Auld Hoyrn

The scrap men circle. Hungry, dark-eyed lads. Always polite, always grateful for a broken toaster or telly. More filler than metal, their battered chariot speeds through the streets like some hellish ice cream van. Hesitate and they’re gone, cruising over the horizon with their comedy bugle warbling, a nasal plea on loop.

But there are other, older, less frequent visitors. Real deal, old school, rag and bone. One drives, the other strolls alongside the gurgling van – a swaggering barrel-chested bare-knuckle fighter who hollers from the soles of his boots. Hear his cry from streets away. Marvel at the roar.

Scrivener tip: editing auto-complete character list in scriptwriting mode

In scriptwriting mode, Scrivener automatically adds character names to the auto-complete list as you write. While this is for the most part convenient, it can prove to be a pain if you decide to change a character’s name, or accidentally type something formatted as Character & Dialogue instead of, for example, Technical Directions, as it will still be added to the list and appear in the options list every time.

If this happens, and you’re like me and want to keep things neat, you might feel the need to prune your auto-correct list. To do this, from the Menubar select Project/Auto-complete List, then in the pop-up window simply edit the list and click Save.

Bingo.

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Scrivener tip – adding annotations in plain text files

If you use the sync with external folder feature to edit your Scriv project as plain text files in another editor – in my case iA Writer on the iPad – and want to add annotations, simply enclose the text you wish to annotate in double brackets, thus:

((annotation example here))

When next opening the project in Scrivener, this text magically appears in a red annotation bubble.

Bob’s yer uncle.

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Back to basics – the creative cornerstone

I have a couple of iOS devices, and various text apps that sync with my Mac – the mainstays being iA Writer and WriteRoom – either via the excellent Dropbox or Apple’s iCloud. But when I really need to chew on an idea, I go back to basics: the notebook and pencil.

I’m certain that working with a notebook and pencil is different to working with electronic gadgets – and I don’t mean in the obvious way. For example, if I write something down that I need to remember, I find I don’t forget it and the written reminder is redundant. This doesn’t tend to happen if I make a digital note by pressing my thumbs against a touchscreen or typing at my desk. I think this might be the result of actually forming the words on the page with a pen or pencil.

Then there’s a particularly tactile aspect to using good old fashioned physical items. There’s a lot of talk on the Internet about tactile keyboards. I’ve even got one myself – and very nice it is too. There’s little that’s tactile about a touchscreen, though. It might click or buzz, but this can’t be compared with the sound of pages turning and the scratch of a pencil being dragged across paper. The dead tree notebook also offers the opportunity to doodle, draw, add notes and stars and arrows, circle text and flip back and forth between pages, none of which is really possible in quite the same away on a device such as an iPad, no matter how well designed the application.

I drafted this blog post in my notebook, while on another page trying to sort out the short story I’m working on at the moment. On the page facing that was a shopping list. I can leaf through the pages, glancing at previous notes and scribblings with ease rather than scrolling up and down a single virtual page. Even the very stylish Daedalus app doesn’t have the same feel.

The notebook I like most is the large Moleskine soft cover. There are a lot of cheaper alternatives available, but for durability, features and general feel, nothing beats this book. (As an added bonus, it matches all my other black stuff…) I‘ll also use a cheap A4 notebook from time to time, when I need more space. The best one of these I’ve had to date was a Kraft ring-bound hard cover with dividers, bought for £4.00 from Paperchase at Euston Station in London. (That was some time ago – apparently these are now £5.50.)

I haven’t yet found the perfect writing instrument, though. I like pencil because there’s a resistance on the page and my scrawl seems more legible. Pencil can also be easily rubbed out, although I usually strike-through rather than remove completely, as seeing what I’ve decided to discard is often as important as seeing what I’ve decided to keep. I’ve also tried two colours of pen – red and blue. This works well to distinguish between various aspects of whatever it is I’m working on, and also looks pretty, but this requires me to carry two pens and swap between them, which feels a bit, well, clunky. Although I’d prefer it to be darker on the page, for the time being pencil seems to be the best option.

Looking back through my notebook now, its pages contain the raw materials that subsequently became several short stories and a novel, as well as other things, such as the aforementioned shopping lists and notes I made in the French class I went to last year. And when this notebook is full and it’s time to move on to a new one, I can stick it on a shelf somewhere, pick it up every few years and flick through it to remind me what I was doing way back when. Who knows, perhaps when I’m long gone someone else will pick it up and glance through the pages and wonder what the bloody hell was he thinking?. Or maybe they’ll just have it recycled and turned into something more useful than some guy’s discarded thoughts. Whatever the case, text files, regardless of their day-to-day usefulness, enjoy no such prospect.

Don’t get me wrong, digital files and cloud syncing are here to stay, and when a piece is ready, when it has some meat, I transfer it to the cloud – as with this blog. But whatever technological developments occur, the physical notebook will always be a cornerstone of my creative process.

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Breathing space – a blog about creativity

Inspiration is unpredictable.

This morning I was leaning into a wardrobe to hang up an item of clothing when an idea popped into my head. I had to dash to the computer to tap out this little gem before it faded. Good job, too, because it’s transformed the short story I’m working on. It wasn’t exactly a bolt from the blue, rather a distillation of several ideas and possibilities I’ve been mulling over. But it certainly highlights something about the creative process.

I used to believe that if I wasn’t sitting down at a computer or with a notepad, staring at the screen with my fingers poised above the keyboard or chewing the top of a pencil, then I wasn’t working. And being the kind of guy I am, I tend to feel guilty when I’m not working. Yet it’s often when I’m not consciously thinking about a project that the most important developments occur, when the subconscious mind has space to do its stuff.

This is something I’ve only recently come to fully appreciate and accept; and it’s a realisation that makes my creative endeavours somewhat less stressful. Sitting down with a pencil and paper/laptop/iPad/[insert your weapon of choice here] and staring through the window are undeniably important aspects of the game, but most good things need time to mature.

So if you’re struggling, just relax. Watch television, play a video game, go for a walk or a bike ride* – and don’t feel guilty. But carry a pencil and a scrap of paper with you. Just in case.

* Both forms of exercise which stimulate blood flow and oxygen intake – just right for boosting creativity.

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