What madness is this? Russ is posting two times this week? Insanity!
Anyhoo...
Like most writers, I think about my stories quite a bit. Some of what I think turns out to be terrible, but, on occasion, I have a burst of inspiration. Dialogue, action, a bit of subtle character development - it sometimes comes forth in an angelic song that readers will lap up like a cat lapping up milk(which cats really shouldn't have).
The problem isn't these bits of brilliance, but capturing them at the right time. You see, brilliance rarely occurs as I sit at my computer happily typing away on my latest novel. Sure, that happens from time to time, but that's even more rare than the brilliance I speak of. What usually happens is that it happens as I'm walking my dog...or stuck in traffic...or in the shower...
So what to do? Something that I am not often good at - I need to write it down at the first available opportunity. Yeah, I always tell myself I'll remember, but I don't. Even if my memory was as sharp as it was when I was 20, I wouldn't be able to hold onto that level of detail, or even the ideas. Smart writers put their brilliance down somewhere as soon as they can. Maybe it's in a journal, an iPhone, or even just a scrap of paper you can hang onto for later, but you need to write it down. You will not remember. I promise. I cannot tell you the number of times I've sat staring at a blank screen trying in vain to remember what I came up with just a day or two before.
Don't trust your memory. Your memory is shit. Write it down. Always.
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