Idea jar

[prillalar]

Tonight, I wrote down a bunch of fic ideas on little slips of paper and put them in a jar on my desk. I think it's a good representation of how the ideas get all jumbled up in my brain. I do also make lists of ideas on the computer, where I forget to open them later, or in notebooks, where I forget I've done it and then find them two years later when I've moved on to another fandom. My jar is right there where I can see it, so I'm not likely to miss it.

I like the physicality of it too, how each bit of paper is an idea, a unit. I feel like the actual ideas are in the jar, not just the reminder of where they are in my brain. I can reach in and pull one out and maybe I'll write that one or maybe I'll toss it back and try again.

And if I don't feel like writing, I can just admire the jar.

Do you have a special system to keep track of your ideas? Does it work?

Comments

[anna-burrows.livejournal.com]

I like this idea. I think I may try it - if I ever get ideas, that is. My problem is thinking of things to write.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

I used to write things down in notebooks or Notepad files. I found out, eventually, that "getting it out of my brain" did exactly that -- I would forget all about about these ideas, and they would lose all their immediacy. In addition, sometimes I would find the papers or the files, reread, and just be totally confused about what I was getting at.

On the plus side, I've had a few of those "found ideas" inspire something completely new or different, or in some other way aid a newer story, so it's not useless in the long run. Writing ideas is just useless for me when it comes to writing those particular stories. :)

[girliejones.livejournal.com]

I love that idea! Like a lucky dip of possibilities. I think I might try it some time. Mostly I write things donw on paper and lose them in my "system" somewhere.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Okay. If a movie premieres and I don't go see it the very first weekend, I must not want to see it very badly, and it's likely I won't bother to see it until it's out on DVD, if at all.

Similarly, if an idea shows up and I don't start writing it right away, I must not be very married to it. I have to work in the first flush of excitement to write, as a rule. The only exception is if I'm working on something and then I'll begin on that idea as soon as the first story is done.

So, ideas that I'm not already writing? There's no jar. They're in that big "stuff that just wasn't inspiring enough" trash bin in my brain. (Resurrections are possible, but they're not really resurrections--it's more like they suddenly show up in a new form that IS inspiring.)

jar sounds good (unless you also mislay the jar)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

i do also make lists of ideas on the computer, where i forget to open them later, or in notebooks, where i forget i've done it and then find them two years later - or rather, in my case, never ever again, duh. the worst is when it no longer makes sense, but that happens more when i try to describe earth-shattering after-concert-meetings or interesting dreams. i know for a fact that i do forget very good ideas. it's not true that if it was good, it will come back. my head is not a roundabout, it's a big sieve ...

[miko-no-da.livejournal.com]

A friend gave me one of those little black boxes for index cards last year, plastered with stickers made from my icons of characters I have as muses. The idea is that I write each plot bunny on an index card and keep it in there. I admit I don't use it as much as I should... I keep meaning to get it organized, but I'm lazy. ^_^

Here via QQ or something

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I generally don't write them down anywhere. Might mention them to friends in chat or on my journal. Sometimes if I have a bunch at once, I'll write up an LJ entry specifically about new plot bunnies. But that's about the extent of it.

[jaig.livejournal.com]

I open up Word and type it down. I've got a file that says 'Plot Bunnies'.

Didn't work.

But maybe it's because I'm lazy. :P

[passinggo.livejournal.com]

I love your jar idea. I find having my inspiration written down or made physical in some way always helps, far better than having it just buzzing around in my head.

I have a lovely colourful notepad thingy which would be brilliant for writing down my ideas, but I never seem to manage that. Instead, I have a wordpad file on my desktop called 'bunnies.rtf' in which I type story ideas, or just single phrases I like the feel of. Things like that. I think the key for me is having something really close by for when I think of things, so I can write/type something out the moment it comes into my head.

[flashes-of-sky.livejournal.com]

Mine is my lovely M&M's folder, I got from the Melbourne Show. Its full of paper, fanfic and just mess. I love it to death.

[divinereverie.livejournal.com]

I have text files on my computer, usually for each story. I find that if I don't write something down, it'll just disappear, or I'll have little bits lingering and I won't remember the logic to it. So, I write down everything I can, because sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night and boom! Something will hit me.

I have long long long long text files. I don't dare to say no one else could make hide nor hair of them. XD;