working notebooks - Writers Forum

cecilia · 08-22-2005, 08:09 PM

hey guys, does anyone keep a working notebook?? I detail my thoughts and ideas in there rather like a diary of writing. I explain my inspiration and work through my ideas by writing short practice pieces. Ifind it really helpful especially as I dont have alot of time to write and worry that i am going to foret my ideas.

Hope this helpful to someone. Who else keeps one??

lots of love cecilia xxxx

Julian_Gallo · 08-22-2005, 10:42 PM

I've been keeping one for years. I have volumes and volumes of them. They're more like a combination of a journal/working notebook sort of thing, where I jot down ideas, clip articles that interest me, or any other thing that I come across that I think I could use one day. When I was writing my first novel, I used them frequently, mining them for material that I thought would be useful. I think they're a great idea for a writer. Even keeping a journal is a good thing.

Lately, I've been kind of lax with mine but I would recommend people doing it. I find them very useful.

playstation60 · 08-24-2005, 12:44 PM

I do all of my writing on loose leaf paper or a notebook. My brain simply does not allow me to write on a computer first. My revisions are always performed by transferring from the paper to the screen.

cecilia · 09-22-2005, 06:00 PM

yep, and me, my notebooks are full of ideas and clippings too. Like you playstation 60 I cant write on a computer. I pour out frustration and desparing feelings when I am stuck too, like to know I wont forget an idea because I have written it down. Thanks for replying playstation 60 and Julian Gallo
!!!!!

lots of love cecilia xxx

Nickie · 09-23-2005, 02:31 AM

I have boxes full of tidbits and facts. I used to collect them when I was a kid, and I must say they sometimes come in quite useful, while checking the background for a novel.

Of course, now you have the net...

Nickie

Hodge · 09-23-2005, 03:44 AM

I have a notebook with a little folder thing in the back that can be used to store loose pieces of paper.

I only use black ink within the notebook. No exceptions.

cecilia · 09-23-2005, 02:39 PM

Hey hodge, hmm, interesting, can I ask why you chose to use balck and only black please?
I used to collect stuff when I was little to nickie but I am fraid I csave too much rubbish and have to throw it out, especially because my room is quite small! LOL

Thanks fore posting guys!!!

lots of love cecila xxx

NorthStarPenguin · 11-05-2005, 12:42 PM

I used to keep a few things here and there, but I was never really organized enough to formulate a complete notebook about it all. I am going to try and change that now, however. I'm trying to actually get some short stories out and, like you all, I have found that my best writing isn't going to come from my sitting in front of a blank word document all day, lol.

Himani · 12-07-2005, 02:33 AM

I've got a personal journal that I try and write in before I sit down to write a piece. I write about my inspiration, how I feel, etc., etc. Just anything that pops into my head. It brings my emotions to the front of my mind and gets me in the "writing" type of mood.

I know a lot of those writing help books tell you the journal shouldn't be fancy, but I get bored of looking at a plain cover. If I have a nice journal, I feel like I'm writing down something special.

halfapersona · 12-07-2005, 08:32 AM

I like the idea of having a journal that I can look back on and get ideas from but my organisation is soooo terrible that I can never seem to get it right. Which means, my journal is spread across about ten different books and files of different sizes for different occasions.

martianlunatic · 12-07-2005, 11:09 AM

Oh yes, very much. Unfortunately, it's called my calc notebook. I USED to pay attention in school, really, I did! I would eventually like to get just one notebook I use for my writing though. With random things like sketches of the characters and maps of the area and plot snippets that will never make it into the final story. It would be fun

desertofthereal · 12-17-2005, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by halfapersona

I like the idea of having a journal that I can look back on and get ideas from but my organisation is soooo terrible that I can never seem to get it right. Which means, my journal is spread across about ten different books and files of different sizes for different occasions.

Same here, halfapersona. I have several half-filled journals lying about with all kinds of writings in them. Sometimes I get ideas that I just KNOW that I am going to lose if I don't write them down pronto, so I write them on whatever is handy, scrap paper, sticky note, back of a receipt. When I want to find an idea, half scribbled article, etc. to expand on, I get to go through all these scrap papers and journals - it is like shopping at the flea market and finding a bonanza!

kalibantre · 12-27-2005, 11:06 AM

I study Imaginative Writing at John Moores in Liverpool. First thing we were told we had to do for the course was write a journal, our day to day lives and how we'd use it in writing, or any inspiration we had.

Not a notebook, a notebook is something that pretty much nly the writer understands, but you transcribe, edit and make something interesting out of each little rambling, it's a nice way of looking back on life and writing all at once. mine at are all on the net, so I know I can find them when I'm switching between computers all the time.

http://www.opendiary.com/entrylist.a...orcode=D601211

Himani · 12-28-2005, 04:57 AM

There's also a really nice program that's online which one can write down story notes, character sketches, etc.

It's called StoryRight.

Adrienne · 12-28-2005, 08:41 AM

At times my brain will get a burst where it sees the next three or four scenes in something I'm writing, and I know if I don't jot down an outline I'll lose it in the circus of my cranium. So I have a tattered notebook with odd scribbles and shorthand notes in it. MOST of the time I can remember what I meant when I read it back.