How to Not Forget All Those Awesome Ideas You've Been Getting Lately!

So, you’ve had awhile now to begin practicing writing down every single little inkling of inspiration that suddenly whacks you upside the head, as I mentioned in this post, which will go a long way in showing you how to finally reach the Happy Magical Land of I-Get-My-Ideas-From-Everywhere!

But, some of you may now be looking something like this:
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You keep recording your ideas, somehow, someway … but now you just have piles of random notes in random places, and can never find them when you actually want to use them!

So, what to do?

Well, ORGANIZE them, of course!

Even if you HATE to organize, there are a few simple steps you can take to ensure your ever-growing stockpile of awesome ideas are easy to sort and find when you need them most!

Here are a few ideas for your ideas … feel free to pick and choose as you will for whatever method best fits your personality!  Or, if you’ve discovered another brilliant method for tracking and sorting not listed here, please by all means, share in the comments!

INDEX CARDS

My own personal favorite. Easy, portable, small, and best of all – they can be categorized for quick and efficient retrieval!

I have mine divided by the following:

1. TITLE – Anything that sounds like it might be an awesome book or story title goes in this section. I usually put several titles on one index card, separated by a few blank lines.
2. CHARACTERS (CHAR) – Any character-related ideas go here. Whether that’s an unusual name, an occupation, or a whole character sketch including looks and behaviors, it all goes here.
3. 1st LINE – If you’ve ever been suddenly struck with the-best-opening-line-to-a-novel-like-ever!, then you know why I created a whole section just for this. Pretty self-explanatory, that one.
4. PLOT – Plot ideas go here, anything from simple to complicated, from paragraphs to bulleted lists. You know, something like, “Cat aliens build killer sun laser and try to take over the world!” Stuff like that goes here.
5. SITUATION (SIT) – Not the same as plot, necessarily.  If I have an idea for something more like a scene, something that’s not quite as broad and general as a plot, it goes here. Something like, “Cat alien is holding dog alien at gun point, very dramatic and emotional as cat alien and dog alien used to be best friends. The dog alien peels off her mask and reveals herself to really be a lizard alien! Cat alien is stunned and drops her ray gun, allowing dog/lizard alien’s friends to rush in and take her captive.” Etc, etc.

I then keep all the cards together in a handy and durable carrying case, pictured above, and keep it in my purse at all times. Sometimes I don’t have it with me, and in that case I scribble on whatever’s available, then transfer the ideas to an index card and file accordingly as soon as I get back to this treasure trove. When I need a character/plot/first line, etc, then, I simply go to the correct section and browse through my options!

Easy as pie!

Mmmmm …. pie … wait, where was I?  Oh yes …

THE FAMOUS MOLESKIN

Also potentially small, portable, and easy. Also fits in a purse quite well, or even a back pocket.  Also very durable and efficient … until you want to look your ideas up again.  Then you have to flip through a lot of scribbling to find the specific topic you might be searching for at that moment.

If you can find a way to somehow organize your ideas within the moleskin, then it can be as wonderful as the file of index cards. I also have a moleskin, which is always in my purse as well, as backup, but I do find it somewhat troublesome to go back through and find what I need when I need it.

For now, I mostly use the moleskin only for ideas that relate to current works-in-progress.  That way it’s not so entirely random as the … well, random ideas that pop into my head willy-nilly that will be for future use. Then, at the top of each moleskin entry, however long or short it is, I label it with the initials of the project it relates to.

For example, The Good Thing would be TGT, followed by the ideas for that novel. This makes it a little easier to keep organized, since I can usually tell at a glance what ideas go to what story when I’m looking for a particular one.

THE FILE FOLDER

Most definitely NOT transportable or portable (unless you carry a larger bag), but still handy for organizing ideas at home.  I use this one specifically for keeping track of plot and character development.  Since I do better with hard copy on some things, I’ve printed copies of the worksheets from Martha Alderson’s Plot Whisperer Workbook and filled them in accordingly for both main protagonists, the antagonist, and the two most important secondary characters. This helps get everything straight in my head and enable me to make sure I’m staying true to where I want the characters to eventually go.

I have sticky tabs on hand as well, just in case I need to flag one worksheet as particularly important and/or necessary to whatever scene I might be currently working on.

I label these folders by character name, since everything in each folder is related directly to that character.  Which of course makes it very easy to find what I need if I need a refresher on that person!

YOUR PHONE

Always handy in a pinch, if you find yourself devoid of writing materials … the smartphone.  Most these days come equipped with two features which can save a writer’s life: 1) Voice Notes and 2) well, Regular Notes.

There are no excuses for us writerly types anymore.  Have an idea?  Now you can just whip out your phone and talk into it to save that idea long enough for you to get home and transfer it either to your computer (DO NOT FORGET TO DO THIS – your never know when your phone might decide to quit working … or you might drop it in the toilet … or it might get dropped and shatter … or it might get stolen… anyway the point is, be sure to get the voice notes off your phone ASAP!) or to your hard copy idea files mentioned above.

If you feel strange blurting out seemingly-nonsensical oddness in public, you can always use the Notes app instead to type it out!

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And there you have it!

Plenty of ways to organize the plethora of ideas swirling around in your head now that you know how to tap into that elusive “Everywhere!”

Happy Organizing, and Happy Writing!