Writers Love Lists!

The traditional moleskine notebook has probably largely been replaced by a smartphone app by now, but whatever your media, authors usually love to take notes from every day life and make lists of all kinds of details that may come in handy.

It’s hard to grab inspiration out of the air at the exact moment you need it, so it’s good to get into the habit of making lists that you can refer to and drop into at other times, such as when you need inspiration to make a character or location unique, or when you want a kernel of an idea for a story.

Making lists also helps develop your powers of observation, a vital skill for any writer.

Here are some things you might want to make lists of:

·         Ways that people walk

·         Speech tics and tendencies

·         Hairstyles

·         Types of houses

·         What people have on their living room walls

·         Shapes of clouds

·         Local birds

·         The types of shops that cluster together

·         What’s in people’s fridges

·         Nice words

·         Interesting names

·         Habits

·         What people have in their pockets

·         Children’s toys

·         Types of shoes

·         Types of handbag / briefcase

·         Styles of uniform

·         Local plants

·         Allergies

That should be enough to get you started!

Please let us know if you can think of any other lists we can add to our list of lists!

For more articles about creative writing and novel writing, visit The Novel Factory website.