I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember, and I’ve tried many, many methods for capturing my story ideas. Index cards, 3-ring binders, OneNote, a Word Doc (which was documented here), file folders, bullet journals, sticky notes, Google Keep, etc. I adore systems and organization, so I’ve always been after “the perfect” method for organizing my story ideas.
Google Keep was working okay for me once I learned I could use hashtags to sort my digital sticky notes. If I had an idea, I’d make a note, and then use #storyidea to label it. But I didn’t like how those ideas then drifted around with my grocery lists, lists of movies I want to watch, etc. The ideas were captured fine, but I didn’t love the organization piece.
Since December 2019, I’ve been using Google Forms, and this system might actually stick for me.
Here’s how I’ve set it up:
Step One: Create your Google Form
Your form will be different than my form because you’ll want to tailor it to your own needs. Here’s what I have on my form:
Field One: Short description
I use this to note whatever I think will trigger my memory. Had I been using this system for Within These Lines, I might have written, “Japanese American Concentration Camp story” or for The Lost Girl of Astor Street, “Veronica Mars in 1920s.” Whatever phrase will make me go, “Oh, that story idea,” when I’m looking through them later.
Field Two: Long description
Long is a relative term, but I want to put in whatever details I’ve thought of so far. Sometimes all I have is that short description. For Within These Lines, I would’ve written something like, “An Italian American girl is in love with a Japanese American boy and his family gest taken away while she stays.” I probably also would’ve dropped in the link for the Stuff You Missed In History Class podcast episode that sparked the idea.
Field Three: Genre checkbox
I have historical, contemporary, nonfiction, and “other” as my options.
Field Four: Audience checkbox
I have adult, middle grade, YA.
Field Five: Quality of idea
Here I rank the idea on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 I’ve labeled 1 as “half-baked” and 5 as “brain on fire.”
I saw “you should rank your ideas,” advised somewhere by someone (how’s that for a reference?). I haven’t yet found ranking helpful, but I’m still testing it.
Here’s a screenshot of (most of) my form:
Step 2: Make the form easy to use
The key to implementing any new system is making using the system very easy to do. If I’d made the form but then just left it in my Google Drive where I have to remember to go find it, that system wouldn’t have worked for me.
I knew that for me “making it easy” meant, “put it on my phone.” So I have a direct link to my form on the bottom right of my home screen:
(You might notice I also have a form set up for blog post ideas. This system works for capturing those too!)
I also have a link to my form on the bookmarks bar in my Chrome browser. Your computer desktop could work as well. Whatever your system is for capturing story ideas, you want to make it as easy on yourself as possible to use it!
Step 3: Use the form
Pretty self-explanatory, right? The system is only useful if you use it!
Step 4: Access your responses
You have a couple choices for how to view your gathered data. When you’re in Drive creating or editing your form, you’ll notice a tab for “Responses.” See where it has that 11?
When you click on that, it’ll take you to a page that shows your data in various forms. Like this:
There can be some value to these charts (like maybe you’d be surprised by how many sci-fi ideas you have?) but viewing the data in the spreadsheet is actually more useful, I think. To find your linked spreadsheet, go here:
When you open up that spreadsheet, it’s going to look something like this:
You can also add ideas directly into the spreadsheet, though if you were digging that pie chart and bar graph earlier, don’t do it that way. The only data that gets factored into those charts is the data you feed through the form.
I know this because my Responses page still says there are 11 ideas, but my spreadsheet has 16. I’ve added a handful manually.
So, that’s how I’ve been tracking my story ideas in 2020. Please share in the comments how you track your story ideas! I’m always interested to hear!
This is such a great idea! I use Forms in school all the time. I never thought that they might be useful for writing too! I’ll have to try this!
What works for me in terms of origination is Google Docs. I’ve always been a messy person, and I’m not good at making things all neat and tidy. So I just go into docs, make a folder, and make about seventeen dozen different papers, and for some reason, that works for me.
Awesome post!
So long as it works for you! That’s what matters!
This is brilliant! The form automatically putting everything into a spreadsheet is awesome for organizational purposes.
Mine is a mixed system. I have story ideas in docs (in a folder specifically for ideas), a list in Google Tasks, stuff on paper, and emails from myself. Yet somehow I know where everything is. So I guess it works.
Also, for ideas relating to the one story I’ve been working on, I have actually created a seperate gmail account for so I can send emails about ideas/notes/tasks, have a photo library and bookmarks. That made life so much easier.
