Noted! Five tips for writing down story ideas

I came across Roz Morris's excellent article on "How to write down story ideas so you can remember why they were brilliant", and I loved this passage:

So when I write down an idea, I make sure I include this raw response. I write them as a stream of consciousness, like a dream. Because that’s what comes to me first: the certainty of what I want the reader to feel. If possible, I’ll also keep a talisman that will allow me to replay it again, and indeed might have been the initial inspiration – a scene in a book or a film, or a piece of music. 

Read the complete article here.

I'm a great one for jotting down my ideas - I have a jotting pad at home, because I find that writing out ideas in long hand seems to target a part of my brain that is often dormant. Only problem is I sometimes can't read my own handwriting.... 

For all other notes, I use my phone - standing in the queue at the supermarket, waiting for the kids at school, at a restaurant (this is often when my husband makes a throwaway comment that I love, and it gets added to the notes...), in a meeting (bad girl!)... 

On the rare occasion when I find myself without my phone or pad, anything will do, including the back of a bill!

Like Roz, I try to write out as much detail as I can, and if I have time, I'll even flesh it out immediately into an actual scene, even if I have no idea where it will fit in my book. I went back to my notes when I had finished the first draft of The Day that we are Born - I lightly cross out ideas that I've used - and found several bits that fitted in perfectly to areas that I had written months after the ideas. I'm busy drafting my next book, which is a companion - and also stand-alone - to The Day that we are Born, and I found a fully-fledged scene that will work perfectly in the next book!

So here are my five tips for getting down ideas onto paper/screen:

1. Ideally, have one source on which to take down notes of your ideas. But this is real life and this doesn't always work, so ensure that you have a back-up source. But don't lose these sources! I live my life in organized chaos, but if this doesn't work for you, rather have one dedicated source that goes with you everywhere. Which is why I recommend a phone. 

2. Jot down the idea and try to flesh it out - even a little - immediately. Your brain might be following a certain thought and as you write the idea down, the juices will flow.

3. If you have an idea where it's going to go in the plot, make a note of that. But when you go back to it later, remember that you don't have to stick to its position. Move it around and see if it'll work somewhere else.

4. Depending on how often you find yourself jotting ideas down, go back to your idea book regularly. I do this once every two or three days as I take notes every day. I don't necessarily do anything with these ideas then; I might add to them or think about where to use them. But once a week, I have a dedicated time-slot in which I review all my notes - even ones from weeks ago. And I play with them.

5. Have a system where you indicate what ideas you have used. In my jotter, I lightly cross them out. On my phone, I color them in red to show that I've used them. This is important - learn from my mistake: I included the same dialogue twice in my first draft, and when I picked it up, I had to make so many changes that I lost 1000 words. Ouch.