Writing Tip — Tagging Your Notebook
TaggingHere's a tip, a technique from Japan, I had to try it, and so far, it's been a success. The picture at the top of this page is the edge of a Black+Red notebook indexed by using the page edges to reference certain topics in the index at the back of the book. The last page looks like the following.
The
journal in the pictures is my notebook for the second novel in the CORP
series, when I was just getting started with it. I keep character
bios, story plots, outlines, and all manner of other things in this book
so that while I'm writing I have all my notes at hand. Note-cards are
nice but a little gust of wind will quickly scatter them. The notebook
for the first CORP book left me flipping through the pages looking for
something a little bit too often. This was a nice compromise, that
compliments my little stack of note-cards in their handy case.
The
process is pretty simple, though a ballpoint pen may not be the best
option. It can be a little tricky dragging ink over the edge of the
little pages, so a marker or any felt pen is probably a better option. I
rub the feed of my fountain pens over the page edge to drop just the
right amount of ink. If I need to look something up, I flip to the
index, find the right keyword, and then open to the right page. It's
that simple, and much less cumbersome than flipping through a book
filled with notes and sketches.
The technique is explained a bit here.
Tabs
This
age-old method that dates back at least to the 1960's is a wonderful
way to organize a notebook, but beware, a full edge of little paper
sticky-tabs poking through the pages can be a little unnerving to look
at, so for general keywords I prefer the keyword idea, but don't throw
out all of your organizing tabs just yet. Tabs have the wonderful
property of being cheap and easy to use, and definitely shouldn't be
overlooked.
Simply
take your keyword-ed journal and use tabs to mark major divisions in
the book. I always try to organize my writing journals by reserving
some pages for this or that. At the beginning of the one pictured above
are several pages of outlining, then character profiles. A little tab
on the first page of each section can further refine your search for
that special piece of hidden information you are looking for. As you
can see, my bullet list contains a lot of character names. I might have
a section of notebook devoted to the antagonist's story, his reasoning,
and his plan for world domination, but that section isn't all about
him. It includes the other characters, so a tab for "evil plan" would
allow me to isolate the pages containing those notes, and the bullets
further refine my search by letting me know which pages my main
character is on. Then I can find the precise place where he was
threatened, or where one of the other characters dies as part of the
plot.
The combination of tabs and keywords is definitely a winner for me.
Bullet Journal
Discover all about this from the videos at bulletjournal.com.
This is a technique that is taking the business world back to
handwritten notes. It's fast, effective, and efficient. My pocket
notebook to-do list was already organized in a similar fashion, but my
next may end up adopting some of the bullet journal specifics. It's a
great way to stay organized if you tire of adding reminders to your
phone and having the timers go off at all the wrong times. Once you are
ready, you just flip open your pocket book and see what needs to be
checked off for the day.
I
mention it here because this is very close to the way that I've used
pocket journals to keep my life organized and moving forward. As I get
older, and being away from home so often, I forget which things need to
be done. I forget at the grocery store that we're out of paper towels
again. Writing it down not only helps to aide my memory, but it serves
as a check before I head to the check-out. It's a reminder that I need
to fix a sink before I go out for coffee and searching for a new book to
read.
Hope this was helpful. Leave a comment if it was, or if you have any awesome journal organization ideas to add.
Update: This has become a habit, and I now do it in ALL of my notebooks.
Original post published at www.writefarmlive.com
Thanks for sharing this! I plan on using it on my next notebook. I shared in my blog about this article - with all the credit going to you and with your blog address listed. I said that it was something worth checking out if they were frustrated with how their notebooks were now.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for sharing this. I look forward to your future articles.