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Posted By: Queen Ehlana Dec 07, 2004 - 10:16 pm

When you take notes, do you generally keep it organized? Or do you just have notes all over the place? At first I kept my novel notes all in one document on the computer, but now I have six or seven documents, plus my writing journal. It's hard to keep track of things. I even write little notes to myself in the middle of the actually writing... i.e. I put things in parentheses so I can connect them to later parts of the story... Or if I've rewritten something, I put the original text in a small font and leave it there in case I can use it later. It's hard to keep an accurate word count that way.

I wonder if this will hurt me in the long run... Remaining at the beginning of the story, I haven't yet had to keep up with all of the info in my notes.

Posted By: Magus Dec 08, 2004 - 03:43 am

I don't keep notes so much as detailed synapsis'. They're pretty long and detailed, sometimes running over a page in leangth, some up to several.

But when I do take notes, for school and not writing, they're likewise maticulous detailed notes. That's just the kind of person I am. You should do what works best for you.

Posted By: Queen Ehlana Dec 08, 2004 - 05:01 am

Yeah... Well, I wouldn't expect anyone else to find my notes coherent, for both school and writing.

Magus, you're not working on a novel, are you? You've never taken notes for a novel? I never take notes for short stories. I just get the idea in my head and start writing. However, I've never written a short story more than four pages long except one time for school when I was required to make an outline. I never thought I'd write 25 pages of outline/notes until I started getting beyond ten pages.

I've seen some of your synopses. That wouldn't work for me. Sometimes I try to write down such ideas, but then it all falls apart on me. I prefer to slowly build a plot rather than to have some simple plot that can be explained in a few paragraphs. If a person can think it up in ten minutes, it's been done. And of course I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing because there's so much more to a story than those ten minutes anyway, but I like the fact that I've never come anything like my own plot.

Posted By: Seeria Dec 08, 2004 - 05:23 am

I've a scribble pad and then I have my toy which keeps everything organized...

AlfaPad from http://www.alfaalfa.com/

Rather simple program but it does wonders for keeping things organized for me.

Posted By: Magus Dec 08, 2004 - 12:53 pm

At the moment I am not writing a novel. But I am making synapsis' of any good ideas I have for novels. Those are what last one or more pages in leangth.

I don't really write a synapsis for a short story or novella. But, if I feel I have a good one that I can't start right away, the I usually write down one to three sentences generally describing the story.

Posted By: talisman Dec 08, 2004 - 01:13 pm

I've tried a few methods:

Word documents, with internal bookmarks etc

HTML pages (hand coded), which does make displaying the info quite easy, but can be slow. Clicking links is also easier than scrolling all over the place in Word.

Storing notes in mysql databases accessed by a web page interface. Again benefits of HTML with storage ability of a database, but is time consuming. Probably better when all the notes have been written in word.

I also tried TreePad which is meant to help organising notes, but never found it too helpful myself.

I think I'll go back to Word though after all that experimentation. lol

Posted By: Magus Dec 08, 2004 - 01:20 pm

What I do is I first right it down on whatever is nearest, I usually manage to get some paper somehow. Then, after I give it a week or two to soak in, I look at it again. If I still feel it's good I'll put it in my word document of story ideas, on a floppy and backed up on the computer and also printed out in a hard-copy.

Posted By: Gnollslayer Dec 08, 2004 - 03:36 pm

I write notes all the time, in all my classes and sometimes when I'm just sitting around doing nothing. I have reams of paper spread all over my floor and some more in various corners of the Earth. But anything important goes into my big three-ring binder so I can find it later. I have at least a one-page bio for any semi-major character in my current series, I have an eleven page synopsis for the first book, and another one for the second book. Then I have a list of chapters with just a one sentence description next to the chapter title that reminds me what happens in that chapter.

World maps, town diagrams, technology descriptions, almanacs, historical timelines, etc. all get grouped together in one section.

I also have a section for just cool descriptions or quotes that I could work in. I always find quotable books a lot more entertaining, so I have to find ways to include quotes in mine as well.

So yeah, organized and chaotic for me. It's the only way I can do things. The organized binder gives me a reference point, and the rest of the mess makes sure that I will always have some part of the story running in my mind, or maybe it's the other way around.

Posted By: Magus Dec 08, 2004 - 07:14 pm

I need to update my notes for the computer. I have at least three or four really good ideas since I last updated them in the middle of the summer. Also, I need to drastically update my synapsis for my epic fantasy. So much of it has changed and either been added, deleted or completely replanned that it direly obsolete.

