Poll #15: Idea Organization

[Andy]

How do you keep track of your notes for writing?

[GeorgeMichael]

it's all in my head... which is why I never really get a lot of work done...

[Andy]

I use a computer. And until now they were all in spreadsheets and word documents. I'm slowly copying them into this note-taking program.

[Quietus]

I'm with George... But I manage with my brain

[Alex]

I also manage with my brain, keeping only some major plot ideas written down on my computer.

[Zaphkiel]

I'm half-and-half...I usually manage with my brain while having some notes on the side.

[Nyx]

I'm between I've got this big, unorganized pile of notes and some are
typed up on my computer.

[Shaun]

I can't even answer it because I do all of the above...sometimes it's in a computer...sometimes on a random piece of paper...sometimes in a notebook...sometimes in other places...hell, I've even sent emails to myself :S.

[Alex]

I do the send emails to yourself thing alot as reminders, its crazy but very effective =]]

[Nyx]

I send e-mails to myself...I thought everyone did that? That's what I usually for reminders:D

[Quietus]

I've done that before, send e-mails to myself. Esp if I'm at school, on a computer, and have an idea... Yes, I am actually too lazy to write it down.

[Alex]

I love how we stay on topic in these poll discussions =]]]

[Dr_House_4ever]

I have a bunch of notes for writing, unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea where they are at the moment. And when I do I never organize them.

[Rafael Domination]

They're languishing on my computer. I find it easier to edit them on there.

[Andy]

I send e-mails to myself...I thought everyone did that? That's what I usually for reminders:D
That's what I usually do for passwords. :) As for reminders, a piece of paper on my desk usually works fine.

[Nyx]

That's what I usually do for passwords. :) As for reminders, a piece of paper on my desk usually works fine.

There are so many little sticky-ies on my desk that there's no point even attempting to read them all, so for the more important and urgent reminders I use e-mail:P

[jordanisonfire]

Surprisingly, my mind can take it all in. I have the plot to a whole seven books in there. :D

[Andy]

I've got the plot of several books in my head, too. But on how magic works, and character development....notes. Yes, lots of notes. I only remember broad general things.

[jordanisonfire]

I would have thought how magic works would have been a broad general idea. :D Except if none of your uber-main characters use it, then, maybe it wouldn't be. :)

[Andy]

If you've got more than a dozen kinds of magic in your series, you'll want to take notes, too. :P

[jordanisonfire]

Well, I don't think I have a dozen. Let me think:

1. Sorcery (anything that doesn't fit in the other categories)
2. Elemental (anything to do with elements, such as fire, water, darkness, light etc.)
3. Spiritualism (basically, spiritualists can contact spirits and summon Wights, which are spirits from the Spirit Realm, there if they wish to be summoned)
4. Shamanic (a mix of spiritualism and elemental, used by Krann, Goblins, Men of the North etc.)
5. Necromancy (much like spiritualism, except necromancers can bring dead bodies back to life and the resurrected are bound to serve them and they can summon Wraiths, which are exactly the same as Wights, but are "ripped" from the Spirit Realm rather than taken into the Living World by their own free will)
6. Mysticism (basically, using magic to see through walls, detect life, capture fragments of souls etc.)
7. Illusion (becoming invisible, persuading people by magic, changing one's, or another's, appearance to someone else by magic etc.)
8. Conjuration (creating things via magic, which, obviously, is very hard to advance in)

Hm, there may be more, I dunno, I should write this down, actually. :D

[Shaun]

I only take notes if I absolutely have to remember something, which tends to present problems. As for my magic system, well I don't imagine that it's all that complicated really. I set up magic so that it can be really powerful, but it can also kill you if you aren't careful, something which James has a lot of problems with because of where he comes from. I just keep that fact in my head and realize that if one isn't careful and doesn't control the flow of magic it will actually tear itself out of you and potentially kill you either by ripping you apart of by sucking every ounce of energy out of you...which would stop your heart from being able to beat and you'd die. But as for what kind of magic there is, there's loads of stuff one can do with magic, provided they have the aptitude for it..

Anywho on that. I just take notes where I need them...or write down ideas for things and save them wherever I can. Half my ideas never get used, but i write them down anyway :P

[Tncowgirl]

I take notes if needed and memorize the rest. It depends on the story and the load of information I will need. I also have some of them typed up in the document that I have the story on. It all depends with me. :D

[Rafael Domination]

I find brainstorming sheets to be the most abundant on my desk. I'm too tired to place them in an organized pile after that, but when I get the chance, I often have them stored in different documents in my computer.^^

[Alex]

I can't do a brainstorming sheets. I can't just sit down and tell myself "write!"

I write whenever inspiration hits, or whenever I'm in a horrible horrible mood =]]]

[Nyx]

I do the same thing, Alex:P

[Alex]

Of course you do, its becaue your in the "super-flyness" club. You know if the chatbox didn't exist I would make that its own little post that the "super-flyness" club could be part of.

Also, another note on brainstorming, sometimes I tend to write completley unrelated stories, but pull stylistic things from it and incorporate it into my original writing. Thats pretty wierd isn't it *sighs* I'm wierd I'm so sorrry!!! forgive me!

[Carraka]

Ha! EC has no magic! It only has supernatural horses.

So I take notes on supernatural horses. Life span, birth cycle, cultural beliefs, whatnot. But there's no generic snazzy bright light all-purpose magic. I was going to add something in at one point, but then I decided the story was complicated enough.

[Lykaios]

I have loads of A6 notebooks filled with ideas and I type the ones I like up on my computer and leave them till I have time to work on them. :)

[Majyk]

When I do make notes, they go into a notebook, but that's only about half of my ideas. The rest float around in my head until I type them up. The story I'm working on now actually has it's own document of notes on my computer. This is a first, so I'll see how it works :P

[DreamChaser]

I have this blue notebook that I love to write in cuz during the year all my friends read part of the first story I've ever written (it was before I got my laptop so I relied on my notebook to remember my story and it was in the notebook) and they all wrote their comments on the story in it so....whenever I get a random idea for a story I write it in there...I also have a bunch of drawings of my characters in it and I have drawn some of Simmi's characters (from my POV) in it too.

[aj.e]

My notes are pretty messed up. I just organiuze them when I feel like it. Which is why I have a hard time finding anything specific and it drives me insane. I think I have obsessive hording. :glare:

[random_writer]

Agh! I feel like a disorganized failure!
I don't write notes down, really. Once, I had to do a diagram to do some power-balancing in a magic court... but that story never got that far anyway. It seems that I never have good ideas when I am somewhere that I can record them. :(

[SapphireSeaBird]

I used to keep everything on the computer, but I found it too inconvenient if I wanted to check something quickly - I'd have to go through the lengthy process of persuading my laptop to start up. So I started using sheets of paper and notebooks instead =]

[Clawfire]

I am, like, never ever organised. No, I am definitely not organised!!! :O (at thought)

[L.O.V.E.D.]

I can't even answer it because I do all of the above...sometimes it's in a computer...sometimes on a random piece of paper...sometimes in a notebook...sometimes in other places...hell, I've even sent emails to myself :S.

That is like me. i send texts to my self anything I can do to remember

[dragonheart]

I don't have time to write them down, I lose paper, and it tends to sort of mature in my head so I wouldn't want to stop it from improving.

I wish I could draw like DreamChaser; my pencil seems to have a mind of it's own when I draw.:(

[FayGee]

I write on the computer.