ever get a brilliant idea(s) in the car

When I worked and I was always looking for precious writing time, I did two things. I awoke at 4:00 AM each morning and wrote for an hour before getting ready for work. (I left at 5:45 AM to set up labs and activities. I was a middle school science teacher and we DID something every day.)

The second thing I did was carry around a small voice recorder. Many days I didn't use it at all, but if I had dialogue or description rambling around in my head - and I knew I couldn't get it down until I got home around 4:00 PM - I recited it. Crazy, huh? Really though, not much.

When the car (van) I carried it in got totaled in 2010 we forgot about the recorder. I'd had it about ten years and anything of value on it had been safely copied onto my PC. But sometimes I imagine if the guys in the salvage yard ever found it, took it out, listened.

'Okay, then he throws her mutilated corpse into the lake...'

I wouldn't know if they are brilliant or not. If they come to me in the car I forget them by the time I get home to write them down.

I tried a recorder, but there is some kind of disconnect between what I'm thinking and my ability to verbalize it. Maybe I'm just intimidated, I'm not an orator, but the idea comes out wrong if I try to tape it. I don't know how else to explain it but I can transcribe ideas via pen or keyboard but I can't verbalize them.

I use my driving time to practice my interview with Terry Gross. (a girl can dream can't she?)

Sometimes I have an idea - I got one while stuck in traffic, because the reason I was stuck was a dead body being carried across the street and into the coroner's hearse.

I have had the same very distinct dream twice now, and I think it would make an excellent screenplay. Or I'm getting messages from the beyond.

KellyAssauer said:

These three words have saved both my sanity and front fenders:

Digital Voice Recorder.

*This coming from a person who used to have a cassette recorder velcro'd to the dash* =)

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This. I keep a recorder on me all the time when driving. I have it on a lanyard around my neck, so I don't have to dig through my purse to find it.

Digital voice recorder and a Pulse smart pen (+dot paper notebook) make sure I'm never without a way to jot down an idea. In addition, most smart phones today have a voice memo app built into them.

I get ideas all the time when riding the bus for whatever reason. I used to forget them by the time I got home a lot, but lately I've taken to using the notepad on my iPhone to keep track of them.

I get them at the weirdest of times. As mentioned above, I also jump in the shower when I'm in a rough spot and I'll stay in there until I get a good idea. Haha. Plus it lets me talk it out with myself and my husband won't be able to hear me talking to myself. Ha.

I always get them while I'm trying to fall asleep, too, and I think 'I'm wide awake. I won't forget this in the morning.' But then... I do.

I learned to always write them down when I came up with a great idea a year or so ago while I was in the bathroom helping a stray cat I'd found give birth. She was finally done, but I didn't want to leave her. As I was falling asleep on a towel on the bathroom floor, an idea came to me that was amazing, but I was too tired to do anything. To this day, I can't remember what it was. :-(

I do have a voice recorder, but I hate my voice when I play it back, so I refuse to use it unless absolutely necessary.

Eminem said he gets good lyrics while taking a sh*t.

I don't own a car so...ummmm....no. In general I don't get brilliant ideas coming to me out of nowhere anyways.

LJD said:

I don't own a car so...ummmm....no. In general I don't get brilliant ideas coming to me out of nowhere anyways.

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Walking can do it, too. Preferably long, boring, routine walks, like the walk home everyday, etc, rather than a new, fresh, walk where you're looking at the scenery, or trying not to bump into people, or looking for the right address.

There used to be poor bus service and a long bridge on my trip home. sigh. I was good at ideas in those days.

I'm another who has a voice recorder in my car. Most phones can record voice now, so this method of recording is at our fingertips beyond our cars, although I wouldn't recommend it in the shower (which is one of my freewheeling think times, like Will).

and running, and at the gym

A $20 tape recorder works great. Dragon on the iPhone works OK (I just email it to myself.)

Funny thing is, once I record it, I remember it. If I don't record it, I forget.

I wonder how it feels like to get brilliant ideas, since it sure never happens to me.

I can't recite my good ideas into my phone, because for some (I'm sure dangerously psychological) reason, my brain works completely differently when I'm speaking and when I'm writing. So in the car I either have to pull over immediately and write it down (I have lots of ideas written on receipts and backs of envelopes and fast-food bags and old registration cards), or I have to try to write while I'm driving. (And that means a scribbled mess that flails across the page and is close to impossible to read later, but usually is good enough to kick-start my memory. Usually. And when it isn't, I cry a tiny golden tear.)

IDGS said:

I go for a drive for at least an hour almost every night.

Yeah, it gets expensive - but it's like meditation for me.

