How do you store your novel ideas?

Lillith1991 · Mar 16, 2014

We all have ideas that never got written or that are waiting for the perfect story to feature in in the case of some character and ideas. Where do you store these? In a note book? A binder? A word document of some sort? What's your unique style for keeping track of them?

Me? I write things down in a word document mostly. I have one dedicated solely to personal writing prompts/snippets. Since I'm a fanfiction writer in addition to being an aspiring novelist, and writer of original works. I have sections decidicated to Original prompts, and a section for my fanfiction prompts as well.

But I've also found writing things down as a hard copy in the past to be helpful. There's just something satifying about knowing I have ideas to work from that don't require a computer, google drive enabled phone, or my nook to access. I'm considering starting another prompt journal to take with me places. Goodness knows I have one hanging around somewhere from when I was 17, full of stories I never wrote and that are now really cliché. I think another might be in order, hopefully full of more interesting prompts this time.

RSwordsman · Mar 16, 2014

A folder on my hard drive, with a separate text document for each idea. 99% of them will probably never be written, but they're there if I want them.

Brutal Mustang · Mar 16, 2014

All over the place, where I can never find them.

andiwrite · Mar 16, 2014

A file called Random Book Ideas. That's where I jot down the concepts I want to develop into novels. I also have another HUGE file called "Random Book Notes" and that's like my trash dump for anything I have cut out of my other books that I might be able to rework into something else. It's like 60 pages long now though, so I have no clue how I'd ever sort through it. The only method I have is remembering part of the scene and then searching for the words. One of these days I should really try to get organized.

Thuro · Mar 16, 2014

My brain. Its like churning water. It all resurfaces eventually.

Helix · Mar 16, 2014

I've got a notebook for one-line story ideas and possible titles; colour-coded notebooks where I jot down details for these stories; and a lever-arch file called The Big Binder of First Scenes.

Anna Spargo-Ryan · Mar 16, 2014

Everywhere, but I try to keep them all on Evernote. I've got a "short story ideas" note, and a "long story ideas" note, both of which mostly have one-liner ideas. Then I have a note for my current WIP, which is very long, and other notes for ideas that are more developed than one line but aren't WIPs yet.

Evernote works for me because I can update it from my phone, so my ideas are less likely to disappear in the time it takes to find a pen.

Layla Nahar · Mar 16, 2014

In my head. If the idea is good it will wait till I've finished my current project. If the idea disappears, how good could it have been in the first place. If I can think of title to go with an idea that helps a lot.

Patrick.S · Mar 16, 2014

I have a Word doc called Novel Ideas (which makes me chuckle more than it should).

jaksen · Mar 16, 2014

I have a folder for this on my pc. I just give it a title and stick it in a word doc. I put as much - or as little - info as needed, and any pieces of dialogue, description, or anything that I just can't let go of.

Now I may never return to this, but I've solved the issue of worrying about it. I can't lose it. And I have returned to a few old ideas and written them up, sent them off and sold them.

But the important thing is, that like a fairy in a bottle, I've caught it. It isn't going to escape or be forgotten.

LJD · Mar 16, 2014

What ideas?

Seriously, I don't have very many. I suppose if I had one, I would write it down in whatever notebook I'm using at the time (since I write by hand), but I can't remember the last time that happened.

Quinn_Inuit · Mar 16, 2014

I have a folder in Google Docs (with only a few files in it) where I keep rough ideas. That way, I don't have to worry about keeping them backed up. I can also mess with them just about anywhere, if so inclined.

Ferret · Mar 16, 2014

I have a word doc called ideas. It contains vague, one-sentence premises, longer synopses, and a few first pages. Most of the ideas will never be used, but sometimes an old flawed concept inspires a new idea that I love enough to turn into a complete story. I read through it whenever I'm not sure what to write next.

NRoach · Mar 16, 2014

I let stuff stew in my head, that which sticks must have some redeeming quality over that which doesn't.

Phaeal · Mar 16, 2014

Mine all go into the Word doc bunny hutch with the other bunnies, where they can interbreed and produce still more awesome and powerful bunnies.

guttersquid · Mar 16, 2014

RSwordsman said:
A folder on my hard drive, with a separate text document for each idea.

Same here except that I duplicate the folder on a flash drive in case my pc crashes.

Maggie Maxwell · Mar 16, 2014

A draft email on my primary account. That way, no matter where I am, I can update it or read through it. I back it up to a Word document regularly.

AshleyEpidemic · Mar 16, 2014

I make a notes file on my ipad althought I may migrate that to Evernote now that I have it. Either way, the notes stay as note documents until I feel I have the gist of the story. Then I move it to scrivener to outline. I keep the notes on a portable platform because the ideas are random.

Updrifting · Mar 16, 2014

I have - and I think this is terribly clever of me - a Word file I've titled "Slush." Ha! Get it? I'm a writer who contributes to agents' and editors' slush piles, and I keep my own slush pile!!!

Okay, maybe I'm not that clever. Maybe that's why my stuff is in everyone's slush piles, including my own...

Kate Thornton · Mar 16, 2014

In a desktop file which I back up to an external hard drive at least weekly (along with WIPs - had a hard drive crash once - never want to face that again)

I write every day, so I jot down ideas in my Idea File daily, too. Then I check it often to see if there's anything good in there. I stash clippings, pictures, all sorts of crazy stuff that can eventually be used - or not.

Will to Make · Mar 16, 2014

I've got a folder called stories. Each idea has its own folder under that. I've also got a folder which contains some things not put on the computer yet

Jamesaritchie · Mar 16, 2014

I don't. I try to forget every idea I get. I try hard. If I can forget it, it wasn't worth remembering, and certainly not worth writing about. I want to write the ideas I can't forget, regardless of how hard I try.

I tried writing things down when I first started writing, and ended up with notebooks full of bad ideas that I tried to use, anyway, just because I wrote them down.

A much more experience writer told me to try not writing anything down. I tried. It worked extremely well.

Rubicon · Mar 16, 2014

I add them to a file under story seeds.

ash.y · Mar 16, 2014

Note cards!

I like them because I can pull out the pile and arrange combinations of ideas visually. It's worth noting that I write down many little things (not just a general story idea, but funny phrases, imagined landscapes, characters, etc.) and treat the note cards like fragments or elements of a recipe.

Bellwood · Mar 16, 2014

I have a gdoc called 'snippets3' where I record, well, snippets. (Snippets and snippets2 both became too large to be easily navigated.) I store everything from story ideas, to bits I've written but edited out, to character pictures, to recipes, to interesting factoids, to virtually anything that I think I want to keep, or that could be inspiring to me in the future. When I'm stuck or need inspiration, I go back and read bits of it.

When I'm actively working on a project, or have isolated an idea that I want to develop, it gets its own folder on my google drive. I usually have a hard copy notebook or binder that I keep things in as well. I like to work in hard copy when I'm world building. I also cart around one of those twee mock-moleskine notebooks in my purse. I try to write down ideas as much as I can. I don't like to waste interesting thoughts.

Interesting to read through and see so many different styles

.

How do you store your novel ideas?

The Hobbit-Vulcan hybrid

Loves interplanetary chaos.

I'm Batman

socially distancing

Just pokin' about

Seashell Seller

Caped Codder

Not a real eskimo

Dook!

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

I agree with Roxxsmom.

Making Einstein cry since 1994

Did you see my bag?

Writer without permission.

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

Turn a page

Absurd and Obscure