The Writers Notebook Part I

Since my childhood in the 1970s, I knew I wanted to write. I cannot recall when I first read that a writer always needs to carry a pen and paper for inspiration’s lightning strikes, but a few months later I was the proud owner of scrap paper piles. I said to myself “Wow, this is helpful.”

Then I heard about keeping a writer’s notebook; the concept impacted my skull like a brick. This eleventh Commandment (somewhere in Leviticus I think), inspired me to load a three ringbinder with two hundred sheets of filler paper and two packs of index tabs. Many hours of scribbling later gave me a full trash bin and an invaluable personal fiction reference resource: my notebook has become a lifestyle.

Later I began writing in another genre: my first act was to split my notes into a second notebook. Duct tape could not revive my original binder, may it rest in pieces, but the system upon which I’ve come to depend, lives on. It doesn’t matter if you write notes in a hard copyfolder or type in e-file, the important thing is your ability to access your own catalog of ideas.

THE TABS: These will vary depending upon one’s form and genre. I write speculative and fantasy fiction so my own look like this:

MARKETING/BUSINESS PLAN
NAMES LIST
SLANG DICTIONARY
ONE LINERS & PHRASES
SETTING AND BACKGROUND
CHARACTER PROFILES
RESEARCH
RPG/COMIC NOTES
WRITING TIPS
WISDOMS
NON-WIP IDEAS
SEQUEL NOTES

I’ll detail each of these categories in coming posts.