Bryan Collins writes in his book “The Art of Non-Fiction Book Writing” about his habit of taking a pad of A4 sized paper (he lives in Europe) and a pen, and writing. He refers to this as Analogue Tools.
WHEN TO USE Analogue Writing Tools:
Capturing ideas on the go
When you keep getting distracted
Getting a messy first draft out of your head
You’re blocked or uninspired
You’re practicing your craft
In many ways, this is my pre-writing workout. I carry a notebook around with me, and constantly jot notes into it. When you’re stuck in writing your novel, go to your Scrivener, open your note cards, and begin filling out the chapter and scene synopsis. Once that’s done, either copy them by hand (recommended), or print them out, cut them off the paper and tape or paste them into your notebook.
That’s your outline. Now start jotting notes by hand (don’t forget your Tul pen!) into the notebook. Judicious note taking can be transferred into Scrivener by going to the footnotes and comments tab in the Inspector (the square with the N) and then carefully create notes and write down thoughts.
In my case, I’m trying to move chapter 8 back to chapter 4 – and what to do with all those scenes? We’re talking about 56 scenes or so I’m going to have to consolidate, cut out or move around.
This is where the notebook comes in. I know, because it’s been my habit for the last two or three years, that “pen in my hand” equals planning and ides, and “sitting in office in front of laptop” equals writing. And this is how I can do it. I just need to fill in the synopsis part of the cards in my Inspector (you’ll understand when you switch from Microsoft Word or iWrite to Scrivener finally), and transfer those to my writing notebook.
This literally is all that’s holding my first novel back from being publication ready!
What’s holding back your novel?
