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YWS Common Place Books



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Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:02 am
Audy says...



What is a Common Place Book?

"A commonplace book is what a provident poet cannot subsist without, for this proverbial reason, that 'great wits have short memories:' and whereas, on the other hand, poets, being liars by profession, ought to have good memories; to reconcile these, a book of this sort, is in the nature of a supplemental memory, or a record of what occurs remarkable in every day's reading or conversation. There you enter not only your own original thoughts, (which, a hundred to one, are few and insignificant) but such of other men as you think fit to make your own, by entering them there."
—from "A Letter of Advice to a Young Poet" by Jonathan Swift



Think of it as a notebook filled with quotes, poems, song lyrics, ideas, or tidbits of conversations that have stuck with you. Over time you will find that this book becomes your central resource for inspiration, enjoyment, and introspection as you flip back through the years.

Traditionally, they have been used and continue to be used by many influential people including John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, even H.P. Lovecraft and Bill Gates!






Tips!

A good tip for starting one of your own is to not just record facts or images, but to also quickly add a line or two of your own thoughts and impressions of what you’re collecting. Also, be sure to READ! Read everything and all that you can, books, reviews, articles, stories and poems online, the more, the merrier!

The great thing about NaPo is that we can all read and write simultaneously together as a group, so you can bet that a lot of lines from these NaPo poems make the perfect resource for any commonplace book ^_^



Examples!

Image

Image

Nowadays, with the internet and social media, we have new tools for creating common place books. You can start a blog on Tumblr, for example! Or you can sign up with Pinterest, or you can start a common place blog right here on YWS! Some advantages to choosing digital books is that it allows you to save images, videos, and audio clips and it can be accessed anywhere you have an internet connection!

However you choose to go about it, use this thread to share your common place books, or share your experiences with them. Or, if you’re just starting out, send us the link to it anyway to share your progress!






Discuss with us!

Code: Select all
[b]Where is your common place book? Share it with us or take a picture![/b]

[b]If you already have one, what’s on the first page? What’s on the last page?[/b]

[b]Do you prefer digital (tumblr/Evernote) or analog (pen and paper, notecards, etc?)[/b]

[b]Is there a method to your madness, or is it all random? Do you tend to go for quotes, photographs or video clips, or passages/anything else in particular? [/b]

[b]If you’re starting one for the first time, where will you look to fill it? [/b]

[b]Any other tips/experiences you want to share?[/b]






- brought to you by NaPo Mini-Events, join us tomorrow for a brand *new* event!
  





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Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:04 pm
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crossroads says...



I'm not even a poet, but I have one nonetheless. Actually, I've had it (more of them, over the years - since way before I even knew they were such a common thing, or they had a name.

I can still share it with you, right? ;n; If so, check out the spoilers.. But be warned, I rambled. A lot.

I also have some folders with inspirational/character pictures on my computer/iPad, but nothing beats the charm of an actual notebook (which I might take a picture of later).

Spoiler! :
I currently actually have two xD
First one is one of those Gorjuss notebooks (actually the same as the one in the pic). It's terribly cute and girly and I had to compete with ten year olds to get one - sue me. It has different sets of pages (differently coloured too), freaking pockets to put papers and things in, my pen fits on the side, it's just small enough to fit any bag and just big enough to not be to small and let's face it, it just is terribly cute. I rest my case xD

It contains random and less random drawings, sketches of people in cafes and random lifestory ideas I attach to each of them, lyrics and recently even some verses (which I will never admit again, let alone let anyone read), along with of course plot maps and random scenes and sentences and ideas... Also doodles and sketches, and notes from lectures when I happen to forget another notebook to write those in and the lecture is actually something I pay attention too. Here I also have notes on parchment making processes, family trees of my characters, lists of names, quotes, postcards, the YWS sticker, some stamps and - I just realised - bus tickets. That's not usually there, but eh xD Two of those are for the bus I took when I met @Niebla, though, so it's kinda special.
It's rather random, and I tend to leave both the first and the last page blank. Part of the reason is that I never know when I might run into THAT ONE THING that I'd want to put on one - or both - of those.. but I also like the content to not be clear and visible right away.

The other one is the Mozart one - those scribbles are actually his notes, for the Hunt (I think) and they're just adorably tiny, but that's beside the point. It's also made of recycled paper, so yay for nature and all. It has beautiful thick pages on which ink just looks divine, and also a pocket to put things in on the back. It's thinner, but somewhat bigger than the first one.

This one is more for just novel scenes and ideas, without many lecture notes. There are some drawings and doodles, and my made-up alphabet in the end (with Rains of Castamere written in it), but mostly it's family trees, details on various novels and other story stuff. I tend to attach papers with other things and other sketches and doodles, though, but I don't really put many of those on the actual pages.

