Brett Cooper
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Daily Thoughts
  • Other
    • Snoop Movie Script >
      • SNOOP Logline
      • SNOOP Synopsis
      • SNOOP Script
      • SNOOP Article
    • Collaborative Novel Writing >
      • BEASTS OF EDEN
      • THE HEART OF ATLANTIS
    • "In the Blood" Short Story
    • Movie Reviews
    • Articles
    • Other Memes
    • Daily Thoughts in the Classroom
  • About
    • Contact
Brett Cooper Books

collecting thoughts on the run

7/11/2019

 
Running is one of the best ways I've found to percolate ideas from the recesses of my brain to words on a page. As activities go, it's a writer's best friend. But those runs can be long. A lot of ideas can come to me in an hour. With no way to write them down as I'm on the move, I turn to short term memorization. I make a little story of keywords and memorize that story as a single sentence, adding details to the story as new ideas come to me, until I return from my run, commit my story sentence to paper in shorthand, and then decode my notes, unpacking them in long form, usually on a computer. Here's an example from yesterday:
Picture
Can't read my writing? What's the matter with you? 

Okay, here is a transcription, with explanation to follow:

"Riding in on a dazzling pillow turtle painted apple and broccoli, to the clock tower for a Stentigram; then I wrote a blog post -- AGA smile!" (I blame this ungrammatical sentence on my boneheaded decision to run beneath a blazing afternoon sun that pushed temps to the mid nineties. My mind sort of melted, and the words came out wrong.) 

No, my story sentence is not compelling in any traditional way, but I found it memorable enough to stick in my mind over 7 miles of local running trails. With it, I was able to capture and carry 10 ideas generated on the go.

Can you guess which of the words in the example story sentence are key words?

Dazzling: This key word I chose to help me remember a "Daily Thought" I conceived of: "Dazzle them with similar wrapped in different."

Pillow: To remind me of a plot point to include in my novel-in-progress.

Turtle: For a Facebook post idea, about a turtle I almost stepped on along a running trail.

Apple and Broccoli: For a new habit idea, to allow myself no calories each day until I have eaten an apple and some broccoli.

Clock Tower: Another novel plot point.

Stentigram: A coined word combining the words "stentorian" (denoting another plot point idea) and "Instagram" (to remind me to post a request for beta readers for my new novel).

Blog Post: To remind myself to write not this post but a subsequent one...

AGA: An acronym for that blog post's concept: "Anchor chart Google Approach."

Smile: Another Daily Thought: "My smile needs nothing from you."

I hope you will give this a try anytime you have multiple ideas and no place to put them. It takes practice to piece together an increasingly lengthy and absurd story mnemonic, but it gets easier -- and I trust you will find it well worth the productivity dividends you soon accrue.

BONUS: Photos of another example, including five pages of decoded notes after the story sentence, transcribed in the car immediately after a run.
    Picture

    Brett Cooper

    Writer, reader, runner, teacher, father, infp, huffleclaw. 

    ​I l
    ove to spin stories and collect thoughts.

    Popular

    • a thought a day keeps lazy writing away
    • the art and business of the title
    • what if? - high concept and mental real estate in YA fiction
    • nice to meet you - introducing your protagonist
    • how to write a katniss-worthy protagonist
    • bring on the badass!
    • the strange, ingenious plot structure of john green's paper towns
    • hook 'em hard
    • be specific
    • make 'em wait (suspense rule #1)
    • revision needs many voices
    • 12 reasons writers should be runners

    Also try...

    Book Memes
    Daily Thoughts
    Other Memes
    Write YA Blog

    Archives

    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    July 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    June 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    June 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @bcooperbooks
home
blog
about
© 2019 Brett Cooper. All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Daily Thoughts
  • Other
    • Snoop Movie Script >
      • SNOOP Logline
      • SNOOP Synopsis
      • SNOOP Script
      • SNOOP Article
    • Collaborative Novel Writing >
      • BEASTS OF EDEN
      • THE HEART OF ATLANTIS
    • "In the Blood" Short Story
    • Movie Reviews
    • Articles
    • Other Memes
    • Daily Thoughts in the Classroom
  • About
    • Contact