Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and they say something that sparks a story idea in your head?
…then you miss the rest of the conversation because you are desperately trying to imprint the idea in your brain so you can get it down on paper at a later time…
This tends to happen a lot to me and usually I can’t get to a piece of paper (or my phone) in time to get the idea, and the emotion behind it, down.
…immediately grabbing your phone in mid conversation can be seen as a little rude…
I also get story ideas from news articles, history books/sites, and through things that happen around me. Because of this I have a large collection of paper slips that get tucked into my idea book when I get home. I have been storing my ideas like this for years and have several notebooks full of stuff that I go back to when I need inspiration.
Nowadays there are a lot of places online where you can share snippets of information that can then be accessed from any where, at anytime. For me though, I still like the act of physically picking up a pen and writing it. This helps my thoughts flow better. This is why I always write my first drafts by hand. I then start my editing drafts when I ‘transcribe’ it on a word processor.
How do others find and store their ideas? Please share your thoughts in the comment’s section. I really would like to know what works for you 🙂
-HMC
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