How do you capture ideas for a story?
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Someone asked me at story writing school just the other day (it’s not a school, it’s a group of us who try to knock together stories, but the phrase legitimises drinking tea and eating biscuits) … sorry, went off topic again there. Someone asked me how I capture ideas for writing a book. Where do I store my story thoughts?
Way back when, my desk was covered in scraps of paper, torn fag packets, beermats (remember them?) and sweetie wrappers. Each with thoughts and ideas scribbled. It was time for a notebook. I have never looked back.
There’s no better way to procrastinate than opening a web browser and scouring the online world for notebooks. Moleskine is my usual brand of choice. Though just lately, I discovered Hoxton Mini Press – their ‘Notebook for bad ideas’ is a winner.
And what about when I need to write something down – a whole slew of words and there’s nothing paper-like to hand? I send myself an email from my phone – mostly because voice notes confuse the living hell out of me. I open up an email, and just like an old person, I click the voice to text dictation feature that youngsters these days consider totes hilair and dictate my words. It’s a fabulous way to hit the ground running with a bunch of poorly punctuated and often mangled up words. Trying to decipher a story from what my phone heard and put into the middle of a sentence is a game in itself, but it gets my synapses firing.
So how do you capture ideas? Tell me you’re better at it than me!
My new romantic comedy ‘Ghosted‘ is out on 31 October – though it’s nothing to do with ghosts and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. It’s a Christmas romance, set onboard a gay cruise. A romantic comedy to restore your faith in human nature.
Preorder by clicking the image below
