I use my mobile phone to record notes and ideas that pop into my mind when I'm not at my PC. But my mobile phone is limiting, so I'm aiming to buy an ipad or similar - something that I can have next to my bed, on the train, standing in queues, at boring meeting etc. Does anyone have any tips on the best technology for capturing gatecrashing thoughts - (other than a pen and paper)?

On another point, can anyone recommend writing software?

Thanks
Michael

For three years, I've been trying to train myself to use a digital voice recorder for stray thoughts, and for making research notes when out and about, but the training isn't going all that well.

The trouble with any one, single, solitary object intended to perform that function is that the wretched thing is only with you sometimes. You couldn't keep it with you all the time unless you made a little bag for it and tied it around your own neck (which, I suppose, could be an option).

I don't even want to imagine trying to carry an iPad with me everywhere I went - the d.v. recorder is difficult enough, and that's only the size and weight of a mobile phone.

I still think notebooks are the best thing. They're very cheap, and you can have them everywhere. (I also end up with lots of notes written on any tiny bits of paper torn from edges of newspapers, etc. These are great, because they are very light in weight - and it's wonderful to find, later, a great idea on a slip of paper: like finding a secret love letter!)

How do you use your phone to make notes? Do you record ideas on it, or do you write yourself texts?

I didn't have any success with a voice recorder either and rely on notebooks. They're less embarrassing,too. I get most of my ideas while travelling on trains and buses, seeing notices that suggest titles or overhearing snatches of conversations. One problem is have a lot of different notebooks for different bags. I keep a pad of post-it notes to hand when I'm doing my language studies, more because it allows me to concentrate if I can just jot down a note to do something later and then forget about it. It's hard to keep writing idea notes separate from shopping lists and other reminders, though.

I'm hoping they'll come up soon with some technology that allows the direct transfer of thoughts from brain to paper without the need for a pencil or recorder.

Sheila

I have a pencil somewhere and I find the back of envelopes very useful.

Ben Yezir

Pen and paper - or rather, pen and hardbacked notebook. There's nothing to touch it for battery life, price, speed, discretion (on the knee, half-under the restaurant table, no one knows you're writing down the conversation going on behind you. And with any luck the waiters will think you're a restaurant critic and be extra-specially nice and helpful.)

I have a moleskine which goes everywhere - but then I only really have one handbag, which ditto. If I change bags then it moves along with all the other essentials of life - purse, keys, lipsalve.

I have a couple of teeny little notebooks to live in my coat pocket if I go out without a bag, although I'm bad at keeping a pen there. I have tried typing notes into my phone as a text, but it's more fiddle than it's worth.

And with any luck the waiters will think you're a restaurant critic and be extra-specially nice and helpful.

Aha, never thought of that one. But yes, I go for the old-fashioned notebook and pen method, it's by far the simplest and most reliable.

I have an iPad, which I bought primarily for reading electronic books (mostly PDFs, some of which I generate myself, mostly to do with my day job). I have to say that the pop-up keyboard that is provided for tasks that require it isn't the most brilliant piece of technology. You're either typing numbers and (some) punctuation characters, or letters. Also, there are no cursor keys (that I've found), so if you need to edit text, you find yourself using your finger as a very imprecise way of positioning the cursor. There is also no 'delete next character' key (that I've found), only the normal delete/backspace key. I find it very constraining and slow, when I need to type text. It also lacks the tactile feedback that you get from a real keyboard, so you have to watch the screen all the time to see where your fingers are.

There is a separate keyboard that you can buy for these, but that would make it less easy to use as a note-taking device. You'd have to cart the keyboard around with you, which kind of defeats its portability.

I would go with notebooks, for making notes when needed.

Alex

Whatever falls to hand...

Best ever duscovery was a space pen tgat can be carried in pocket with keys etc.
Like everyone else, I have a gazillion notebooks, voice memos on phone, emails to me from me and so on.

For writing on the phone, I found Shapewriter which allows you to draw words by dragging across the letters on a keyboard - not perfect, but nearly as fast as a full-sized keyboard... Though, as Alex says, editing that text is and will remain frustrating at best.

G

Thanks everyone. I think I'll just stick with the 'organiser notes' on my £25 mobile phone.

Michael

I think I'll just stick with the 'organiser notes' on my �25 mobile phone.

And that's really easier? My mobile (which cost a similar amount) is even worse than the iPad for usability of keyboard for note-taking. At least with the iPad you get a qwerty-ish keyboard, and even if you do have to faff about to find all the punctuation characters, it's an awful lot less faffing about than to find them on a numeric keypad with umpteen non-numeric characters per key.

All of which is far more faffing about than just carrying a small notebook and a pen/pencil. I may write software for a living, but that doesn't mean I think it's the only way to do anything. The best technology is the one that is appropriate to the usage.

Alex

can anyone recommend writing software?

The only one I've ever heard recommended by anyone who actually knows something about writing fiction is Scrivener. It's always been Mac-only, but there's about to be a PC version.

The other reason I would always stick to pen and paper for notes is that it's often not text that I'm writing down: it'll be a scribbly sketch of something I see in a museum, or whatever, to remind me (I can't draw for toffee). Indeed, there's no equivalent on an electronic device for arrows, 'therefore' and 'because' signs, and all the other things I use in notes - lines connecting two ideas, big curly brackets to show two alternatives and so on. And insertions are so much easier. And how do you do a cluster on a screen, when you've holed up in a café and are trying to work out what this story should be, unless the device is as big as an iPad and has a touch-screen draw function or some such? Which would be like carrying an etch-a-sketch around. Give me a moleskine any day.

I do use my phone for notes, but only by using the camera. When I changed phones the quality of the camera was top of the list so that, for example, I can photograph an information board at a castle, and have everything readable.

Emma

Yes, I agree about photos. My camera's more important to me than a notebook - a proper digital camera, not a phone.I feel bereft if don't have it with me. Friends sometimes suggest arty shots but I'm not interested, I just want it to document. It's good for buildings or scenes but I like statues, street names, pub signs,graffiti, theatre notices. It drives my husband mad when he's out with me. My favourites are lists of beers and anything written on chalk boards.

There was a competion at Chiswick House in the summer: empty frames to capture a view and reproductions of paintings were scattered about the grounds. The idea was to choose one to create fiction, and I went round photographing them all so I could choose later.

It annoys me they don't allow photos in stately homes and galleries, etc. and I have to buy postcards and guidebooks.

Sheila

I use scrap paper, and it's very messy and mislayable. But it works for me.

Got a nice chalkboard shot for my blog, the Foley Arnms where the Claygate Short Story Festival took place at the weekend. I


At the workshops I took notes in reporter pads with rings. I used to do a lot of film and theatre reviews and they make the least noise when flipped (though I was once told off in the NFT)

I learned how to take notes in complete dark on a BFI film course - you move your left-hand thumb down the page ever so slightly at the end of each line and read the notes asap afterwards.

Sheila

I use old envelopes for nearly all my notes. The problem is that I keep throwing them away and then wondering what happened to my notes. So I don't recommend this approach.