My idea monster likes cookies. Apparently he also likes black tie cheesecake because I received a whopper of an idea in my idea inbox today after a nice dinner and dessert at Olive Garden (courtesy of a gift from my beloved INK comrades--thank you!) It might become a short story, but I suspect that it's more of a novel-length idea (as usual, argh.)
I really don't need another novel idea. I've already got enough projects to keep me busy for the next decade, easily. But I don't like to let these things pass me by, because I never know what's going to write itself, and what I'm going to be struggling with for years. I prefer to have a variety of projects at various stages. It's one of the habits I nurture so that I'm never blocked. If I'm having trouble writing on one project, chances are very good that switching to another project will get me writing again (and often I can come back to the blocked project with fresh enthusiasm and ideas in short order.)
Usually what I do when I have an exciting idea is I open a new file, type a few sentences and then save it under a memory-jogging title.
How do you keep track of ideas (if you bother) and do you ever come back to them?
3 comments:
I use Tomboy for all kinds of notes. Ideas going into the appropriately named "Ideas" notebook. If I'm not sure what I want to write next I can scan it quickly to see if there's anything there I want to work on.
I have a notebook I jot ideas in, but really I get much better results by simply saving all my abortive writing efforts. I have stuff from over a decade ago that I still look through occasionally for ideas or bits of writing that I can use. I even (fairly frequently) crib from my fanfic or gaming efforts.
And sometimes I look at an opening I never used...and I find the story I couldn't see at the time.
Oh, if all the scraps of paper could only talk... At least I know where every last one of those are now.
Don't even get me started on the notebooks. Plural. Plus multiple virtual folders.
Come back to them? With all my copious spare time, I ought to do nothing but revisit time and again.
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