The Writing Notebook

[paragraphs]

How many of you writerly types make and keep up with writing notebooks? As in organizing notebooks, specific to the story you are working on currently.  For the first time, I am preparing one to drag around with me instead of relying on keeping things straight in my head.  Am curious for those who do use them, what you put in them and why you decided to use one in the first place.

I do have Scrivener thoroughly organized, but due to work and craziness I have been doing some handwriting as well when I find a few quiet moments.  I don't like dragging my laptop with me, and can't have Scrivener on my work computer (not that there is any real time to write during work, not with work as crazy as it has been the last few months okay ever since I started work there) so I've been mostly writing in a purple Moleskin notebook, then transferring whatever later to Scrivener.  It is getting rather tatty now though. jealousofstars gave me a huge and awesome notebook that I intend to transfer all the notes currently in the Moleskin, along with other notes I have on Scrivener, and write first draft scenes in.    

There isn't any real reason to do this, I suppose, just in order to have it with me, but I like having it all with me.  I like the thought of being able to grab my book and go to the right tab and have all the tidbits there about my characters, cities, etc. etc.   It is also very satisfying to me to hand-write this stuff over again, simply for the sake of doing so as it helps sort things in my brain (which needs all the help it can get).  I do have another, smaller notebook - I may put all the notes stuff in that one and write in the big one.  Oh, decisions!  

I have a new friend, btw!!  He is an Australian Cattle dog named Clanger.  Don't worry, it's a stuffed dog, my Reddit Secret Santa gift from a very sweet Australian university student.  Anyway, for grins, have a picture of the notebooks in question, and Clanger. :)

And now I must get back to this blasted summary thing I am trying to figure out for this book.   Bah!  I know it will change, and change a lot, but I have this crazy need to get it right, now.  For now.

I don't want to go to work tomorrow. Dammit.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I used to use them--have kept one from high school for my own amusement--but now one notebook isn't practical for various projects.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

You do have a lot going on at all times, too, at any given time - I am trying the ONE THING, ONE THING ONLY, FOCUS thing. The only bad thing I can say about finally being in the swing of this book is that I find it very hard to sleep at night as I can't stop trying out new ways to handle the same scene.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Heh! Welcome to the cantina!

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

LOL! I have to think it is a GOOD thing that after all the previous years (around 5) of trying to really sink into a new story (and I have tried 3-4 times with different ones - this is the one that finally clicked), that I am finally doing so to this point of sleeplessness? But I really need a good night's sleep every night to handle the job. Dilemma!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

It is a good one to have!

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

I don't keep a novel-related notebook. I have a journal, and therein goes everything related to writing, be it a journal entry, a creative writing exercise, notes from a writing seminar, or notes related to a current project. Keeping different journals for all that made me feel more scatter-brained, especially when a creative writing exercise suddenly turned into an exercise about a current project.

I started writing a journal when I was fifteen, and have been doing it ever since (with the exception of a few years in my late twenties). Writing helps me clear my head. Even today, when I can't get into a scene, I use my journal and blabber so long to myself until I finally know what to write. And then I switch to Scrivener. :-)

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

A friend made the suggestion to me that I actually use the journal thing to write down all the notes pertinent to each chapter, AFTER writing the chapter. She does that and it helps her tremendously during the rewrite and ultimately writing the synopsis. I really like that idea a lot.

Scrivener is the best - now that I finally have it mastered :).

[stargazer60.livejournal.com]

I have so many notebooks filled with stories I've written. I'm old fashioned and hand write everything...it's the typing it up that I fail at!

I have one completed story handwritten but only like four chapters typed up.

I seriously need to stop binge watching tv shows (LOL!) and start typing this stuff!

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Isn't that what is called a "writing bible" or something like that? Where you keep track of everything that's going on, so that you don't get lost?

I wish I had mastered Scrivener - I feel like I'm using only ten percent or less of what it can do. The variety sometimes scares me, since it takes so long to find out everything Scrivener can do and how to customise it.

