Fiction Tips

Capture the Idea

Many years ago, a noted author said to me, "I had rather write a note on the cuff of my blouse than to lose a good idea." Wow! That stuck with me.

Capture the idea at the moment it comes! I guess that's why I have so many file cabinets in my home. I can hardly bear to throw away all those scraps of ideas! And while that's a good place to store old manuscripts (and new ones), and ideas and plain old stuff, you can't very well carry a file cabinet around with you. So what to do?

Notebooks! Use notebooks! Use notebooks like an artist uses a sketchbook.

Yes, the computer is quick and easy. But the computer is not selective on its own. It may hold information longer than your mind, but it cannot bring all the information together as your mind can. While you can feed those ideas into the computer, still and yet, a writer NEEDS a notebook (or notebooks!).

A Writer's Laboratory

I still have on my bookshelf two small loose-leaf notebooks that I filled when I first began to write seriously. One is yellow, the other is blue. Yes, there they are in all their glory. In it, I wrote snippets of overheard conversations; names I felt were different or interesting; town names that caught my fancy, descriptions of sounds, sights, smells, and then there were the cute and funny things my kids did. They created for me a writer's laboratory as I recorded their actions and conversations.

Entry Sample

One entry from a winter day goes like this:

Clouds of fog were surprised to find themselves held captive in the night by the icy hands of the frigid air. Countless millions of droplets, soft and fat with moisture, were squeezed in the icy grip, then transformed into exquisite crystallized formations and designs. Each was individually fastened with miracle adhesive powers to every tree branch, every blade of dead brown grass, every strand of fence wire, in a sort of dress-up, flocking occasion. The first glow of dawn revealed that nothing had escaped the sparkle-tinsel effect. It later turned to fiery sparkles in the bold winter sunshine.

Stop - Write It Down

Insights and perceptions will flit through your mind like a quick firefly, lighting for a brief moment then gone forever into the darkness. Oh, you think you'll remember that little idea. Or that reaction. Or that snippet you heard. Guess what? You're kidding yourself. You will not. Stop whatever you are doing at that moment and write it down. Keep notebooks in purse or pocket, by the bed, in the car and in the john. Will you be laughed at? You can pretty well count on it. But when the novel comes out, when the work is published, and it contains the content that you hurried to write down (sometimes almost impolitely) you will be forgiven.

And even if you aren't forgiven, you shouldn't really care. Because you are only doing the WORK that is required of a serious writer.

Don't rely on the cuff of your blouse (or shirt as the case may be)! Buy notebooks and fill them! In the days to come, you be so thankful you did.

Are you a fiction lover? Are you a student of fiction? A teacher of fiction? A reader of fiction? Let veteran, published author, Norma Jean Lutz help you enhance your knowledge and appreciation of fiction writing. Author of over 50 published books as well as hundreds of articles and short stories, Norma Jean is a popular workshop and writer conference instructor. She shares tips, concepts, and intricate writing techniques right here: http://www.fiction-aire.com/fictionaire.html