Idea Book

Writing ideas on scraps of paper is great, but what happens if you lose that scrap? 

Poof! Your brilliant novel and movie trilogy idea is gone!

All right, maybe that is a little dramatic, but if this has ever happened to you, you know that losing a paper with your precious idea on it can be devastating. 

You can try your best to rewrite it, but it wont be the same. :(

To avoid this, I suggest you start keeping an Idea Book! 

This is also a great idea for those whose imagination is on constant overdrive and there is no way you can write all those gems at one time.

There are times when I have so many ideas bouncing around in my mind that I feel like a schizophrenic who can't concentrate on any one thing, instead I'm always in my imaginary world because I don't want to lose the cool ideas.

My mind tends to be like a bucket full of water. If I add another drop, some of the other water falls out. Haha

To avoid this, I write down my ideas. 

It's like purging the "voices" from my mind. (I really don't have schizophrenia guys) 

(This one isn't mine, but it's a good example)

For my Idea Book, I found a fat notebook with a strong binding so that it could handle lots of rough use. I decorated the front (because I'm like that) and made it something that I wouldn't mind using all the time. I carry it around in my bag.

Any time I have an idea, I jot it down in there and then I know that it is safe until I have time to look upon it again.

It's great to have everything in one place. 

If I get a new idea and I think "Hey, this is like one of my other ideas", I can flip through my notebook and find out if my thought is correct or not.

The Idea Book also helps me when I'm feeling writers block. 

If I'm working on a story and I'm just plain stuck, I turn to my book and write a little more about one of those ideas. 

Sometimes, getting my mind off of what I am writing at the time and looking back through my old ideas is enough to spark my creative juices. 

The book is also a good place to stick photos of something that inspired you. I cut out pictures from magazines all the time. 

Sometimes, visualizing isn't enough. If I see it, I can better describe it in my story.

It's also really fun to see how many ideas and potential stories I can collect. 

I'm currently a 12! 

Who would have thought that I could think of 12 stories. Granted, not all of them are worked through and plotted out. 

A few of them are just random dreams that I've had and thought "That's make a cool story".

Also, I keep a list at the back of my book of names that I think are cool. That way, when I write in a new character, I can flip to that page and create an awesome name that will catch the readers eye.

If you haven't started an idea book, I suggest you do. This can be used for more than just stories. 

Poetry, for example, would make excellent use of an Idea book.

If you have something similar to this that you keep track of your thoughts in, I'd love to hear about it.