P. S. What kind of phone do you have, Stephanie?
What an interesting way to use email! I do often have folders in my Gmail account dedicated to specific book ideas, so that makes sense to me.
And I have a Google Pixel 3a.
I’m working on organizing all my story ideas into one place (they’re quite a mess at the moment). I never thought about using a Google Form. I think I’ll have to try that. Right now my favorite method is having a dedicated idea notebook. It makes me more inclined to record the idea because I don’t have the excuse of not being able to access my computer notes. Writing by hand also seems to help me generate more ideas as well.
I do love working with notebooks, but I’m terrible at carrying them with me. I finally had to admit that my phone is the one item I have on me all the time and just makes the most sense.
Oh, I love this idea! My brain is now racing with what ought to be included in the form I will create tonight. Thank you for sharing!
Up to now, I just have a single google doc where I type up ideas. (Ideas being anything from paragraphs of explanation to a cool sounding character name to a book title to a “It would be cool to write a short story for teens about xyz.”) It’s SUPER cluttered, and a better system is much needed. The only thing I really liked about it, was that I can edit ideas whenever I change my mind or have additional thoughts…
Camille, yes! Some of my ideas are just, “I’d like to write a story about friends!” Or, “I’d like to write something set on an island!”
It would probably be useful to have a scraps or sparks section where it could be tiny stuff like that or bits of dialogue. Hmm….
This is a great idea! I can be kind of scatterbrained and am still trying to nail down a good way to plan/outline. I’m going to have to test this out, thank you!
I hope it’s helpful!
This sounds so useful. I need to try it.
I keep a running list in Evernote. I’d love to have a way to classify ideas more by how developed they are.
I’ve never used Evernote but my understanding is Google Keep is really similar. I love virtual sticky notes!
I’m a very organized person. I have a folder (an actual hand-held folder) where I make my notes. I also collect my notes in notebooks and I make lists for certain things (like a title idea). I’ve never heard of Google Forms before, but organizing my ideas on a Google Form would be a great way to reduce closet-shelf clutter. Thank you for the post.
I have a question: when I create a google form, am I the only one who can see it?
Yes, unless you choose to share it!
Thank you.
I love this idea!! I might set up a layout like this in my writing notebook. Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure!
I’ve never thought of using a Google Form before! I started using the Story Workbook you guys provide, but it kinda petered out for me (though I do want to delete it and start again now that my story is much more organized). Maybe I’ll try this!
Update: I’ve tried recording a few of my ideas on a Google Form and I already love it! It’s much better than my previous way of organizing ideas– a big Google Doc that took forever to load. Thanks for this post!
I’m so happy to hear that! I’ll be interested to know how this system evolves for you as you use it more.
I use a number of ways to keep track of new story ideas, but it depends on when the idea comes to me. Usually, an idea will occur while I am in bed trying to fall asleep. When it does, I grab my phone and email the idea to myself so the next day I can begin a rough outline of it. I then give it a rough title – something to help me find it later after I file it – and save it in dropbox in my writing folder. In my writing folder, however, I create a new fold with its title. If I don’t, I get too many loose documents and sometimes with the same title because of either writing the beginning of the story or making a longer rough draft of the story or making historical notes for the story.
I like your forms, but I am not sure if it would work for me. I haven’t examined it closely enough to decide. You did make one response I can concur with, we all have to use what works for us, and currently, what I am doing does work for me. I have learned to avoid writing down ideas on paper because I have a very bad tendency to lose paper. All my notes on pre-existing stories, story ideas, and ideas or notes for stories I am currently working on are kept digitally, and many of those begin as emails to myself to later be added to the story or added to existing story notes.
Debra, emailing yourself seems like a great way to capture those early thoughts. I also like having physical folders for ideas that actually develop into something I plan to write. I often love brainstorming on paper rather than my computer, so I need a system that accommodates both physical notes and digital notes.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply!
This sounds like a great program to use! I’ve been wanting a better way to organize my ideas. I’ll check it out and see if it works for me!
Even if it doesn’t work for you, I hope it gets you closer to figuring out what does!
This is quite creative! I love it! My only issue is that it’s online, and my crative process has never worked well online, so I doubt I’ll use this system, but I’m happy that it works for other people!
I definitely get that. It only works well for me because I note the idea on my phone, but don’t have to be on my computer for brainstorming the idea or anything.
I love this! I’ve always used google keep too, and I have the same issue that you did! I just made a google form for story ideas, and I’m really excited about how it turned out! I’m going to be using it for sure!
I hope it works as well for you as it does for me, Isabella!