Sparks

Kate posted a couple weeks ago about being overwhelmed with possible stories. They come from everywhere, and it can be difficult to keep up.

I keep a sparks page. I flip to the back of my current notebook and label a page “Sparks.” And that’s where any sort of story glimmers go that I’m not ready or willing to spend time on.

These sparks are a phrase someone says, or a description that pops into my head that’s perfect for a moment I haven’t written yet. Once while driving, I saw a sign, “Morningstar Midwifery,” that I had to jot down as soon as I stopped; the idea of Lucifer becoming a midwife to better search for the anti-Christ makes me smile.

I do a lot of writing in the back of my notebook. On average, a quarter to a third of a notebook is written from the back. The front is for the current project. The back is for everything else, allowing me to operate as though using two or three notebooks instead of just the one.

Dreams I want to remember go back there, as do story notes and verbal vomit sessions to jumpstart the writer-brain.

When I have something that is slightly more than a spark – enough to make concentrating on the current project even harder – I’ll flip to a blank page at the back of the book and start working it out. After a page, or two, or three, I can let it go and return to the current project.

The back of the notebook lets me avoid commitment without losing any idea-seedlings. The sparks page gives me a place to keep things I wouldn’t normally try to keep because they’re too unformed or unattached to a particular story.

It’s not a great system if you want everything organized, specific and easily found; I work better with a little chaos, so it’s perfect.

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