Ideas: where do they go?

Question

I type down ideas for plots, character, dialogue, short stories, poems, etc, using Windows Notepad. Some ideas are totally unconnected with anything I've thought of or written previously. Other ideas may have a direct connection with something that I've written before, or their final resting place is more ambiguous and undecided, waiting for something more cohesive to come along and kick it in to shape. They come in the form of a single phrase, a sentence, a section of dialogue with no beginning or end, a descriptive passage of a person or act; they can be very concrete and seemingly very useful, or very nebulous and ephemeral. I don't think, at this stage, these ideas merit them being written on cards and indexed, there are just too many. Besides, these ideas are the 'before bit' or germ to writing more cohesive thoughts down which, for me, is when things start to get more structured. However, I also don't like to keep them all bundled together, written on Post It's, shopping receipts and bus tickets.
So, as things stand, my notes, in Notepad, are getting in a mess, with lots of *.txt files of varying length. Can anyone recommend some software that will make it easier for me to catalogue and keep my ideas in? I played around with 'web/mind-mapping' software a few years ago, but didn't find it practical at the time, perhaps because they weren't that much good back then. I also don't like things which interfere with the way I think, but maybe I'm not thinking about thinking properly. Then again, maybe I've found what works for me and that can't be improved!
Just out of interest, how do other people keep their ideas together, particularly those stray ones that don't seem to be related to anything yet but are just waiting to catch the right train of thought?
Matthew

(3rd attempt at posting this)

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]So, as things stand, my notes, in Notepad, are getting in a mess, with lots of *.txt files of varying ... I'm not thinking about thinking properly. Then again, maybe I've found what works for me and that can't be improved![/nq]
Sounds like all you really need is a good Search facility for those files. That's all a database is doing for you anyways, just making things faster to search. Under Windows, "Start... Search..." might be more than adequate.

You will probably also want to do some housekeeping and organize your work into hierarchical directories. This means looking at your work a 2nd time. You can't really know what you've got unless you're familiar with the body of your work. Having some semblance of an organizing system helps in that regard.
[nq:1]Just out of interest, how do other people keep their ideas together, particularly those stray ones that don't seem to be related to anything yet but are just waiting to catch the right train of thought?[/nq]
I keep one flat file that is the "Ideas" folder for all my game designs. There's something like 100 Notepad files in it right now. These are all high concepts for complete games, and they're short, like a few paragraphs at the longest. I do not work on generating ideas. These are just what have come unbidden over the years. The reality is, I spend the vast majority of time working on either "Ocean Mars" or "The Game Of Mallor." There's not much point in deliberately spreading myself thin, outside of those 2 projects. But no need to forget a good idea that didn't require any work, either.

-- Cheers, www.indiegamedesign.com Brandon Van Every Seattle, WA

"We live in a world of very bright people building crappy software with total *** for tools and process." - Ed McKenzie

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]So, as things stand, my notes, in Notepad, are getting in a mess, with lots of *.txt files of varying ... I'm not thinking about thinking properly. Then again, maybe I've found what works for me and that can't be improved![/nq]
I know of two freeware programs that are basically free-form databases. KeyNote is an outliner (a good one) and I like the features -- though I rarely have the discipline to use it. It's available at:

http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html

YeahWrite! is billed as a word processor, but it's an interesting one and I've used it more to cut and paste notes than for word processing. In some ways it's a better note organizer than KeyNote. And it's a smaller download -- only 1 Meg. It's written and marketed by former WordPerfect employees. You can use the limited feature edition free (no time limits), or try out the commercial version free for fifteen days and then buy it if you want the additional features. It's available at:

http://www.yeahwrite.com/
[nq:1]Just out of interest, how do other people keep their ideas together, particularly those stray ones that don't seem to be related to anything yet but are just waiting to catch the right train of thought?[/nq]
All's I've been doing is writing script snippets when an idea hits me and saving it as a Movie Magic Screenwriter file -- there are a few ideas that are on my Palm, or handscribbled in my notebook. Not really that good of a way to keep tract of them.

-- RonB "There's a story there...somewhere"

Usenet · Answer

You can use the patented Paulo Joe Jingy method free of charge for 7 days.

You'll need a nice pencil (I suggest a Sanford (now marketed as Paper-Mate) PhD mechanical pencil. I prefer the 0.7mm lead.

You'll need two (not one) high quality wirebound notebooks, with the stiff backs. In one you write your screenplay chronologically, in the other you write notes, different versions of dialogue, something that won't come in until the third act, etc.

By each separate note, or group of notes and on each page of your script write in the date. Now when you're going through your random notes, which may or may not relate to your script, you have a tie-in.

"Oh yeah, that's right, giant, radiative eels would work better here."

Can you do the same thing with a computer? I haven't the foggiest.

I used to try to capture all my brilliant ideas. Now I just try to concentrate on what I'm doing at the time.

Story ideas usually cook in my brain for a long time before they ever get on to paper. I'm working on a screenplay now that has characters older than most of my children. (My oldest son is almost 23.) I know every thing about them. I really like 'em. (Except for the one I detest.)
And it's the charm.

-- Paulo Joe Jingy

Usenet · Answer

I created a blank SceneWriter Pro project to store my bits and bobs. I use the Scene List to put in a memorable name for the note, for example "Dialogue: Killing someone with a spoon" and assign a gun icon to that scene for ease of finding later.

All my "love" dialogue is marked with hearts, random direction is marked with a question mark etc.

It works for me! :-)

-- MON __ SceneWriter Pro "Bring your script to life" www.scenewriterpro.com

Usenet · Answer

I keep everything in .docs

Every few months, I open all of the microsoft word files on my computer, and then go through them one at a time, closing each one if I haven't come up with anything new. I can add to half-a-dozen of them each time, and every so often, I'll run with one and flesh it out til it's a full outline.

Usenet · Answer

Set up a folder in your current email account and email every idea and snippet to yourself: It's fast, it's simple, it uses tools you already have. The emails become fully text-searchable, and as an added bonus, they're date stamped.

Usenet · Answer

Check out "YeahWrite!". In the free version one of the tabs is NOTES. You can hide all the other tabs (Diary, General Ledger, etc.) and use only the Notes tab. What shows up on the screen is Date, Time Subject and the first line of the note. Just double click on and it opens up a new form, enter the Subject, and start typing in the Text box -- or paste from another source. Very simple and straight forward and everything is automatically time stamped. You can do a search through all notes using any keyword(s). You can also open up several drawers for different categories of notes, or add subtabs for as many Note tabs as you want in any drawer.

Interesting program. Free and a fast download. www.yeahwrite.com

-- RonB "There's a story there...somewhere"

Usenet · Answer

Once an idea is longer than a paragraph, I start a new folder and put all docs related to it in that folder. ideas shorter than a para are listed in the order I think them up in a single doc, if i ever get them out of the paper-and-pen notebook, which sometimes I do.

Writing My Writing Screenplays Title 1 Title 2 Novel Title 1 "" 2 Ideas

etc.

I chew on ideas for a long time before writing them down, so volume isn't a problem

Ideas: where do they go?

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