How do you store your novel ideas?

I usually start by tying up ideas in a word document, and then I save it on a USB drive that I only use for writing. I like to have things organized, and it's easier to do that in a document where you can delete and enter in the middle of sentences without having to rewrite everything! When I get dedicated enough to a story, I usually begin brainstorming and exploring the story in a notebook.

On my OneDrive account. I save each idea in a separate word doc in an idea folder. A lot of them are quickly typex up from my phone (when I'm out and about) and saved to my OneDrive to look at later

Layla Nahar said:

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.

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This is my philosophy. Exactly. Down to the way I would have phrased it.

Get out of my head!

Initially it will be in my notebook that I'm using at the time. Then I'll transfer the idea into Evernote. It might stay there as no more than a sentence or two for ages, years even. Or I might keep adding bits to it over time if it's still on my mind. Some things are just a flash in the pan and never lead on to a story, but others will eventually grow into something.

I like to get them written down and safe, because that gives me head space for other ideas to come along. Either related to that one, or completely new ones. Once its safe it just seems to drop into my subconscious for that to turn it over and over for a bit, while my conscious mind works on the current projects.

I keep a Scrivener project called The Boneyard, where I collect story ideas (in the form of short proto-synopsis), deleted scenes from other works, and abandoned ideas. This way I don't lose anything and can riffle through it when I need and idea (or a laugh).

And of course make bad jokes about being a necromancer when I "resurrect" something from it.

Depends. On whatever I got at hand, and how elaborate they are.

I always have an A5 notebook with me to collect everything in. They're messy, and it's possible I may never find some ideas again after noting them there. (I don't wirte stuff down to remember it. I write stuff down so I can forget it, and often I forget not just the stuff but also the fact that I wrote it down.) There are about twenty of those books collected on my windowsill by now.

I also use a program called CueCards that is very good for keeping and structuring notes. I can file them in different contexts and not end up with a messy Windows folder that I never look at. I also write my blog in CueCards.

Currently, I'm looking into Scrivener for that.

I keep a massive (and ever-growing) TextEdit document and store anything there. Vague ideas, lines of dialogue, possible conversations, funny comments I've overheard, lone sentences I like but don't fit with my current project, that sort of thing.

Max Vaehling said:

(I don't wirte stuff down to remember it. I write stuff down so I can forget it, and often I forget not just the stuff but also the fact that I wrote it down.)

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This is similar to my philosophy about this file--I write things down so that I feel safe temporarily forgetting them in favour of my current project. When I want them again, they're there, but they aren't intruding on my thought processes.

I'm on the side of No I Don't Keep Track of My Ideas. As the others have said, I let the idea stew until it boils over and then I write the story.

The few times I tried to write an "idea" down, I came back to it later and thought, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" I couldn't remember why I wrote it down or why it had sparked my interest. For an idea to be useful later on, I would have to write down the idea, the context behind why I think its a good idea, what made me think of the idea, and well, by that time, I might as well just write the story.

Which is what I do. I either write the story or I try to forget about it.

All of my new ideas are stored on the hard drive (backup on the external) in a folder named "Ideas for Future Books". If I'm not near the computer and an idea hits me, I'll put the idea into the memos section of my cell phone and input it into the Ideas file at a later date. I find it a lot easier for me to do it that way because I tend to lose stuff in this house!

Actually, thinking about it some more, I do tend to keep the good ones in my head and only write down the ones that I really can't use in my head right now, either because they're clearly not there yet or because I need to write something else first. Also, the too-weird-to-do ones.

Anybody remember the "bad movie ideas" thread we had in the forum a while back? I wrote a couple dozen of those down, and at least two of them turned out to be good enough to actually put some more work into, later.

In a bunch of different notebooks. I should really put them all in one notebook just to make life easier for myself...

Me, it starts with something that inspires me. That idea then develops in my mind, and if I like it enough that I keep thinking about it, I then write out the description of the characters, the history of the world and such on my computer. If I like what I typed out and still think about it nonstop I begin writing the story with both keyboard and pencil, otherwise, I discard it and move on until I'm inspired by something else. If I believe in it so much that I literally love it and believe truly that it can become profound, I reject doubt and dedicate my life to its success.

I have this jar...

I type ideas out in Notes in my iPhone. If in a couple days it still sounds like a good idea/I can understand what in the world I wrote, then I transfer it to a folder in Scrivener if it's for my WIP, or Evernote if it's an idea for a future project.

Sometimes I use notebooks though--I like them for when I have ideas for action sequences because I can draw flow charts. I like to use notebooks for mapping motivation/backstory as well, for minor characters. I probably haven't used 99% of this backstory, but it helps me feel like I'm not making these characters two-dimensional.

I keep my ideas in my head until it's time to write the story. If an idea is so important to me and I'm so passionate about it, it won't leave. If it does leave, then it was never that good an idea in the first place.

Scrivener. I keep a primary file where I list all stories and story ideas as small pitches/a single sentence or one line, that more or less encompass all the important stuff for myself, so I can remember it when I can get to it. I keep novel length ideas in one list and short stories in another.

I don't write down my ideas. If it's a short story, I have to pretty much write a first draft ASAP (and then I can go back and tweak it later) and if it's a novel-length idea I have to let it stew in my head for weeks/months/years until the idea and I am ready. I feel like for me jotting down notes or an outline takes all the magic out of writing, like once I have that the actual process of writing is about as satisfying as paint-by-number. Although I am also admittedly a slow and not very prolific writer...

I use Microsoft OneNote. I can create a tab for each idea with notes, links to resources, if I start work, I can link to the Word document (and vice versa).

It's an addictive little app. And just became free (minus a few features most probably wouldn't have used anyway).

In my head, where I forget about them. But the truly stand out ones I spend hours thinking about, and they are now stored there for good.

Hackers anonymous will never steal my data! My brain is a sifting board separating the chaff from the tears! Mwhahhaha! (Paranoia ftw!)

I jot ideas into a Excel spreadsheet. Also, snippets of dialog, characters, traits, etc. Sometimes individual words or a noun verb combo I like.

I'm a little late to this party, but I made my own locked down, login-protected Wiki. (I used Wikidot, but there are a lot of free ones.) No one can see anything without logging in.

And I just store everything in there. Idea dumps, story ideas, character concepts, whatever. I just like how nice and organized everything is. It's a big improvement from my previous approach, which was "Dump everything I have ever thought about but haven't turned into a story into one big, cluttered Word file."

kej115 said:

I usually start by tying up ideas in a word document, and then I save it on a USB drive that I only use for writing. I like to have things organized, and it's easier to do that in a document where you can delete and enter in the middle of sentences without having to rewrite everything! When I get dedicated enough to a story, I usually begin brainstorming and exploring the story in a notebook.

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USB drives can die or be lost. Make sure you back it up, OK?

I have folders for everything on my computer and back them up in my email. I've recently started keeping individual notebooks for ideas. I like planning on paper and writing scraps of passages in a notebook - sometimes I can write reams of a first draft too. Once I have a substantial amount or I fill up the notebook I type it into a word doc. It's laborious but also helps me organise my thoughts and solidify character and plot.

Either I keep them in my head or in one of my journals.