# Writing Workshop 6/05/2010: Writing Notebook and a Question



## kitreshawn (Jun 5, 2010)

This time I don't have an exercise so much as a tool for Writers to think about and then a question for people who are involved in the Writer Workshop I've been running for a few weeks now.

First off, the tool:

*Writer's Notebook:*

This is something I was introduced to way back when I took my first creative writing class.  There are really several types out there, and although I call it a notebook in this day and age it could also easily be something electronic.

First type of notebook is sort of a journal for yourself and is a good way to get yourself in the habit of keeping a writing notebook.  A good way to start one is every night write 1 page about some aspect of where you lived (for instance, in my first entry of my first notebook I wrote about the smell of green chili roasting in the fall and where you could go to get it and the process of preparing it for storage for the year, in another entry I described my experiences at High School).  The entries can focus on any aspects that you remember, people there, activities, things you liked, things you hated, things you can remember and things you are sure you've forgotten.  Keep it up until you run out of things to write about that location then move on to another place you've lived.

The basic idea behind this is it gets you in the habit of keeping a writing notebook and also gives you a wealth of information to look over when coming up with ideas for characters and settings.  After all, everything you write ultimately comes from inside of you, there is just the matter of finding it first so it can be put on the page.

The second type I know of is more random in its content.  It is either a small book you can carry in your pocket or a note taking program (for a program I personally favor Evernote since it works on mobile devices and on your computer, keeping things synced up on a remote server.  For this notebook you simply keep it with you at all times, and any time you see or hear anything that gives you ideas you jot it down.  It could be snippets of conversation, how someone is dressed, or even simply a story idea that hits you and you don't want to forget.

I call it an idea book and it is very useful for making sure you don't forget things which would go wonderfully in a story.  Generally entries are short, no more than a few words or a couple sentences, but sometimes they will go on for a few pages.  For example, you might simply describe what a lady is wearing (red sequenced coat, black boots, purple pants, wide brimmed hat with a peacock feather), or detail a plot outline for a story idea you just had and don't want to forget, or make notes on an idea for a scene that you've been having problems writing but just got inspiration for.

The final type of notebook I know of is what I call a project book, and works best if it is a 3 ring binder or an electronic organized folder system.  Basically this is something where you organize ideas for projects you are currently working on and projects you want to work on.  For example you are writing a story and you have a great idea for a scene to happen later on, but aren't that far in writing yet.  You can write it anyway in rough draft form and save it away to be altered and dropped in when you get to that point in the story.  Alternately maybe you are working on one project and suddenly get a wonderful idea for another one.  Rather than dropping the current project you can take notes and jot down ideas for the new story idea as they come to you, keeping them together in a single file.  Again, if you do this electronically I prefer Evernote personally, though I also like to keep a hard copy for current projects in a 3 ring notebook.


*Question:*

Alright, with that pontificating out of the way here is the question and I would like to here answers from people who are participating in the Workshop or are interested in doing so.  You can consider this the weekly exercise if you like:

What are you looking to gain from the Writing Workshop?  A place where you can do random exercises?  A place where you can work on stories you already have to make them better?  A place to help you write a new story?  All of the above?  Something completely different?

Go into as much detail as you can stand.  I'll try to read everyone's input and start to take it into account for later workshops if possible.


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## Hauke (Jun 5, 2010)

I'm a very poor self-motivator.  When I first started uploading stories here, it was solely to get views, watches, and favorites from people.  I still think of stories, but I lose steam on them unless people are paying attention..I usually lack the drive to just sit down and write.  Things like this workshop (and the Thursday Prompts) are almost the only way I can "jump start" myself.

I usually pull the work I put up for the exercises out of thin air.  I don't try to relate them back to other stories I've uploaded or others that I've got hiding in the background, but maybe I should.

Coincidentally I was looking through the big mess inside the "My Documents" folder and found three or four things that really weren't that bad...but they weren't finished, and hadn't been opened for several months...will they ever be finished?  

I guess that's what amounts to my "notebook"...a poorly organized vacuum that sucks up .doc files when I've become too distracted to pay attention to them.  :/


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## sunandshadow (Jun 5, 2010)

I don't do random exercises, which is why I haven't participated in most of these workshops.  What I'm most interested in is getting a discussion of problem-solving going among a group of writers, about some specific area of fiction-writing technique.  I'm most interested in topics that I feel are still a problem for me, something I don't fully understand, rather than ones I feel I've already studied enough.  Mainly, that means plot structure.  And I participated in the one about openings because "What makes the best opening for a piece?" was both relevant to my own writing and interesting as a general theory question.  I'd really like to see an exercise where everyone posted a plot synopsis or outline and we made suggestions about how to improve each others'.

