I like your idea too! Keeping post-its at hand is quite easy, but I've only done that once, (when brainstorming for the last novel, but they then ended up on the fridge, in the order I thought they would come in the story. Your idea takes it a step further. Great! *making a mental note about it*
I don't write notes per say, but I have written the names of the countries of my fantasy world in the back of the book I'm writing in just in case I forget how to spell them.
When I got to the second and third books, I'd have to go back to find the name of a particular ship or person, so I do keep a list of key parts or names of people. I do this on a separate "word" document, but don't jot down notes during the day as I can generally remember what I want to write or say.
Organize notes. That's new. I currently have several quarter-sheets of paper stuffed in various collecting grounds all around my room, containing descriptions of characters and their roles in the story. The problem is once I start to write the characters become very different from how I originally saw them. I also have a notebook of ideas for stories. None of this is organized.
I've found when I hand-write notes I've gotta keep 'em organized in an accordion folder or a small hanging file folder box. As soon as possible, I try to get the best into a software spreadsheet that I use as a database for formally organizing material and toss out the rest. Stuff you can use in another work or genre, should be put into a database/spreadsheet created for each. If you don't purge, you'll soon be in a mountain of unmanageable paper!
me too, it sounds pretty interesting, kind of like a handwritten first draft. lots of interesting advice here.
Suggestions for organizing ideas Hello I have a scribbling blocks, where I have written quite some text and random ideas about a movie/animation project that I am working on. The ideas are randomly scattered, and I've decided to begin going through them and deciding which one I should write down on my computer. The plan is then to organize them into categories like: 1) Character personality and development (what drives the character, what does he fear and wants to achieve. Which dramatic moments change his life forever?) 2) Cinematographic tricks, effects and ideas (camera angles, cuts, music, symbolism, comparison of my movie project with other movies that fascinate me. Examples of bad movies and what makes them good and vice versa. Which feelings do I plan to provoke in the audience and how? etc.) 3) The rules of universe and the setting (there are different planes of existence in this project and I am setting up rules. Which characters know what. How much to the audience know?) 4) Misc ideas and tricks (how to find the balance between making a message clear to the audience without stating the obvious. What is the essense of my project? What is my goal with doing it? Personal motivational quotes. Observation of my own state of mind, when for instance in lack of a creative flow, etc.). When I write a piece of my handwritten text from my scribbling block, I then cross it out with a pencil or a marker to know that that particular text is already "translated" into the cyberspace. You see, alot of my text seems to be cluttered, and I need to find a way of organizing it. Have anyone been in the same situation and please can suggest few ideas on how to start organizing them? Thanks in advance -Alex
I have very few notes. I keep it all in my head. For some reason, once the idea is out of my head and on paper, its no longer alive to me and feels forced, so when I get an idea about my story, i write the idea down in a small sentence using as few words as possible, and I don't touch it until its part in the story has arrived. Sometimes its part in the story never arrives and then I just throw it out.
I'm planning a 6-book series, so I wrote out a chart. I'm a big planner, and I had a lot of ideas, but I didn't know exactly how they all fit together. The rows were anything that develops over the 6 books: Main Character's Intent, Antagonist's Goal, How the War Unfolds, Who Has the Plot-Centered Object, etc. Each column was a different book. By doing this, I was able to align my ideas together. "If I move this over to this book, then it matches up better with this" I also keep a word document for dumping all my ideas, but I have BOLDFACE HEADLINES of major topics (e.g. Main character stuff, continuity facts, ideas for side-characters) to keep my ideas organized.
I don't know much about technical stuff like computer programs, but one simple solution would be to open a folder for that particular project and then assign various files for different areas, like you said in another thread, like one for setting, one for characters (maybe even a folder with different subfolders for characters) and so on. That is the only solution I can come up with right away. There are things like OneNote where you can actually see the different sections in every file and switching between them is simple.
New method: make one of those eighth-size booklets out of a sheet of paper and use it for the simplest outline as you first come up with it. If you forget about the stotry and rediscover it later, it'll be enough to remind you where you were going; plus you can carry it in a pocket.
I actually do special sessions just for organizing notes. It is a boring task but has to be done. I recommend using a recorder (e.g. mp3 player) for taking audio notes of these ideas that come to mind before falling to sleep. Start each recording with the name of the project it belongs too.
I have a small notebook I take with me everywhere and I jot down anything that comes to mind--names, places, ideas, conversations, etc. Other than that, my favorite organization and outlining program is Scrivener. I'm not affiliated with them or anything, but I LOVE their program so much. It was literally made by a writer, for other writers, and they have a free trial on their website. You should check it out.
Yeah, I use Scrivener too. I have several files on my computer for notes of various kinds, then when I actually start writing a story I copy any relevant notes into the Scrivener file. I also have 'base' Scrivener projects for each story series with general notes on setting, timeline and major characters; if I start a new story in that series I copy over the base project, delete anything I don't need and then anything I do need is already there for me.
I don't organize because I was blessed with a good memory, so I pretty much remember everything. But... Not much help, uh?
I totally organize my notes, character discriptons, locations, ideas, chapter summeries all on my iPad with an app called "A Novel Idea". I'd have to say that it is the best organizing app for writers I have found and a version 2 is said to be coming out soon. Anyway, I would suggest that app for anyone with an iPad or iPhone, it is my most favorite and misted used app on my iPad ... Except for Angry Birds of course;-)
I couldn't find a sync option on that app so I deleted it If I'm making notes, I want to be able to access it when I 'misplace' my phone (which I'm good at.)
When you create a new idea how do you make notes on it? I am 70k into a book but have just had another idea pop in my head, i would like to finish my other book before i start this one but don't want to forget anything. My question is how do you make notes, is it just bullet points or do you write large descriptions? I don't want to loose the ideas however i also don't want my notes to become a whole new project.
I scribble it down in a little notebook I keep with me almost 24/7. Many times I woke up in the middle of the night and grabbed the notebook to scribble down things.
I start a new file on my computer to dump any scenes that I write and I start a new section in my journal for anything that I jot down, that way, I can quickly get it out of my head and not worry about forgetting it when the time comes to start the new project.
I have spiral notebooks and computer files, folders labelled to contain different information (lists, various details such as condensed space travel rates--for my SF novels, etc.) Usually the spirals contain the original notes and ideas, until transferred to electronic files, which I frequently backup and have saved multiple places such that novel content and information cannot ever be lost.
Like Ulramar, I also have a little notebook with me all the time. I like to do short descriptions of the ideas I have, so I can flesh them out later. You never know when inspiration may strike I keep losing my pens, though.
I have a file on googledocs. I use my phone if I'm away from my computer. Sometimes I'll email myself ideas, too.