This one has my name - Aria Adams - written on the first page, and a list of chapter names/novel and story titles on the last.

Also, which goes for both, I tend to write in various directions, turning the notebook upside down and in landscape and using different handwriting and drawing arrows and whatnot. And also I sometimes write in that made-up alphabet I mentioned above, just for the kicks. I'm fairly sure no one but myself could really just take either of those notebooks and make any sense of it :mrgreen:


That turned out longer than expected ^

Proof, you say?

Spoiler! :
The inside of the Mozart one - pretty badly written premise of the Game series, and a relationships tree of the same (that's the thing on the right)

Still the same notebook - Prologue to Slaves In Grace, along with my way of explaining my plot to mum (on the left, in Croatian-English hybrid xD) Yay, you get to see my handwriting in its usual state.

The cutest relationship tree ever. For the Storytellers. It might be upside down <.< Also, the notes on the side are on Tutankhamen and Amenhotep. Apparently I did this in class too and I also found it interesting that Tut's successor was named Aj. :mrgreen:

As for the Gorjuss one.

Lecture notes and doodles. It's totally clear which was more important, right? (I think the notes are also some mix of Croatian and English, btw)

Some more doodles and character relationships for Fading Fairytales (the doodles are terrible xD And the thing in one corner, separated from the relationship thingy, are lecture notes.. How was I not kicked out of uni yet, you ask? Er..


I swear, I'm stopping now.
• previously ChildOfNowhere
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literary fantasy with a fairytale flavour
  





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Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:46 pm
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Rook says...



YAY NAPO!
okay.
Where is your common place book? Share it with us or take a picture!
I will insert a picture later, but my common place book is a hard-cover spiral-bound noteboook, college ruled, everything the way I like it.
If you already have one, what’s on the first page? What’s on the last page? They're both blank. XD I never write on the first page of a notebook, and only on the last page at the very end.

Do you prefer digital (tumblr/Evernote) or analog (pen and paper, notecards, etc?)
ANALOG. Oh gee, so much analog. My digital things like this are so disorganized.
Is there a method to your madness, or is it all random? Do you tend to go for quotes, photographs or video clips, or passages/anything else in particular? I usually just write down whatever I'm inspired to. I only sometimes put quotes and pictures.

Any other tips/experiences you want to share?
Always have it with you. You'll never know when you'll be inspired. If you don't have it, try your hardest to write it down somewhere.
Instead, he said, Brother! I know your hunger.
To this, the Wolf answered, Lo!

-Elena Passarello, Animals Strike Curious Poses
  





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Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:56 pm
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Audy says...



@Ariaadams - yours seems like it would be soo much fun to flip through! And your doodles are soo GOORJUS! :o That is also a nifty and neat looking tree. Whenever I try to draw trees, I have to start over like fifty times because I don't plan out the space for the branches all that well and end up running out of space xD

@Fortis - XD I'm cracking up b/c of the blank front/back page.

Always have it with you. You'll never know when you'll be inspired. If you don't have it, try your hardest to write it down somewhere.


^ Best advice ever, because you can then paste/tape a bunch of sticky notes or napkins and it makes it look--- charming :3 <3 Well, I dunno, some people are super neat, but I always find it interesting when a writer has a book stuffed with cut-outs, magazine pictures, doodles, porcupine skin, coffee rings...where the pages bleed over to notes on the arms and hand and all that jazz. ;)


With that said, I'll post photos of my own books later this evening as I left them at home xD
  





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Tue Apr 01, 2014 11:04 pm
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crossroads says...



Thank you :3

That tree is one of many xD It changes as I think of plot points and realise who'll betray whom and all that.. I'm quite good with knowing where to put which branch, though. Much better than with names xD You might notice some have just first letter and dots, as I totally forgot their names and didn't have anywhere to check at the time >_<

Audy wrote:^ Best advice ever, because you can then paste/tape a bunch of sticky notes or napkins and it makes it look--- charming :3 <3 Well, I dunno, some people are super neat, but I always find it interesting when a writer has a book stuffed with cut-outs, magazine pictures, doodles, porcupine skin, coffee rings...where the pages bleed over to notes on the arms and hand and all that jazz. ;)


That is so true :3 I won't spam you with any more pictures, but I used to have a box filled with notes and sketches on post-its, random papers, paper tissues, receipts, random pieces of fabric (I'm not even kidding. It was white-ish, I needed to write down an idea).. They're in those wonderful useful notebook pockets now, mostly :3 Because tape won't hold them down in the notebook properly and I'm afraid I might lose something >.>
• previously ChildOfNowhere
- they/them -
literary fantasy with a fairytale flavour
  








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