What does your Story Idea list look like?

[TheRedChamber]

Simple enough question. I'm not asking about how many stories are on it necessarily, but how do you keep track of ideas? One file on your computer (text, word, excel)? A folder full of synopsis? A battered notebook under your pillow? How far do you raise a plot bunny before you put it into the deep freeze or into the pot (ok, unpleasant metaphor...sorry)?

Im in the process of moving a Word list with everything on one big table into an Excel spreadsheet - I usually try to think of somewhat witty title even as a place-holder and then have the probable catagory its going to go in and a one-line reminder of what its about. I've ended up with about 100 different story ideas in it, where a couple are just a title, most are a key concept that needs development and maybe 15 or so are ready to write or actually being written. I've also got a folder with about 10 word documents for more substantial plot outlines.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

My plot bunnies live in a Word file. Some are just a one-line basic idea, some are maybe half a page of composed story, some are idea-generating photos. There’s no particular order to them.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Simple enough question. I'm not asking about how many stories are on it necessarily, but how do you keep track of ideas? One file on your computer (text, word, excel)? A folder full of synopsis? A battered notebook under your pillow? How far do you raise a plot bunny before you put it into the deep freeze or into the pot (ok, unpleasant metaphor...sorry)?

Im in the process of moving a Word list with everything on one big table into an Excel spreadsheet - I usually try to think of somewhat witty title even as a place-holder and then have the probable catagory its going to go in and a one-line reminder of what its about. I've ended up with about 100 different story ideas in it, where a couple are just a title, most are a key concept that needs development and maybe 15 or so are ready to write or actually being written. I've also got a folder with about 10 word documents for more substantial plot outlines.

I use an Excel spreadsheet with separate tabs that get created when an idea strikes. Some of the tabs are for sheets with little on them, but they are there for me to go back to when the time is right.

I was actually considering pre-populating tabs for the yearly contests that I might want to write for in 2023 simply as a reminder to consider working on them at some point.

 

[SimonDoom]

I use MS Office 11 on a desktop. I have a folder labeled "Lit Stories" and within that a folder for every story that I've thought of or begun to write, sorted alphabetically. Within each of THOSE folders I typically have two word documents: one is a draft of the story, in whatever stage of development, and the other is a notes document where I include my notes and summary of the story idea, proposed tagline, characters names and traits, and plot outline. I have a folder called Ideas and Information in which I keep a collection of documents like my compilation of story stats, some random story idea lists, story plans for the year, etc.

I just looked at it, and to my surprise there are 168 folders in my Lit Stories folder. I've published 53 stories, and some of those folders are basically empty, but that still leaves over 100 folders for unfinished stories. Some of them are ideas I've abandoned or were different versions of stories I ended up writing in a different name, but it's still a heck of a lot of unfinished stories. Were I to do nothing but concentrate on those stories at a steady and more diligent pace than I have ever given to my writing it would still take me at least two or three years to write them all.

Everything gets backed up to cloud storage and I back everything up periodically to a backup hard drive.

 

[Voboy]

I assign sequential numbers to my ideas. That's IF they progress far enough to get to the point where I think they're worth typing up. I'm currently on #104, but that doesn't count 750-worders nor commercial work.

The system got unwieldy around #90, so that's when I created a separate folder for published vs pending. Each story gets at least two files, the story itself and a "plan" doc with whatever research, casting decisions, or whatever supporting material I've created for that story. VERY often, I'll refer back to those "plan" pages later, in some cases months or years down the road.

Once published, I change the file name to add the title. There's a good chance I'll recall the title when I need to check some continuity later, but sometimes it's difficult.

 

[oggbashan]

I just have a set of word files with the beginnings of stories on them.

A few years agoi I posted ALL my incomplete stories on Lit. This is Part 01 of four:

https://www.literotica.com/s/oggbashan-stew-pt-01



But now I have just as many...

 

[unholyintentions]

Thank you for starting this thread — I have been giving the same topic some thought this week and it’s great to read about the solutions that others have chosen.

I have two Apple devices, so I have used a dedicated smut folder on the Notes app to write texts that are accessible from both. Since I write in short formats and my ideas pop up in the most unexpected places (gym locker room, heh), I presume I will continue using the Notes app to jot down short ideas, but I am trying out writing-dedicated software for my RL job and I think I will move over my folder of drafts and unfinished stories to that instead.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I use MS Office 11 on a desktop. I have a folder labeled "Lit Stories" and within that a folder for every story that I've thought of or begun to write, sorted alphabetically. Within each of THOSE folders I typically have two word documents: one is a draft of the story, in whatever stage of development, and the other is a notes document where I include my notes and summary of the story idea, proposed tagline, characters names and traits, and plot outline. I have a folder called Ideas and Information in which I keep a collection of documents like my compilation of story stats, some random story idea lists, story plans for the year, etc.

I just looked at it, and to my surprise there are 168 folders in my Lit Stories folder. I've published 53 stories, and some of those folders are basically empty, but that still leaves over 100 folders for unfinished stories. Some of them are ideas I've abandoned or were different versions of stories I ended up writing in a different name, but it's still a heck of a lot of unfinished stories. Were I to do nothing but concentrate on those stories at a steady and more diligent pace than I have ever given to my writing it would still take me at least two or three years to write them all.

