Monday, October 18, 2010

writer's journal

 I love journals, diaries and notebooks. I love the free format of writing. :-D There are no expectations or requirements, or rules in keeping a diary. You just express your thoughts the way that suits you at the moment... sometimes it's writing, sometimes it's drawing, sometimes it's newspaper clippings or scraps, or photos... a pressed flower... something. Anything is allowed, anything is good, anything is... perfect.
I suppose I love notebooks because I'm a perfectionist, and notebooks are always perfect. Even when they are not, because there are no rules :-D

I love the spell book from Practical Magic, I love the Book of Shadows from Charmed, I love Indiana Jones' diary... or Simon Templar's journal from "The Saint"... I like Edith Holden's Country Diary... I would like my Writing Journal to look like that, but I suppose that... er... that's a bit of "perfectionist". My journal doesn't look like that :-D

THIS is what my writing journal looks like ;-)
I write my "journal" on loose leafs and keep them in a box. On the down, left one can read "Lara Croft, St-Exmin, Modesty Blaise, Xena". The person on the right side is a dragon in her human form. Dressed in red leather :-D Under that is one paper written in Swedish, and another which has a dialogue in English. The lady one can see is very good... sort of Balder. She is discussing with an evil man, a monster, who wants to destroy everything and control everything, and he has demanded the lady comes to him so that he can kill her. Anyway, this is what my journal looks like. I usually write with mechanical pencil with 0.5mm HB lead. I write and draw and sometimes "color" the pictures with the same pen. I sometimes use a ball-point pen. I don't use colors, because this is sketching, and using colors would make it something else than taking notes and writing down the thoughts.
But... I would LIKE to have a journal like those mentioned above :-D
have your journal and a pen with you all the time. Write in it
- ideas you get
- interesting articles, news, pictures from newspapers and magazines (you can also paste this in your journal ;-))
- snippets of discussions you hear
- descriptions of people you see
- all your favorite quotes and passages from books, tv shows, movies...
- writing prompts
- interesting questions, memes etc. you come across, that you think would help you understand your characters better
- flashes you get, your characters, discussions in you mind, such things

Creating a Poet's Journal
Writer's Notebook
Keeping a Writer's Journal

P.S. Words and Writing Ideas

1 comment:

Helena said...

I am the biggest Indiana Jones fan but I didn't even know there was an IJ diary. Definitely gonna look that one up.

You know, I haven't drawn or sketched in years and years, but I love your idea of sketching in a journal. Haven't even written down my thoughts in years, either. Instead I just type odds and ends into notes for my manuscripts, which can be efficient but too impersonal. Some stream of consciousness in an old-fashioned notebook might be good for me.