Friday 9 October 2009

The Writing Journal

It's only since last few months that I have kept a seperate writing journal. As I prepare for NaNo, attempting to focus on only one project, it has become a journal more for that particular book, though I still have a few odd ideas and things written down in there.
This experiment of keeping a writing journal has been quite rewarding. Usually, I tend to scribble notes all over the place. I try to keep a specific notepad for a book, but I always end up writing in all sorts of places, and obviously don't have my notepads at all times. And I seem to accumulate so many notes (because I sort of think by writing) that consolidating them is usually a nightmare. With the writing journal, I have been able to keep everything together that's hand-written. There are still typed random notes in computer, but that's a different problem altogether.
One advantage of writing down the notes, and actually writing by hand is that I remember those things better. That's very handy when you are writing a fantasy novel, and have got a whole world to not only construct but also to remember all the tiny details. Also, my ideas evolve and change over-time, so again it's handy to have dated notes in a journal, because then I can make sure that I am using my latest ideas and decisions.
The writing journal experiment has definitely been a success, so I will continue to keep them. And another lovely thing about it that writing journals tend to take on a personality of their own, an extension of me, and by the time pages are getting full, you can clearly see it as you flip through the pages. So I get to see the workings of my own brain ;)

3 comments:

  1. Hmm. Are you sure you're not just looking for an excuse to start another journal? :-)

    It's a really good idea to have a journal, or a notebook, dedicated to a specific project. I might just give it a try myself.

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  2. LOL...no definitely not starting another journal. Keeping a seperate journal for each project - while sounds good, won't be very practical for me, because you can't carry everything at once, and all different ideas pop into my head at any time, so got to be flexible.

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  3. I suppose it's horses for courses; do what works for you. I can't do the writing journal notes thing. It just confuses me and makes the whole process a chore in trying to co-ordinate and integrate a load of disjointed notes. Then, if I start to find it a chore, I stop writing.

    My way is to set aside a couple of hours a day, early hours, before the world has interferred with my thinking and creative energy. I edit yesterday's work and write a new 1,000 words. It got through my recently published novel, Randolph's Challenge Book One - The Pendulum Swings, and it's serving me well for book two which has just passed the half way mark at 70,000 words And at 1,000 words a day that means it will be finished in just 70 more days.

    Chris Warren
    Author and Freelance Writer
    Randolph's Challenge Book One - The Pendulum Swings

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