Writing - keeping story ideas HI im new here and i was hoping someone could help I used to really love writing fanfiction but i am having real trouble at the moment. I tend to have an idea of a scene and write that with the intention of building around it, however i have so many ideas from shows and films and even original pieces i cant seem to find a good way of keeping all my ideas together and it is really taking the joy out of it. I keep playing with the ideas of folders on a pc (but i have lost so much with crashes and misplaced memory sticks) or notepads. Can anyone please give me some suggestions to help sort this out so i can enjoy writing again Thanks
No product endorsement necessary. My advice is to keep better track of your stuff and back it up often. When I was in college I lost notebooks like crazy. When memory sticks first hit the scene, I lost them more often than pens. Now, my briefcase has the same three pens in it at all times. I use three flash drives. One is for writing, one is for work and one is for miscellaneous personal use. I keep them on a key ring in the center pouch of my briefcase next to my medications and my cell phone. Prior to departing work or home, I check to ensure I have my flash drives, pens, medications and any relevant work papers. I back up all three drives on my laptop at home. Once every few months (more often if I have a lot of new data) I back up everything on an external HD which I keep in my fire safe at home. It may seem extreme, but there is a method to my madness. All of my tax information is stored on my computer. I need to back that up anyway in the event of a system crash. I have detailed mileage reports that cannot be reconstructed if lost. Not having those at an audit would be devastating. I also have electronic copies of college transcripts, my DD214, my military service record that need to be preserved. I keep very detailed accounting records for investments, retirement account contributions and household spending. All of these need to be backed up. I have copies of contracts with publishers and editors. I also have invoices from independent editors for website content, web designers, and various other writing related expenses. These finances being separate from my own personal finances, must be kept in separate files and backed up regularly. The point is that you need to keep yourself organized. Maybe you don't need the level of backups I have in my system, but you need to not lose your work in a single event. If I lose my briefcase, all of those files are stored at home. If my laptop crashes, I have it all backed up on the external HD. If you toss your flash drive into a desk drawer or throw it in a backpack, you will likely lose it. If you download bittorrents on your home PC, you are likely going to download viruses that can lead to system crashes and other failures. For your purposes, I would recommend using a flash drive and maybe backing them up on a cloud or other web based storage space. That way, if you lose your flash drive, you can re-download it all to the new drive. But no matter how you cut it, you need to be careful with your stuff so that you don't lose it. No software suite will make you invincible to a system crash, so you should formulate a backup strategy that works for you and then take care to abide by it.
Why don't you simply save it in a file and then send it as an attachment to yourself? Then it's in your inbox and as long as you can access your email, you'll never lose your files.
I think the best thing that can help you is establishing a habitual system. Choose a method and then stick to it like your life depends on it. This is one time that being "anal" about something isn't a bad thing. Now don't get me wrong, I am not any better. Also you might check into some kind of cloud storage or offsite backup service if you have the funds. There is one that offers continual backup in the background. The methods vary, but it is the person that makes the system work. So no matter what you choose to use, it will fail if you do not keep it up. Sorry!
