turn into something bigger.

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 22, 2006

I'm with James. I let the ideas perculate in my head. If they fade away, they weren't worth bothering with. But if they're still there after a few days or weeks or whatever, poking me, harassing me, kicking me in the shins, then I sit down at the computer and write it.

LightShadow · Mar 22, 2006

Shadow_Ferret said:
I'm with James. I let the ideas perculate in my head. If they fade away, they weren't worth bothering with. But if they're still there after a few days or weeks or whatever, poking me, harassing me, kicking me in the shins, then I sit down at the computer and write it.

I'm too forgetful for that. I have to write everything down. No jokes, please, uh, what was I saying?

Haruko_Ito · Mar 22, 2006

Honestly... My ideas for stories come to me when I'm daydreaming up certain situations. Great influencial speeches have been compsed on that particular playground... But, a weird twist to how I get my ideas down, is that I actually write random scenes that will be found later on in my story/novel. I've created some interesting conversations in this manner, which often lead me to come up with an interesting story that involves that exerpt.

Am I just weird?

Vanessa · Mar 22, 2006

I've accumulated notebooks with lots of stuff in them. I keep them all over the place, in the car, in my purse, in my work bag, my laptop bag, at work, at home, etc. Well you get the idea! And for whatever reason I always have an idea lurking to get out. It's actually kinda weird. My mind wanders all the time and I guess I do have lots of idle time to think due to lots of travel time alone. But dang -- if only I could put some of those good ideas to print.

eliza1903 · Mar 22, 2006

My WIP has several notebooks now, all with things like:

...ooh, and maybe Al needs that watch as proof, but...

Alongside clips of dialogue, facts (I write historical fiction), ideas, sentiments, and page after page of:

Chapter No. - Title

What happens in this scene?
What needs to be established?

Intro:
Middle:
Middle:
Outro:

Nothing gets me past writer's block and development blocks like handwriting in the notebooks. It's not entirely freewriting, but I think it's the only way I can focus my attention at the "problems" at hand and talk them out without distraction.

Also, coffee helps. A lot.

PastMidnight · Mar 23, 2006

Do you mean ideas for the current WIP or for future books?

For future books, I keep a file on the computer and just jot down brief ideas (not necessarly complete sentences) in a bulleted list whenever I come across a little fact or story that could be expanded into a book. A few of them have really stuck around in my mind and I've expanded on those with really rough outlines (about a page).

For the WIP (and this probably sounds dorky), I keep an envelope with index cards in it. Whenever I think of an idea for a scene, event, conversation, etc., I jot it on an index card. It might fill both sides of the card, if I've already worked it out in my mind pretty well, or it might just be a sentence, like "X dies". I like using cards rather than a notepad, because I can spread them all out and shuffle around the cards to come up with an order of events.

Ronda · Mar 23, 2006

I keep a notebook with me and jot down the idea in whatever form will help me remember it later. Occasionally I draw a picture (hasty and non-artistic), but mostly I write a few words.
Ronda

Flapdoodle · Mar 23, 2006

Jewel101 said:
How do you write down your new ideas. Do you notetake? Use complete sentences? Jot down the gist? Outline?

Personally, When a good idea hits me I jot down the gist in incomplete sentences. If the idea gets further developed (i.e. more ideas for that idea comes) I randomly write them down. Then, If I get enough Ideas to write a book, I organize and write a timeline.

I have a PDA with handwriting recognition. I'm forever whipping it out (And the PDA!) for a scribble when I have something I want to take down. Ooh err, missus!

(It's a Dell Axim X50v, which is OK, but S-l-o-w. I'm waiting for the new Origami Project Palmtops to come out.)

CaroGirl · Mar 23, 2006

I usually let ideas fester for a while before I write them down. Sometimes I write half-formed ideas in a notebook, but I usually let them become more fully formed, and then put them straight onto the computer.

I also get a lot of ideas from small obscure newspaper articles. There's a lot of weird stuff happening out there that's just begging to be fictionalized. Truth really is stranger than fiction. When I come across something interesting, I cut it out and keep it in a file folder. I also cut out pictures from decorating magazines, if they match a room in one of my scenes.

scribbler1382 · Mar 23, 2006

If you don't have a use for an electronic PDA (say, you already have Bejeweled on your PC), here are a couple nice alternatives I've used from time to time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA

http://www.pocketmod.com/ <--- this is the coolest one!

While I do have a fisher space pen (just in case I have to hitchhike across the universe at a moment's notice), I've never been without the following for almost 5 years...even when I do remember to carry my Palm TX:

http://www.cross.com/catalog/pendetail.aspx?cat_name=Ion+Pens

tesla · Mar 23, 2006

...

My ideas are disjointed, sometimes a series of words strung together usually scribbled on the back of my hand, or napkin, or my tshirt, whatever is handy.
I've never been a plan-it-all-out sort of writer for anything but my romance novels, it usually starts with a character, or something a character would say, and then it goes from there.

Akuma · Mar 23, 2006

I have a little notebook in my back pocket, a little companion for my wallet.

It's good for when I have a rush of genius and can jot it down to look at it later and discover that it really sucked or there was no descernable meaning at all!

New Ideas

Jewel101

Danger Jane

Linda Adams

Soldier, Storyteller

BuffStuff

No more being nice to Pee D

Jamesaritchie

scribbler1382

Write For You, Edit For The Reader

Jamesaritchie

LightShadow

defender of the blahs!

Jewel101

Danger Jane

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

LightShadow

defender of the blahs!

Haruko_Ito

Vanessa

Writer and Music Producer

eliza1903

PastMidnight

Oponionated

Ronda

Flapdoodle

CaroGirl

Living the dream

scribbler1382

Write For You, Edit For The Reader

tesla

Akuma

Rare Writer Pokemon