Planetfurry BBS

[DragonWolf_keny]

I have so many.
Many of my ideas never are realized to the page so, I was wondering ; do you keep notes? I my self am a visual writer so often as I am also an untrained artist do so in the form of sketches. if I can't describe it in words I draw it. So what do you do, just Wright from the hip or do you have to plan it out?

[PrincessB]

Sometimes when I have a good thourogh idea I'll jot it down, sometimes I'll just write what comes to my mind as it comes. Then times I'll be writing something and another idea will come and I'll write it in the margines around my current writing, thats why half of my pages are confusing to others cuz the margines are filled with other short ideas.

[Rabbit]

Generally my plotlines are (purposely) idiot-simple, and I was blessed with a very good memory. So, the most I keep is a list of character names/roles for the minor players.

[mwalimu]

I keep some notes and an outline for any story I'm working on, at least if it's going to take me more than a few days to write it. I usually have a pretty good memory, but recently I renewed work on On Location (on which I have made only sporadic progress over the last couple of years), and while reviewing the outline, although I remembered the overall plot and many of the scenes I had planned, there were a couple of parts in there where my reaction was, "OMG, I had completely forgotten about that!"

[RunningCat]

I sometime have PAGES of notes I use to keep all my stories straight as I sometimes jump from one story to anouther and back. I a spreadsheat program to keep all straight espcially if I have a lot of charaters in the story and there are so mant plot twist that you figure your and pretizal.

[Osfer]

My jotting has become a practiced craft. I bought several pairs of cargo pants specifically because that model (aside from suiting my feegyoore) sported side pockets, zippered, that perfectly fitted my journalist-style small Moleskine and retractable-nib GraphGear 1000 mechanical pencil, which after years of trial and error have proven to be the ultimate in portable note-taking equipment.

[Tygon]

I don't make notes although I probably should. WHen I get a really good story idea I normally start writing that story within the day.

A published author once told me not to keep notes at all. If you get a truly good idea you will remember it.

No idea if that is true. I'm simply too lazy to keep notes. Plus, my paw-writing sucks. I couldn't read them myselves.

[Nadan]

In times past, I would write without notes. In more recent times, I have begun more extensive notetaking systems. I now outline not only characters and histories, but governments, personal histories, geographies, etc. This helps me return to the story in future years to write new additions and chapters.

[Foxeris]

For me it depends on the story and how complicated it is. Most short stories I can get away with only a few words worth of notes, usually stuck at the end of the file, if even that.

The longer stories, like novels, will have a file just for notes and another file for an outline. This is because my plots are usually fairly complicated and I have enough characters running around I need to keep track of them all. This is even more important when they have secret plans or agendas, then I have to make sure all the plot points line up.

Even with all of that I keep a file of extra thoughts and ideas, and I always have two notebooks at hand as well.

[beno]

Me and notes? How can you seperate them? I have 1000000000 pages worth of notes. Alot of which are ideas I intend using eventually. I've even made a story where the notes were actually longer than the story once. Well, what can you say for a first story?

[DragonWolf_keny]

Wow, so many answers. well, I guess I should go a turn too. I keep notes on everything I Wright not just on plot but, on the stories setting, its peoples, the characters, and their cultures. I even get into the very detail of the clothes they wear and the way their homes look (even if it is only in the story for a single paragraph) I’m a very though writer. I don’t just Wright, I have to create a world. Sometimes I draw it out, I actually sketch it then I writght about it.

[DragonWolf_keny]

[PrincessB]

I currently have 3 note books that I write in and all notes and story goes in there. When I'm done it gets typed up and the original goes into the filing cabnet.
My poems get writen in a note book till I have them how I like then are put in a journal a friend bought me for christmas that hold the finished copies of all my poems. Keeps everything fairly easy to find within a few minutes.

[No_Idea_What_I'm_Doing]

Nope (English) . Niet (Russian). Nein (German). Non (French). No (Spanish).

I do not take notes. I have a good memory .

[Pflarrian]

Do... I... take... notes...?

*looks at extraneous files labeled (storyname)nts.wpd and smirks*

I believe that would be a yes. At the very least, I do my best to keep note-pages (in my computer, mind you) with brief character sketches for quick-reference while writing. Likewise, I do, on occasion, have general outlines for my stories as well kept in those files.

Similarily, I have a series of files set up for the sole purpose of keeping track of plot ideas and story ideas.

Why? Because unlike SOME people *glares* my memory isn't very good, due in part to my job. When you're trying to remember eight hundred + things that you need to do at work, sometimes the other stuff slips out of mind for a while...