Organizing my ideas

I have a hard tiem just putting the ideas in my head down on the screen because I soon as I put them down they jsut go away. I draw ideas from a lot places and mediums bu actually putting them down is troublesome for me. What exercises should I utilize to better organize my thoughts? I have several different ideas in my head but getting them down is the hard part.

I feel this also. The trick might be to find a focus on one idea - could be any idea swirling in your head. Once you get that focus, you keep a firm grasp on that, and the idea starts to sprout like a plant.

A lot of times, I usually just formulate much of the universe in my head and just write down the gritty details on paper. I slowly add to what's on paper (causing it to be concrete and harder to change) as time goes on. You should probably note that it's not so much that you lose your idea when you put it on paper, it's that the idea in your head is actually a lot more vague than you realise so when you go to put something on paper you try filling out blanks and get lost in the details.

Best to just have a very loose collection of details you build up and expand in a disorganised document (like something on google docs or whatever).

When you get around to doing something with an idea, then start to organise it.

edited 6th Jul '11 12:29:28 PM by breadloaf

Always carry something around to record, and as soon as you think of something, record. A laptop, a notebook, pieces of paper, whatever. You don't have to write everything, just get down the gist of the idea.

Then when you start writing the story itself, have your book open for consultation.

edited 7th Jul '11 2:53:08 AM by Kraken

Depends — do you mean the actual words of the story are hard to get out and organize in the way that mirrors how you see it in your head, or that it's hard to organize all the concepts?

If it's the first one, join the club. You're probably going to have to accept the fact that if you want to figure out what you're doing, you're going to have to try writing it even if it doesn't do your ideas justice. And even if the results are horrible, at least you learn what you don't want to do, and can then fix it.

If it's the second, maybe creating a Story Bible will help? That's what I've been doing recently, when it comes to organizing all the big-picture worldbuilding stuff. Especially now that the story is building up, and I have to try keeping the rules and facts straight.

The Other Wiki's page on story bibles should have a few examples at the bottom, if you need a reference. Just try and mimic what those things are doing, maybe find some decent (and hopefully free) outlining software, and fill it up in a way that makes sense. And if it doesn't make sense, write it out and define it until it does.

edited 7th Jul '11 6:29:57 AM by Dec