Posted By: eterna1177 Dec 09, 2004 - 05:22 am

hey im new to the site and im starting to wtire a book im thinking of calling it darkness of eterna but i dont know where to start can some help me or give me ideas?

Posted By: Queen Ehlana Dec 09, 2004 - 09:04 am

HTML coding - never thought of that. I did make a page for one of my unfinished stories once just because I never planned to work on it again and had 70 pages. That's just for storage. I'll probably store my current novel/notes online once I have 50 pages or so. The first time I started working on a novel, my mom went to trade in our brand new computer while I was asleep, so I had to go up to Best Buy to get it back... And then my brother broke that computer a year later, so I lost some stuff. But I think having it all on disk is at least sufficient.

Gnollslayer - Wow. I would keep a three-ring binder for my writing, but it'd take too much space in my backpack. I have to carry four binders around everyday, and a journal is easy to slip in. Maybe during the summer I'll have a binder, but last year I had a binder for my French studies and found that I didn't have room for it this year when I went back to school... which kind of made that binder history. I don't want to become dependant on a binder and then have to reform my system in the midst of getting used to school again.

But your method sounds like something I could do after I finish this novel.


Eterna, here's an idea - write the title after you write the story.

Posted By: Gnollslayer Dec 09, 2004 - 03:30 pm

I don't carry the binder around with me, I leave it in my room. If I think up anything direly important to my story, I write it in a little notebook I always carry around. I transfer it to the binder when I get back from class.

Posted By: manji Dec 09, 2004 - 04:44 pm

QE- Some people have a different writing style/method from you. Accept that. Maybe Eternia likes to write the title and then craft the basic story around that. A lot of writers do that.
Darkness of Eterna. Okay, that's a pretty broad title if you're going to write that. Maybe the Darkness in the title represents an invading army. Maybe Eternia is a town cursed by either a) A plague or B) To be put forever in darkness. See what i'm getting at, QE? Probably not. Well, here it goes . . . Just because someone does something different from you doesn't mean they're wrong.

Posted By: Queen Ehlana Dec 09, 2004 - 05:54 pm

Gnollslayer - I see... Well, I don't have time to do that for now. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to think about doing that...

manji - Different than me is asking people to come up with stories for her. Giving her ideas is not wise. It would be better to tell her how to look for ideas on her own - read fiction, read non-fiction such as history, etc...

One of the reasons I was curt is because she just posted something random that has nothing to do with anything anyone has said in this thread. If she wants to post something like that, she should create her own or at least find a related thread. And I'm not just saying that because I don't like it - she'll get a better response if she posts elsewhere.

See what I'm getting at? Probably not.

Posted By: Magus Dec 09, 2004 - 06:17 pm

WELCOME eterna1177!!!!!

Could you give us some information on the book? Maybe it could help us give better responses to your question.

I'd recommend plan out a synapsis of what you want in the story, going into as much detail as you can. Then read other books similer to yours. I'd also recommend reading some books that might give you some advice or tips. I'd recommend Stephen King's On Writing, highly entertaining and informative.

I know that before I start my massive 11 volume epic, yep, that's right, I condensed it down by yet another book, I'm working a lot on short stories. I feel that they'd help to develope my style to something I'd like it to be. I'm also going to try my hand at a novella before I start to see if I'm ready to stick with a longer story.

But different ways may or may not work for you. Experiment a little and see what works in your case.

