writing notebooks

Among writers there is a long tradition of keeping diaries and notebooks, and it's fascinating how differently writers use them. For some, the notebook is a place to do exercises and warm up the mind ready for a day of writing. Other writers do all their work in notebooks, while still others use them to keep track of the important facts relating to a piece of work, for example the dates of birth and details of characters, the timeline of events or the connections between settings.

It can be fascinating to read these notebooks, especially when it lets you track the gestation of a piece of work you have admired. Below are two writers' notebooks which I've read and drawn inspiration from in my own development as a writer:

On the left, George Eliot's notebook containing some of her planning for Middlemarch (a record of the votes cast during the election scene which is a pivotal point for the book, and a rough map of the locations of her novel). Above, Virginia Woolf's diary, in which she discussed both her life and her writing (here, her current book's progress and a dinner taking place with friends that evening).

At the start of my new project I began to keep my own writing notebook, which is something I hadn't really done before. For me, the notebook was a practical decision at first. I had just finished working on The Last Descendants, which had taken almost a decade. Over those ten years I had accumulated a collection of notes which was serviceable, but unwieldy: it filled boxes, books and folders, was half paper-based and half stored on my computer, and lacked any kind of systematic organisation. I knew how to work from these notes, but it certainly wasn't the most efficient process... Putting these notes aside, I was also struck with a feeling of starting again from the beginning. With a series, there is a good deal of work that doesn't have to be redone - indeed, shouldn't really be redone. The books' particular world (by which I mean the whole signature of the book and its approach to reality, its mood and vision, not just the setting) needs to be reworked in each book as a kind of theme and variations, not remade, otherwise the series won't share a distinctive stamp and colour, won't really be a continuous narrative at all. After finishing The Last Descendants, I was in a very different situation. I had not only to begin a new piece of work, but first to lay the foundations of that work and its distinctive world. So I needed somewhere to capture all the ideas, passing thoughts, research and planning that would eventually become the new book.

I began my notebook just as I was finishing The Heart at War. At first, I didn't write in it every day, but only when ideas appeared or when I had some specific research to record. Gradually, though, I found myself writing more and more in it, and now it's become an essential part of my writing routine. I begin by writing the date at the top of the page, and here's what can be found inside:

- Each day's plans. At the start of every morning I record what I'm going to work on, how long it might take, any practical or non-writing tasks like this blog post or a trip to a reference library which I want to find time to work on, and any research I'm planning to continue with or pick up that day.
- Any problems which arise, e.g. a scene that seems poorly worked-out when I come to write it or a character whose motivations need rethinking. I also note down any possible solutions, so that I can leave these and come back to them later.
- Fragments of narrative, dialogue and description to include in the book. Also some drafts of sections of the story.
- Lists of titles. I usually find a working title for a book early on, but this time it took me about ten pages of notes! Chapter titles also take some thinking.
- Timelines of the order of events in a particular scene or character's life.
- Family trees and character lists.
- Rough maps and charts.
- Research notes.
- A running bibliography of all the sources I've used so far.
- A running reading list of all the books I want to read in the future.
- A running word count that lets me see what I've achieved each day and whether I'm on track.
- Field notes on locations I've visited.
- A record of all the important phone calls and meetings I have with my agent, editors and other people who work with me on the books, including what we've discussed and what the next steps are - it can be surprisingly easy to forget when these took place and what you agreed on!
- Notes on interviews, articles and books which I've read and which might help inform my vision as a writer, or which I want to think in more detail about. For instance, during the last month I've made notes on Salman Rushdie's ideas about the writer in the world, gleaned from a fascinating interview I watched last year and returned to recently; a podcast with Louis de Bernieres on history and magical realism; an interview with Kiran Desai about the method of construction of The Inheritance of Loss; and several articles about particular themes in 20th century history.
- Then, at the end of each day, a record of what I've worked on, how much I managed to achieve, and what the next day's plans are.

And here's what my writing notebook looks like. There were a few practical requirements: generally, a writer's notebook has to be the right size to fit in a handbag or pocket but thick enough to store a substantial number of notes (as well as strong enough to withstand being carted around for months while said notes are being written!):

This is actually volume one of the writing notebook, which is now finished and stored away on the shelf beside my desk, already full of notes. But volume two is identical: I've clearly become quite conservative about the whole process. I've even got a matching volume three stored away, because the notebook looked like it was going to be discontinued in the shop where I bought it and I wanted all the notebooks I use for this book to have the same look and feel. Who says writers are superstitious...?

How about you? Do you keep a notebook or journal? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.