And I've been eyeing another program, DramaQueen, which is very intuitive and visual and gives you graphs of sub-plots and plot with tension peaks and everything, and the choice to show the story from the perspective of various characters - lots of structural information (which I love). Also, it's a German product, with the advantage of a working SPAG - the one you get for Scrivener in German is completely useless. Lol.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Oh wow DramaQueen (hilarious name!) looks amazing! I will have to check it out better. Scrivener for Mac is supposed to be better than the windows version but having a friend who has mastered it who can show you all the cool things is really the easiest way to go about it.

Yup story bible thing. My same friend who knows scrivener inside and out is a story bible freak - she uses notebooks like crazy. I just really need one place online (Scrivener) and one offline (this currently empty notebook). I also yesterday printed off a bunch of stuff from scrivener and put it in a 3 ring binder with tabs - that really is probably most helpful. :) And printed out my first three chapters AND have FORBIDDEN MYSELF to go over them again. They have changed so much in the last month and a half and I am so excited.

Are you writing in German or English for this? Or both - I recently ran across an article where there was a simultaneous release of a novel in English and I think Swedish - not translations, but BOTH versions written by the author themselves. I thought that pretty cool, and I would think both versions would benefit from the author themselves actually doing the two versions rather than someone else interpreting what the Swedish version would be.

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

I'm so excited about DramaQueen. I plan to wait until version 2.0 is out and then download the demo version for testing. Yes, I have the impression that Scrivener is best used when someone gives you a personal tutorial about it.

I'm keen on timelines - and I've heard that lot of people use Aeon Timeline for that. Wasn't sure if I wanted to use another program yet so soon - but at least it's compatible with Scrivener.

I had so much stuff to do in December and then I got sick. I honestly can't wait for Christmas to be over and to get back to writing.

I'm writing both novels in German. Writing in English would mean to cut myself off from discussing then with most writers I know here. I couldn't take an English text to the novel coaching seminar I visit each year. So it's more about support and writing groups than preferring German over English. And it means I can't share it with any of my English speaking online friends.

I once tried to translate a short story I've written in German into English. And another time, to translate a fanfic I wrote from English to German. I found it terribly boring. For me, the thrill of telling the story and discovering its words is one and the same. After I've done that once, I don't want to do it again - there's always a feeling that something is lacking in the second text. Kudos to this Swedish author for being able to do both versions. And I really admire the work of translators - it's so much more than simply changing one language for another. There is cultural background and meaning of words and symbols and everything to consider. They don't get paid enough for what they do.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I keep notebooks, but not organized notebooks. I've tried breaking them down and keeping different notebooks for different projects, but those just end up getting lost or I inevitably don't have the one I want to make notes in at any given time. Now I just make sure to have a multi-purpose moleskine on me at all times. This is this year's.



It has an optimistic writing schedule for 2014 in the beginning that I didn't keep up with and from there it's all sorts of things. Notes for things. Outlines. Bits of first drafts of stories and poems.

For me it's just important that I have something on hand to write in when I'm out and about. After that it gets organized at home when I type it up. I do get more done this way, than trying to keep track of scraps of paper or remember things.

[caninepawprints.livejournal.com]

I love the stuffed animal! I used to have one of my favorite breed (Siberian Husky) but haven't been able to find them in stores lately. :(

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

YES YOU DO. I told myself the EXACT same thing - after I finished Call the Midwife. LOL!!! I think it is fine to binge-watch but not every single night and day all day. :) And yes you should type those up!!! I make myself immediately type up what I wrote before, as soon as possible.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

I should look into that type of Moleskin. It has to have the squares though - I am Square Moleskin person. I gave my daughter a yellow one and I took it back last night, hmph. I still can't believe I am going to do 250k, but I need to insanely commit. That is only 5k a week, and I already had the goal of finishing this by the end of May, so I BELIEVE.

[cthonus.livejournal.com]

I spend so long plotting out character for a novel, destinations, family trees etc, that I found it more interesting than writing the story.

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2015!

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Hey you, I hear you on that. Seriously! At some point one must just STOP it and get writing though. :) Happy New Year to you and yours too!