Posted By: Aldan Dec 09, 2004 - 08:23 pm

QE? Eterna's a newbie. Was probably seeing that this topic was about writing and thought the message would fit here. There ARE a lot of topics here on the site, so it's not surprising that Eterna would make that mistake.
Eterna, we actually have a topic that is focused on that subject... how do I figure out where to go from here??
In my opinion, which is the way I write, your best bet is to figure out first who your characters are driven by, what makes them tick. Then form a world. If one character is from a metropolis, create it. A farm? Create a farming area. Once you've started to populate your world, you should then start to figure out where you want the story to go. What I did in the story I'm working on (though it's on pause due to my job's Christmas rush) was to create the main character. Then I came up with a basic plot idea (lost memory) and what I wanted to do with it (find the memories if possible). Then I came up with characters that would set her off nicely, each bringing something new to the table. Then I figured out a way to help the character to grow, since she's basically a grown up 5 year old, in that she's got just basic knowledge, and can talk, but has no knowledge of the world history, or of cultures or anything.
Anyway, I had a basic idea for races and such, but I have adjusted it a bit to fill what I feel are essential roles. Are there Elves? Yep. Dwarves? Uh huh. Halfling/Hobbits? *Nods* Are they all the typical visions of such races? Yes and no. I have created at least one more race, but won't say nuttin' about it right now...
Oh, and now that I know where I'm going, it's just a matter of finding my way there. I got stuck after a certain point for awhile, but after setting the story ideas aside and working on other things, when I came back to it, a lot of new ideas were ready to be used. If you're stuck, try writing something else, read something outside of your normal genre, and work on some part of your writing that you think is weak. When you do that, it'll often help you to see holes in your idea, true, but it'll also help you to see ways to fix those holes, if they're repairable (and in fantasy or science fiction, most such things ARE).
That's what I'm going to say on this subject - try new things if you're stuck. However, if it doesn't work, then set that idea aside and try something else. You need to make sure that you do not WED yourself to one idea, but rather make it possible for a "happy marriage" with your story by making yourself flexible to new ideas and ways of doing things. That'll help you more than you can imagine, most likely...

Posted By: eterna1177 Dec 10, 2004 - 07:58 am

thanks for the help guys uh im sorry if i picked the wrong post but im not trying to scavenge ideas off people like i basically have ideas on what im going to write about just i dont want to get my plot lines or characters or anything like that to conflict with eachother or me going in the wrong direction with it and making it sound stupid but ill try the advice you gave me , thanks for the help aldan, manji and magus

Posted By: Magus Dec 10, 2004 - 12:44 pm

It's no problem at all. I've misposted many places here, some after I've been here quite a while. It's always our pleasure to help anybody out who needs it. Welcomes aboard eterna1177!!!

Posted By: Aldan Dec 10, 2004 - 07:23 pm

*nods*
What I ended up doing to get myself back on track with my writing was I took up poetry. Weird, but it really worked for me...
What I'd suggest is that after you have all of your character ideas and how they'll interact with themselves and the world all set down, then you should get a nice long piece(s) of paper and plot out where you're going with your story. You will want to leave a LOT of space to add to it, and if at all possible, try to have it set up in tree form, with the branches interconnecting where appropriate, so that you will know when something may effect something else...
It'll be complex/complicated, but should be helpful.

Posted By: Magus Dec 10, 2004 - 07:27 pm

To each his own, I suppose. I can't force myself to write poetry. Every now and then I will be struck with what I consider a great idea and I can't do anything but write it. Otherwise I can't write a verse worth its salt.

I find that short stories work a lot for me. I also find that reading original books that are well written and unique help as well.

But you need to find out what works best for {you}. These are simply what work for us. they may not work for you at all, but I hope that you find something here that you can use.

Posted By: manji Dec 21, 2004 - 08:09 am

Oh, QE, you're so much smarter than me! With your "TEEN ANGST" and other cliche attitudes that pervade throughout your writings. How can i ever compete, being so low in intelligence compared to you?
Listen, babe, you seriously need to start treating people (Newbies as well as Vets) with more respect. All you're doing is breeding an entire new generation of newbie posters to hate you (And, as i've discovered through many an off-the-board conversation with some posters) fill the ranks of the already present and aformentioned "Haters".

Posted By: BenJaru Jan 02, 2005 - 04:08 am

LOL

Don't slap me on your 'hater list' manji! I think her style is quite refreshing!

GO Ehlana GO Ehlana GO Ehlana!

Fairion

( I know, she was pretty... Sharp... To me at first too
but it shows that she is a critical thinker! )

Posted By: manji Jan 02, 2005 - 09:26 am

I just don't like seeing newbies ran off from blind, stupid aggression. It's not Eterna's fault she didn't know how the site worked. Hell, when i first got here i thought there was only two boards on this forum: Writer's discussion and Writer's Showcase. Most people find this place through web browsers and are so excited to find a quality writing site they don't take time to explore. That was my problem anyway.

Posted By: Magus Jan 02, 2005 - 10:18 am

I did similer. I slowly branched out into other areas. I think that the first part I found was the book discussion, where I can clearly remember vohemetly expressing my anger, at the time, against Robert Jordan. It was a stupid post, but I've learned since then.