Taking Note

Ideas are a tricky thing. They can sneak up on you unawares like a mugger in a dark alley or percolate for days and weeks and months and years until they’re ready to pour out. As a writer, you need to be prepared for any moment in which inspiration will strike, or risk running out of ideas. I’ve read about and heard writers talk about carrying notepads with them, or those cool little Moleskin mini-notebooks, ready to jot down anything that comes to them wherever they are. These days, it’s a lot easier: Just swipe open your iPhone, open the Notes app, and type away. That’s what I do. I have a locked note called “Story Ideas” that I continually add ideas to whenever they come to me. I’ve found it to be an incredible boon to my creativity. And since my phone is also my alarm clock, I’ve got it on my nightstand when I’m in bed, just a hand’s reach away if inspiration should strike while I’m falling asleep.

Here’s the thing, though: You have to actually write your ideas down. Having an iPhone with the Notes app, or any number of notebooks or journals won’t do you any good if you won’t make the effort to actually crack them open and write your ideas down. We’ve all heard the story about a writer getting an idea right as they fall asleep, only to put off writing it down, convinced they’ll remember it in the morning and then, gasp, they don’t. (Wasn’t there a Seinfeld episode about that?) And just like that, an idea has disappeared back into the ether from whence it came, never to return.

(There’s a part of me terrified by the thought that perhaps that idea zips down the ether-line to another writer who does have the wherewithal to get out of bed and write it down and then boom, there’s their million-dollar idea.)

So why is it so hard to get ourselves to write the ideas down? Because we self-reject: we preemptively judge the idea, we’re afraid it’s stupid, that we’re stupid for even coming up with it. We become those cops from that movie Minority Report, only instead of grabbing criminals before they commit a crime, we trash ideas before they can suck. And then, one day, all of a sudden, we find ourselves completely out of ideas.

I’m convinced of two things: One, there are no bad ideas, and Two, you’ve got to get some good ideas out of the way for the great ones to come along. There are no bad ideas because as long as you have an idea, a foundation, you’ve got something to build on, to shape and mold. Sure, some ideas may be better than others—or, at least, some ideas may appeal to you more than others. But in order to get those better ideas flowing, to get them out on paper, you’ve got to just take any and all ideas as they come. Once you stop self-rejecting and start accepting ideas as they come, you’ll see the floodgates open, and that’s when the best ideas come.

That’s my trick: I’ll write down any idea for a story that pops up to me, judgement-free, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. And you know what? I’ve got a long list of story ideas in my Notes app, which includes what I think are some freaking awesome ideas. More importantly, now that I’ve been more accepting of the ideas that do come, ideas flow freely.

So, quick recap: To keep your ideas flowing, 1: Don’t self-reject, and 2: Write your story ideas down ASAP.

Everybody stay safe, stay sane, and keep writing.