I'm also not a good self-motivator - I tend to not feel like writing a story unless someone else has expressed interest in the concept, and not just in a shallow 'that might be amusing' kind of way.  So to me the best part of workshops is that I can trade my comments on others' stuff in exchange for getting them to read and comment on my stuff.

BTW, I do have a story idea notebook.   The current incarnation starts with a 1-paragraph summary of every idea that occurs to me, then several of them I've developed into more complete synopses.


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## Kindar (Jun 5, 2010)

I've tried using notebook and notepads to write ideas and try to write everyday, but I've never been able to stick with it, I think 2 weeks is the longest I've ever lasted.

as for what I'm looking to gain from the workshop? I dunno, a way to improve my writing  Iguess


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## Shouden (Jun 6, 2010)

I'd say all of the above. Sometimes doing random exercises can help with the rest.


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## kitreshawn (Jun 7, 2010)

Ok, it sounds like so far we have 2 people who are looking for a way to get help with stories they want to write, and 1 to improve their writing, and 1 who is looking for all of that.

Anyone else want to chime in?


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## sunandshadow (Jun 7, 2010)

Random thought:  I was thinking that motivation to write doesn't really fit under either category of specific stories or general improvement.  Is it possible to have a workshop on motivation to write?  I mean what would that be exactly, a pep rally?  *ponders*


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## Hauke (Jun 7, 2010)

sunandshadow said:


> Is it possible to have a workshop on motivation to write?  I mean what would that be exactly, a pep rally?  *ponders*




Encouragement and feedback for participating are the biggest motivators for me.  As I predicted at the beginning, I've been horribly negligent about providing feedback to other participants in this (and in other exercises).  A workshop that somehow provokes responses to what someone has written (either formally requiring a comment from a certain number of people, or informally really, REALLY encouraging it) would motivate a lot of people to participate, and therefore write.


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## kitreshawn (Jun 7, 2010)

Hauke said:


> Encouragement and feedback for participating are the biggest motivators for me.  As I predicted at the beginning, I've been horribly negligent about providing feedback to other participants in this (and in other exercises).  A workshop that somehow provokes responses to what someone has written (either formally requiring a comment from a certain number of people, or informally really, REALLY encouraging it) would motivate a lot of people to participate, and therefore write.



This is a very good thought.  I will need to figure out some way to work that out.  We'll see what I come up with.

The main problem I have is that a lot of the most effective things to motivate writing in my experience have been actual classes with actual grades.  I don't really feel up to grading people so I would need some other system where participation for both writing and critique is rewarded somehow.


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## DJ_KFX (Jun 9, 2010)

As far as a workshop goes, I'm needing a kind of nuts and bolts approach to working on stories. I think I have enough self-motivation to get the writing done once I have an idea, and so far I've been able to come up with enough ideas to keep me busy. I think I am looking for pointers or exercises to refine my work. The best analogy I can think of at the moment is building a house. I need someone to point out where my foundations are not as solid as they should be; give me advice on how to turn an otherwise decent built house into something with nice paint and furniture that the reader wants to come in and stay a while.
Part of the problem though is that I usually don't have a lot of free time to dig through the forums here.


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## Hauke (Jun 10, 2010)

kitreshawn said:


> I don't really feel up to grading people...


 
I'm an expert at grading people; especially in online environments where participation is part of the grade.  :>  I've been called upon to do it for a living.  I don't want to try to set myself up as some sort of taskmaster for the workshop, especially when my performance so far has been inadequate as far as the feedback and critique section goes.  But if you had any questions...


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## paintballadict9 (Jun 10, 2010)

I want to improve my writing with this. The level im at right now is pretty horrible...i plan to actually start participating in these instead of just lurking.


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## Altamont (Jun 10, 2010)

I'd really like to cure my insufferable Writer's Block. Lately I've been delving in to all of the ecercises and practices I can because I have so many fu ideas I'd like to write about but everytime I put pen to paper (or, in this case, fingers to keyboard) I just can't write a damned word. I though participating in these very fun writer's workshops could help me out of that


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