In creative writing it's often useful to make a note of the ideas that you might have for a story so that you don't forget them, and this is one way of remembering them.

Buy a pocket diary, small enough to fit easily into your pocket, purse or handbag. Carry it around with you at all times and also carry a pencil with you, for writing in the diary. Pens are usually reliable but pencils are always reliable, as long as you keep them sharpened (it might be a good idea to carry a small pencil sharpener around with you as well.)

When you write down your ideas in the diary, be brief. Don't worry about grammar, punctuation or making the sentences flow. Don't worry about description - using adjectives or adverbs for example, either. None of this is important at this stage.

For example, if you have a character called Adam and you have an idea that he could fall in love with a girl called Louise, just write `Adam loves Louise'. Don't write `Adam falls madly (madly being the adverb) in love with a pretty (pretty being the adjective)girl called Louise.'

If it's an idea for a new development in a story, again be brief. If Adam wants to marry Louise but doesn't want to start a family yet, just write `Adam kids no' or `Adam kids not yet'. Don't write `Adam doesn't want to start a family yet.'

If it's an idea for a more complicated development in the story, that perhaps involves some pretty long words, they can be abbreviated. If Adam eventually loses Louise because he has an attitude problem you could abbreviate `Adam lonely meets girl loses her his attitude problem' to `Adam lonely meets girl loses her his atti prob.'

The ideas that you have for your stories are valuable, so why risk entrusting them to your memory?

Paul Gooch is a freelance writer and photojournalist who regularly publishes short stories and articles about creative writing on his Really Creative Writing web site. http://www.creativityarticles.com/