Everything gets backed up to cloud storage and I back everything up periodically to a backup hard drive.

You know you can be just a little scary, right?

 

[Voboy]

Thank you for starting this thread — I have been giving the same topic some thought this week and it’s great to read about the solutions that others have chosen.

I have two Apple devices, so I have used a dedicated smut folder on the Notes app to write texts that are accessible from both. Since I write in short formats and my ideas pop up in the most unexpected places (gym locker room, heh), I presume I will continue using the Notes app to jot down short ideas, but I am trying out writing-dedicated software for my RL job and I think I will move over my folder of drafts and unfinished stories to that instead.

Whatever system you try, make sure it's expandable.

When I wrote my first story here, I never dreamed I'd write as many as I have. The process can be addictive. So something like naming files by the title of the story would never have worked for me once I got past about ten stories.

 

[SimonDoom]

You know you can be just a little scary, right?

LOL. I hadn't thought of it that way, but I guess I'll take it as a compliment.

 

[unholyintentions]

So something like naming files by the title of the story would never have worked for me once I got past about ten stories.

I have about forty finished texts and a few unruly ideas notes, more drafts than I care to count, and it feels oddly contained still? But I think it’s because I don’t do multiparts and it’s very little volume compared to IRL work. I think whatever software I settle on for that will more than make do for the smut.

I can see how your amazing work would challenge an early organization system past the tenth story

 

[TxRad]

I have 295 stories and 2 poems storied in a folder marked Lit. I have started but unfinished stories running from 275 words to 57ksorted by the number of words and in folders broke up by 1k words. There is another folder for picture stories. around 89 total. There is another folder with 69 finished stories in it.

I have 16 mainstream published novels in a folder under my editors first name. There is another folder with parts of six more novels.

Lots and lots of caged and cooked plot bunnies and too many wild ones to count.

 

[jaykaythree]

I have two WIPs in Drafts*, and at least three or four others kicking around in my head. Where those go, I won't know until I get them out -- and I tend to be the "one at a time" type, except for the postscript delineated below.

* One, I'm working on actively; the other, I'll do when it comes together better.

 

[KeithD]

I maintain a “project status” list (a Word file kept in two separate computers) that tells me where all “to be published” work is and the phase it’s in (to write/to be reviewed/in edit/in cleanup/to be published). There currently are 34 works listed. Only 11 of these are on my plate for writing/development action and some of those are doubled because they are both standalone stories in process and entries in anthologies being compiled. 7 of the entries are not on my plate; they are at the marketplace publisher for action there. I am only actively writing on 1 entry on the list and reviewing in 2 anthologies on the list.

There are 5 works on the list that I took back from ExCessica when that publisher went down and are now waiting to be reissued by another publisher. There is 1 work on the list that is a cowritten piece with my coauthor, Sabb, but that one’s in his court to add to.

I remain pretty clear on what writing projects are on my list and what their status is.

Only 5 have been moldering on the list for some time to be written.

“Pirated Billy” (A teaser short story for Dirk Hessian’s marketplace-published Shores of Tripoli. Dirk Hessian is one of my publishing pen names)

“Romanov Seduction” (Dirk Hessian. A teaser short story for Dirk Hessian’s marketplace-published Constantinople)

(These languish on the list mainly because I’m thinking of doing the teaser “before that” thing with other Dirk Hessian works and have that published as an anthology.)

The 12th novella in a lesbian detective series I write only for the marketplace.

The 4th story in a cougar-protagonist series of stories written under an unrevealed pen name. A compilation of these short stories is also on the list for marketplace publishing.

“Coming to and in Asheville” or “84 Oakland Drive” (a story on setting up a male brothel in Asheville, which seems to linger on the list for no particular reason other than I think it will be rather long and involved. This is double listed on the list because it also will be in my forming Grab Bag 29 anthology)

 

[Voboy]

I have about forty finished texts and a few unruly ideas notes, more drafts than I care to count, and it feels oddly contained still? But I think it’s because I don’t do multiparts and it’s very little volume compared to IRL work. I think whatever software I settle on for that will more than make do for the smut.

I can see how your amazing work would challenge an early organization system past the tenth story

It continues to amaze me how easy it is to forget what I've written. Like, I'll be doing something new, and I'll be thinking to myself, wait a sec... I know two of these characters have met before, but what story was that in? And then I'll be doing text searches on a number of stories, since I'll have it narrowed down to within about ten published works, but then there are also unpublished fragments I've written which I think of as "real," even though they're unpublished...

It can get quite confusing, to be honest, especially when you're trying to keep interconnected stories consistent. My system is not foolproof, but I get few complaints. I should point out, too, that I do maintain a master "story order" document that tries, imperfectly, to group all my stories into the strands they're supposed to occupy in my "universe." I get maybe one reader request per month to get a look at that document, and I'm happy to oblige.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

I'm toying with a series of stories based on the white man's BNWO (Black New World Order) fantasies. Being a white woman, married to a black man, I full well understand how much myth there is in cuckold desires of white men.

Overly aggressive, controlling black men dominating wives and husbands for their pleasure is one.

The BNWO is an extreme version propagated by looser or guilt-ridden white men, who, knowing the wrongs visited on minorities by whites in the past, have this desire to believe the black man will tear the world down.

While it's all borderline racist, it is just fantasies.

I was once told, and firmly believe, all the sexualization, aggressive claims of those in power of the black race were to demonize blacks and make them appear like animals, reducing the slaves to beasts of burden. I don't think that is the goal of those that fantasy about the same things. They just feel inferior and express it that is the whole white race which is. Rather than shortcomings being their fault, its whole race that has the these faluts. Instead of the devil made me do it, my genes made me this way.

 

[KelvinBlack]

Mine are all in a erotica Scrivener project file... Stored locally and backed up into the Cloud using One Drive. Separate folders for Ideas, WIP and COMP items. Each original story idea then expands into a synopsis file and a separate file for character notes and photos. Stories given a working title and stored alphabetically within groups-historical, contemporary, fantasy, sci-fi etc. Individual notes are held against the chapter / scene file itself...

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

It's not a list. It's a jumbled web of "What the fuck am I gonna use that in?"

 

[lovecraft68]

They live where they were born, in my head. They leave when they go from idea to story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Simple enough question. I'm not asking about how many stories are on it necessarily, but how do you keep track of ideas?

In my head.

I continue to be astonished at the lengths people go to, to "aid" their writing - given that for most of you, these things don't seem to work (in terms of finished stories, that is). Why bother?

 

[Rustyoznail]

I use Google docs. My memory isn't reliable. Every now and then I get an idea for a new story or a witty line for a WIP, and I can open up the app on whatever device is handy and add it.

 

[TheRedChamber]

In my head.

I continue to be astonished at the lengths people go to, to "aid" their writing - given that for most of you, these things don't seem to work (in terms of finished stories, that is). Why bother?

I think it's interesting that you think that keeping a list of story ideas 'doesn't work'. I'm not really getting that idea from what others are posting - some on the board are highly prolific and others, well..., we did the unfinished story thread of shame a while ago. And a few of the processes above are fairly involved (especially from the more professional-level writer), but for most of us its just some kind of file with a bunch of aids to memory.

Does having a story file work for me? I did spend most of my free braincycles yesterday working out the outline to a possible story and then jotting down a one-page set of bullet notes for what might happen in it. And as a result I only got 1k words added to my actual work in progress when I was aiming for more like 4k. So maybe it was a waste of time - depends on whether the story idea works its way high enough up my backlog list that it ever actually gets written and I solve the problems with it (needs a clear ending, seems to require an outsider point of view to work dramatically but thats going to nix a lot of sex scenes, involves mental illness which will require research and sensitivity etc). Potentially still a useful exercise in structure and concepts, but I am definitely at the stage of having ideas quicker than I'm writing hard copy.

 

[Demiurging]

I've got a brainstorming micro composition book on my nightstand with a mechanical pencil for those "It's two AM and this is the hottest thing I've ever thought up but if I go back to sleep I'll never remember it" moments. Mostly they don't end up as cohesive as I'd like.

 

[Vivid_Astronomer]

I use a piece of software called Scrivener, which I really like.
I only started posting here very recently, but I've been writing fiction and poetry for years using it.
I keep one file called "Story Ideas" that has a list of ideas that I want to write eventually. Each one has a working title and some notes about what I want to cover in the story. It has folders where I can drop notes, research, outline ideas, pictures, links, inspiration, etc. It's like a story binder.
As I get ideas, I add comments to the story idea card.

Here's what that looks like:

https://imgur.com/a/ld47Dgj

Then, when I feel like I've got enough to flesh out a real story, I take everything I've accumulated in the draft and move it over to its own document to get fleshed out and finalized.

Here's what that looks like:

https://imgur.com/a/ROc9S6u

I use a short story format, which also has folders for research, scenes, characters, etc. I love doing character profiles before I write because I can get that character's motivations down. maybe add some quotes. Flesh out their personality before I write them. It's got alot of great features for writers that I really like. On export, it can be turned into nearly any format. Wanna double space, do it on export. Wanna change -- into emdashes? No problem.

Character profile:

https://imgur.com/a/uzXUOn6

I write stream of consciousness and then go back and edit, so I love being able to just write an outline and get my thoughts down and then go back later. This helps me do that and to visualize the entire story from one place. After I write 10k words, I forget some dialogue, but I remember what scene it took place in. I look up the scene and bam - i'm right back into it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I think it's interesting that you think that keeping a list of story ideas 'doesn't work'. I'm not really getting that idea from what others are posting - some on the board are highly prolific and others, well..., we did the unfinished story thread of shame a while ago. And a few of the processes above are fairly involved (especially from the more professional-level writer), but for most of us its just some kind of file with a bunch of aids to memory.

Well, all I see is a common theme of a whole bunch of unfinished stories, some of which, authors admit, have been that way for years.

If you weren't inspired to finish it then, why all of a sudden do you think it's going to get legs tomorrow? That makes no sense to me. Kill your turkeys, don't wait for Thanksgiving.