Notebooks are a writer’s best friend. They capture ideas, characterizations and plot arcs. We may have a compulsion to gather them and set them aside for a future project. Notebooks are available in a multitude of designs and styles, so there is something for everyone.
We treasure our notebooks as they record that moment a new story or character is revealed. From those humble beginnings a narrative is born.
Do you file your notebooks in a particular order? Genre, first to last or by other themes?
Where do you keep them?
However, do you use one just for observations of human behaviour? Yes, an interesting concept and one I had never thought of before. I always think I will remember that old man’s comments to the waitress or the young mother’s dialogue with her baby. I hope you find this article as interesting as I did.
http://thewritersalleys.blogspot.ca/2014/01/the-writers-notebook.html
February 28, 2014 at 5:00 pm
My problem is whenever I buy notebooks, I’ll only use it for a few pages and then buy another one and do the same thing.
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February 28, 2014 at 5:59 pm
Do you then find a great story idea when browsing through old ones?
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March 1, 2014 at 4:47 pm
Sometimes I do, I just wish I used the entire notebook so I can have more ideas.
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February 26, 2014 at 9:35 pm
I have a desk full of sticky notes. I sometimes come home with napkins with notes on them. Then I have full sheets of paper with so many more notes and ideas.
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February 26, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Loose sheets – nightmare. Don’t you lose some? I need notebooks & then transcribe onto laptop files.
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February 26, 2014 at 6:57 pm
File? Genre? What??? I am a hoarder. Most of mine are empty – I keep a tiny one in my purse and the rest are too lovely to mar with my crappy handwriting. I opt for computer notes… 🙂
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February 26, 2014 at 9:25 pm
All pretty in a row? Upon a shelf for display and dreaming? Julie you are funny.
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February 27, 2014 at 6:32 am
They are tucked in drawers, in filing cabinets, in the box of ‘i can’t remember why i keep this stuff’ under my bed. Finding them randomly throughout the year is a treat. I vow to use them, then put them right back to come across by accident a few months later. 😀
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February 27, 2014 at 10:35 am
So recurring Christmas or birthday surprises for you – nice!
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February 26, 2014 at 2:25 pm
Good lord, I have so many notebooks for different things. I like to pretend I’m organised, but I’m just not. -_-
And I have too many.
I might try to streamline them. Maybe. Perhaps. Probably not.
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February 26, 2014 at 2:42 pm
Notebooks seem to take on a reverence of their own – they are not for throwing away!
Thanks for dropping by.
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