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HOw do you organize your ideas

doeraymeedoeraymee
edited September 2007 in - Writing Problems

Comments

  • doeraymeedoeraymee
    Curious as to how others do this, without losing all that mass of whirling ideas.
    I have a a WORD document called IDEAS - Master list in which I keep ideas listed in categories (ie. travel-Canada; travel-other countries; history; personal essays, etc).
    Then I have another WORD doc in which I keep the top 5 I am currently working on. Or at least I try to keep only 5 there. I've had more in the past and it just gets unwieldy.
    Any other ideas?
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    I used to just write them down on a sheet of A4 paper or a Post-it note; or, for a work-in-progress, at the bottom of the page (I write by hand).

    I've only just become more organised. Jokes I write in one small notebook; and I intend using another notebook to record things that may happen as the current story progresses.
  • JanyJany
    Same here, Claudia: 3 notebooks for writing ideas
    (in various rooms and handbags), one for my miniature projects ideas and a big blue one with general jetsom like "repot rubber plant!" Also made an Excel graph on the laptop - it`s very snazzy and efficient, but I can`t be bothered to switch the thing on. Much easier to scribble.
  • NephNeph
    I think I have an addiction to notebooks, I have loads of them, usually half full.  I really need to stop buying them until they are full.  Although I have some pukka pads that are secioned with dividers (project books) and they are awesome, I only need to use one at a time and its neatly sectioned into current work ideas and general ideas etc.
  • AllieAllie
    I have a Word document for ideas, too. I jot them down wherever I am (in my appointments diary, pocket diary, dream diary) and transfer them later, at least once a week. I used to write them into my main journal (which I now do straight onto the PC), so I have about twenty years of these that I comb through when I have time. They say an idea will never come again, but it's amazing how many times the same idea has occurred to me, although I haven't realised it till I come across the second entry. Some of the ideas have already been turned into stories or novels by someone else, the most recent example being the TV show My Name Is Earl.
  • CarolCarol
    A notebook mostly, but my Ideas folder on the computer tends to get forgotten about.
  • dorothyddorothyd
    Hm, back to those pesky notebooks again. I don't/can't use them, so it tends to be notes which end up in the briefcase and are dealt with either at work or at home, depending on where the files are.  Apart from that... as I pretty well know which authors want their stories told, I have a cupboard full of ring binders, all with their titles, their poem, a CD,(for backup) and any incidental information that comes in before I start work.  It changes, the Charles I folder got put to one side to bring out the Edward Woodville folder so I can write this Island book but containing everything in a ring folder works wonders, you put away/get out as you need. I use plastic sheets, the ones with holes down the side, to store most papers, especially research sheets, so they don't get torn as I turn the pages. The biography occupies 3 lever folders as it is in 3 sections, and so on. That is my system, which seems to work well.  No need to look through notebooks ... !
  • NephNeph
    Talking of organizing, I am sorting out my corner of the kitchen today, just bought some new bookshelves, so will be organizing all my notebooks too.
  • KangarooKangaroo
    Notebook, it's easier to use that than the ideas folder on the computer.
  • BillBill
    what about notes/ideas on novel your working on?
    I,ve got tens of thousands of words - laboriously typed up from notebooks - scenes/dialogues/reasons why character might/might not do or say this or that , what I need them to say, would they say that etc/plot direction, changes etc.
      I have to read so much over and over to find notes about things I know I have made - it really slows things down ...
    how do you cope?
  • Marc.BMarc.B
    an A4 note pad and card wallets with labels on containing info I print off the net. I try to stay with one project, my main novel, and write no more than two short stories at the same time for comps or Scribler mag. KISS, and don't overload yourself. See above as to how easy you accumulate 'stuff' you may never use. It works for me, I can't operate in a disorganised manner. you have to be ruthless with yourself. NEED IT?  NO.  BIN IT!
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