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I love just driving for pleasure, but around here (the DC area), driving is akin to torture. It's just not relaxing.

I get ideas when I'm doing mindless tasks like taking a shower or washing the dishes or driving. As I'm drifting off to sleep (which often takes a while for me), ideas will often come to me. That's when I'm most likely to forget them. I have to wake myself up a little bit and force myself to remember. That's doesn't always work . . . I can usually recover the ideas if I try hard enough and retrace my mental steps.

Every week I write a few pages in my journal (by hand). I usually slip in a quick update about what I'm writing; ideas will occur to me as I'm doing that. Just the act of trying to summarize what I've accomplished can put things in perspective.

tko said:

Funny thing is, once I record it, I remember it. If I don't record it, I forget.

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Same with me and writing it down. I don't have to keep it after that, since the act of writing it down has some how engraved it into my memory.

If I don't, I'll forget it walking into the next room. :/

All the time. In fact, I briefly touched on this on my webcomic.

If I'm stuck on a story, I'll go out driving, and invariably, it'll work itself out while I'm in the car. Not unusual at all to have to pull over and jot something down. (I can't use a voice recorder; I hate the sound of my voice so much I'll never play back the recording)

Long road trips are awesome for working out stories. I've been on several this year, usually alone, and I tend to drive as far as I can on a tank of gas before I stop. Depending on which vehicle I'm in, that can be anywhere from 300 to almost 400 miles. More than once, I've had a very vague kernel of an idea when I started the car, and when I've stopped to get gas hours later, I have an entire story line (complete with subplots and specific scenes) plotted out in my head. So then I end up getting gas, moving the car away from the pump, and frantically writing everything down in my notebook. This was a once to twice daily occurrence during my 5-day road trip last winter. (Hey, five days of driving 8-10 hours a day with no one to talk to except my cats? The mind, it wanders.)

The only problem I have with thinking/driving is that while I am certainly paying attention to the road, I tend to stop thinking about where I'm going. This is fine when I'm just going to be on the interstate for a few hundred miles. When I leave my house to "go for a drive", I've been known to suddenly realize I'm 200 miles from home. Oops. This probably stems from 3 years in a place where I would eventually run out of island, so I couldn't get too far from home if I wanted to. When you have a few thousand miles of land in any direction, well...yeah. Fortunately, my husband just laughs when I call and say "Uh, so I went driving and wound up in Sioux City. I'll...uh...be back soon."

So yes, I am forever getting ideas in the car.

tko said:

(snip!)Funny thing is, once I record it, I remember it. If I don't record it, I forget.

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This is so me.

My best ideas usually come when I'm in the shower, or when I'm out for a jog. (When you hate running as much as I do, you try and think about anything but.)

Shadow_Ferret said:

I tried a recorder, but there is some kind of disconnect between what I'm thinking and my ability to verbalize it. Maybe I'm just intimidated, I'm not an orator, but the idea comes out wrong if I try to tape it. I don't know how else to explain it but I can transcribe ideas via pen or keyboard but I can't verbalize them.

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I know exactly what you mean. I'm the same. My family is always asking me how I can be a writer when I'm so bad at explaining things. My reply is something along the lines of "I'm only good at writing words. My speaking words are terrible."

It's like there's some sort of awkward connection between my brain and my mouth, and all the good connection is focused between my brain and my fingers. It's kind of frustrating sometimes

NeuroFizz said:

I'm another who has a voice recorder in my car. Most phones can record voice now, so this method of recording is at our fingertips beyond our cars, although I wouldn't recommend it in the shower (which is one of my freewheeling think times, like Will).

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Hmm, water proof? Or maybe remote controlled, just outside the door


I myself get my best ideas at random places, when I'm least expecting it. I'll be thinking about something else entirely and then BAM! Ohhhh, I have to write that down!.

Otherwise while I'm in bed. I like to lie there and let my mind wander, try not to focus on any one idea and just let them all roll around up there. I keep a pen and notebook next to my pillow.

Oh hell, yeah. On a recent road trip, my niece and I came up with a totally unique concept and by the time the ride was over, we had the synopsis down word for word. That book is now drawing very heavy attention.

tri

I get my best dialogue in the car. I get bored after driving for like five minutes so I'll take a future scene I have planned and started speaking the dialogue out loud. I even give all my characters different voices. It helps me make sure my dialogue is realistic and natural sounding. And it helps me create new scenes because I usually keep going once the original scene is over.

Then comes the awkward moment when my window is down and the car next to me has their window down and I realize they are looking at me like I'm crazy. It's even more awkward when they see that I've caught them and they slowly roll their window back up.

But, yes, all my favorite bits of dialogue have come from being bored while driving.