Sometimes you have a story to tell but don’t have time to give it your full attention. Sketching notes with a few facts, emotions and the order in which things happened will help you return to the story.
Keep Story Notes by Date
Consider writing sketches in something that’s already organized by date. It could be a calendar, an app or a planner. A dedicated sketchbook will make story ideas more accessible than in a journal where you’ve written longer entries. For me, a wire-bound weekly pocket planner is something easy to leave folded open and find stories later. It’s small enough to keep several years of sketches. It’s an index to the stories of my year.
For travel, I recommend a notes app. It’s quick, it’s easy, and there’s no hunting down a pen. I take a few minutes after dinner to fill in the day. I found that I’m less likely to skip days when I piggyback the sketch with something in my routine. So, I’m not rude around the table; I involve my travel buddies, who are all too happy to call out where we’ve been.
Use Brevity
Use keywords that will help you pick up and tell the story later. Listing things in chronological order will help you remember the events. No doubt, you’ll have photos, ticket stubs, maps or receipts to support your story. Reference to them here as what and where they are.
Flesh out emotions somewhere else because there’s not much room, right? In a private journal or on scrap paper. When you pinpoint your feelings, fill them in. When you get ready to write the story, you’ll have clarity about where emotions appear in the context. You can pick and choose feelings you want to include, elude to, expand upon and the best way to show them in your story. It helps you tell a better story because our stories aren’t hunting down the answers for our emotions.
Indicate Where the Story Ends
Some stories last a few hours, some weeks, others months. Some will have a sequel. On the date where the story begins, write the date it ends. And decide for yourself what will make a sequel.
Tag Story by Type
Think about how you see the story written: vignette, slice-of-life, or conflict and plot. Then, include it in your notes. Mark it with a V, S, or C and circle it. When you pull together a collection of stories, this extra bit of bookkeeping will make it easier to scan through and find story choices to round out the collection.
Make It a Habit
You could make story sketching a daily habit. Look beyond unique days for story content. Summing up the story of the day is a mindset. You might see stories quicker if you think of three story types: vignette, slice-of-life and conflict with a plot. Broaden your sketches to include news and news around town. Consider it an index of stories. Piggyback it with another habit until it becomes routine.
Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash