I created a common place notebook specifically for books I've read. I write down things that inspire me and things that help me learn how the professionals would write a certain scene that I may be having trouble with, that I can go back to for reference, all in one place. It's a great tool for writers who are looking for encouragement and ways out of those times of feeling stuck.
@michele_author That is what I struggled with at first. I went from an A5 to a self-cut happy planner to a three ring binder. Until, I finally settled with a travelers notebook using one of my 300 paged notebook designs. I'm loving it so far. But I do miss my rings, though. I feel another change coming in the near future, lol.
I have been highlighting and writing in my books for ages. I feel like a book that has been enjoyed, has inspired, and has taught is a book that has led a happy life. Those markings are just proof of the book's impact. Every book should be so lucky.
I had a creative writing prof tell me "you don't really own the book and the knowledge in it until you show it some love." She encouraged marking books up. I learned to write a little summary of each paragraph or point in the margins from her. Helps me absorb the information better.
I’m not writing a book but I am studying and love your videos of this type and others. Keep them coming. I think you should write a non fiction book collating all of your good ideas 😀
Yes, I would LOVE to see which writing books you like! And, also yes - books are meant to be tools to understanding, so MARK those bad boys as much as you need to.😋 Thanks for making this, as always. It's always a blast to see another writer's process.❤
Brilliant. I definitely don't write in the books :) I keep B6-sized travel notebooks around and use them. And then I tend to highlight them with pens. I do use sticky notes in the books, though. I like the idea of transparent stick notes and lots of other tips there :)
I do love this idea. I actually started writing and highlighting in my OWN self published book. Things I forgot I wrote or need to remember to go back and add more in the next books to come.
One way that could help you get through all the books you want to read these last few months of the year is to do a read with me video or even a read with me livestream. all the read with me videos are either vlogs or even similar to study with me videos where they're like 40 minutes to a few hours to hours upon hours. It depended on the person filming the read with me video and/or live.
Oh my! You know what's crazy? I began to watch videos of people annotating their books because I wanted to start doing it in a way that would inspire and fit me... I'm one of those people that have full-on shivers of horror running down their spines just thinking about actually writing in a book hahaha. It feels sacrilegious and so so sooooo wrong to me. But more power to all the people out there who do not fear writing in their books! So for the time being, annotating is mostly: tabs I write small comments on, sticky notes if I feel more verbose and some erasable highlighter for those sentences that really stand out to me or words I need to look up to expand my vocabulary (which is always fun when reading fiction books). And YES! I'd love to see your process on annotating fiction and your favourite writing books!!! Definitely!!!! Also loooove your nails! Just had to say it.
Such a crazy coincidence that I woke up today and planned to annotate a novel I just finished because it’s the same genre as my WIP. Excited to see how you do this for fiction 👍
I've always wanted to learn how to read fiction as a way to learn to write it, and annotating send like a way that would make sense for me ... I would love to see how you annotate fiction!
Former college English professor here: I'm glad to see that you write in your books. I worship the spirit of the book, not the corpse. Engage with the texts! Argue with it! Love it. Love is not hands-off. That's fetishization. Yeah, I know... I'm going to get people justifying their choices--THEIR books, THEIR choice, absolutely--BUT my books, MY choice, and NONE OF USE really have a need to even HAVE an opinion on what you do with yours, much less get ugly about it in comments. There's not a moral component to writing (or not) in books, no matter how strong our preference may be.
Thank you for sharing your system! I’ve wanted to get into book annotating, but wasn’t sure how/where to start. I love how you’ve set it up. I made it partway through The Heroines Journey, so I’m going to restart and try annotating. Yay!
Thank you for the tips on how to not write in the books. I want to get physical copies of your books I've been reading and read them again. I plan to look for craft elements on series and how you handled certain aspects. The thought of marking up your books made my stomach turn though! I don't write YA but I think it'll still be helpful. I actually have a pack of transparent sticky notes in various colors from Amazon. I might get some clear ones too though. I also have highlighter tape for long lines of text.
I highlight in non-fiction books and use a pencil in fiction books, but I'm not as organized as you are, but these are some super cool tips. For people who don't want to write in books or highlight, you can take a photo or a screenshot ( for example of online article ) and then print those notes and file in a folder, which I do too. That way you can find them quickly and reread them. You can have a folder for concepts and one for fiction parts that you particularly like. I have 10 folders + one for current projects I'm working on and they are colour-coordinated. One is for courses, one for tips for revision, one for book cost (I'm self-publishing), one for keywords, one for grammar etc etc. I do have folders on my laptop too, but I do like to keep physical copies of things. It feels more like a business if you have folders and are organized with your papers. I haven't even mentioned multiple notebooks for various things like title ideas for future books, a tiny notebook for collecting names, a separate notebook for keeping track of my ISBNs and more. I have more than 20 books, most have ebook versions, some have hardback versions, as well as paperback so that is a lot of ISBNs to keep track of. Some of them are translated too. I write picture books so I even have a separate folder for lyrical language tips and examples. I don't write or highlight in picture books so that's why I had to invent other ways of collecting info. It is important to be organized for your future heirs too.
I would love to see the list of books on writing that you recommend. I have quite a few myself and would be interested to see if we have some of the same ones
I always have marked my books. love these ideas! I circle words that I don't understand or I want to make sure I enter in the definition in relation to the context in the writing. Then I write that defn in the margin of the book close to where I circled.
This is so useful to me. I have so many craft books and I’m starting to read them and annotate. I’m also starting a common place book for my craft books. I’d also like to know if there is a list of craft books you have for writing. :)
@EFergDindrane OH goodness. Thank you for asking. To annotate, I find 1 mildliner that I want to use throughout the books and a black pen. I usually just look for nuggets that jump out to me and highlight or underline. From there, I take notes about it in my stalogy notebook. I use that stalogy as my commonplace planner. I started this with my nonfiction books and I'll have a specific stalogy for my craft books, doing the same thing.
Thank you for including links to all the products you're using. You did all the work for us! Are any of these affiliate? I hope so, so you can be supported for doing all the research for us :) Do you find yourself having difficulty categorizing annotations as "orange" or "blue?" I can see how some "orange" things could fall under the "blue" category, and vice versa.
This helped me so much! There's a cute pencil case I want so much but couldn't get past the fact that I already have four. I now have a reason to buy it. And I love taking notes and writing in books, so double win! Sarra, you're like my twin. The cuter something is the more I want to use it too. All my writing supplies are cute. My NaNo nook this year (my white boards surrounding my desk nook) is decorated in rainbow unicorns this season. I'll put up a photo on fb when you all show off your prep stuff. ❤
I had to pause the video to ask - please please please do share your favorite books on writing!! That would be such a wonderful resource for us 💖 Loving this video, thank you!!
I also use gray zinpangu mid gray mild liners. You can mark things as done and still see the unadulterated ink color of whatever was written under the gray.
I started annotating fiction too this year. It's so fun to see how others have built their stories and what works and what doesn't :) Hope you have a greta time at the convention! Sending you love and creative vibes
This was great! Thank you Sarra!❤ I'm looking forward to your preptober videos. I've rewatched each year's this month- they're gold! If you need a video or series idea, I'd love to see stuff about author marketing. If you have any advice or resources on making videos, posts, marketing etiquette, or overall how to get started- it would be greatly appreciated. Your recent Social Media template has helped me SO much!
@HeartBreathings Yes, I have! And I can't even tell you how much it's helped me! Its incredible. I definitely need to watch the marketing section again. I've been focused on the business videos right now- but I'm just a slow learner with media. 😂 Thank you for taking the time to respond!
Thanks, Sarra. This makes so much sense. I normally make notes on my phone as I read, but that interrupts my reading. I’m going to try your approach instead.
Would LOVE a video on your writing must-reads! I picked up The Heroine's Journey after a coffee chat where you talked about it and have found it super useful. I would love to know what else is on your shelf! (I'm a Save the Cat and K. M. Weiland gal myself.)
Loved this video! I've been marking in my nonfiction books since college. I feel like I'm better engaged with what the author is saying when I do that. I will definitely be watching this video again to take some notes and get ready to do this with my own stack of writing books.
This made me think about notes I take in the various forms of Kindle gadgets I have - they are invariably lost for ever. This made me take a look at what is now a vast library of books in some electronic form or other - have had a good clear out - some of them for good - not helped by the various Kindle apps constantly updating on different machines - makes it look a lot fresher prospect - and got rid of old collections as well - might get a few fresh notes out of the lot now :)
I use translucent post-it's, they come in different sizes--4×6 would be good for covering a page. I also have erasable highlighters. If you decide to sell a book, you can delete your marks, although, I'm not sure for how long it will erase.
Yes please I would love to know which are your favorite writing books as well as continued detail on and Tatian. This was a really cool video. Thank you.❤
Having major grad school flashbacks. 😂 During my masters in English program, I did A LOT of book annotations, both non-fiction and studying fiction. I’ve had people ask if studying writing and literary theory hurt my joy of reading. Honestly, it’s enhanced it because I can better appreciate a much wider array of genres, authors, and styles.
Once I found a way to export Kindle notes and highlights to my computer, I cut way back on reading physical books. No color coding with my digital system so I add notes to highlights in code so items and concepts are easy to revisit by search function later. I love to read before bedtime and annotations in my genre allow me to double dip so to speak coz I'm studying fiction while also enjoying it as entertainment.
@@HeartBreathings It's completely elevated my reading and writing life. I track description types for things like setting (zett) or eating/food (doof) and characters (lewk) the words I use are never in the novel's text so my highlights are easier to review on the computer later. I use !!! in the way you're using the pink flags. I hope you make a video about your system for fiction - I love your approach to other organizational stuff and I'm curious how you tackle reading in your genre
Dear Sarra, Thank you for sharing this Video with your Knowledge on my Birthday (Sep 21st). I loved this Video. For me writing in a Book is disrespect for the Author, who put so much work into it. But with the colorful transparent pageflags it's fine. I learned so much. Best regards from Germany Julia
Yes, I would love a video about Books for writing! I also have a few on my desk, some I've read, others I want to read but don't find the time. I have 3 of Lisa Cron. I loved "Wired for story" and "Story or die" but I have problems reading "Story Genius". Don't know why. It's too difficult? That can't be right, can it? I can't wait for your Preptober vibes 😍
Sarah I'm so excited I just ordered all the supplies!! :) Kind of geeking out but in a really good way! I also have The Heroine's Journey and Lisa's books! I just ordered The Virgin's Promise (which is akin to the Heroines Journey). Can I ask about your plotting book? I was looking at it and wondering is it a printable? I have taken your plotting classes here on You Tube - brilliant!
Currently, I write purely for fun, and it's basically Sci-Fi/underground/erotica. For the most part I'm still in world building (5 generation over 141 years age gap from the oldest to the youngest, 328 characters of which there are 148 pairs and 42 solo supports. 20 pairs are full books, 134 pairs are supporting as side stories (some are supporting in others full stories), and 47 side character pairs will only get an erotic short story to tell more about them.). Unfortunately I'm a "scene" writer, which is how I ended up with so many characters appearing in different stories over the 5 generations. The Sims 4 is also where I gave physical representation to all 328 character. I keep it all organized by families with 3 binders of character bios sorted by surname in alphabetical order. There's another binder containing age-based timeline, who's cousins with whom (with pics, and so I don't pair extended family by mistake), and a section dubbed "uniforms" where everyone (pictured in work clothes) is grouped by what field they work in (or don't) for tracking how/why they'd interact. The last binder has the pairings (and resulting kids) and who they'd just dated, and either a short summary of how/why they ended up together or a huge write-up including the "ah-ha" scene that came to mind when I paired them. That binder's sorted by timeline rather than family so I can find who is a supporting pair to whom easier. I've read too many manga lately with the villain being a character that the writer completely changed in the sequel and it messing with the world because of it when the writer is sucked into their works.... and I got paranoid and needed to make sure I have continuity. Hahaha. If you didn't guess by now, yes I have OCD. ;) I'm currently trying to put together a "Who Knows Who" spreadsheet for simplified tracking but my laptop is breaking and it's a struggle. I've got the 1st story that lead to me building this surrounding world written to 31,169 words (10 chapters, 52 pages in Word, 2 of which are "future" scenes that need to be connected), but in reality I struggle HARD to connect scenes, and that book has taken me over 3 years to get that far. I don't even know how to write an ending to work towards. Because of the OCD I can't stop editing as I go, and in reality it's overwhelmed me. Thus the expansion of the world but still not a finished story. I'm going to use Preptober to pick a different generation of the family to write about, to see if that gets me wanting to finish the original story. I'm really looking forward to the updated planner so I can get started on a solid foundation for this years NaNoWriMo. :)
That's such a huge world and it sounds like you've had fun developing it. I somewhat understand your struggles as my friend also has OCD. I hope Preptober gives you the opportunity to get motivated again!!
I created a common place notebook specifically for books I've read. I write down things that inspire me and things that help me learn how the professionals would write a certain scene that I may be having trouble with, that I can go back to for reference, all in one place. It's a great tool for writers who are looking for encouragement and ways out of those times of feeling stuck.
I've been thinking about starting a common place notebook. I'm trying to decide on the size.
@michele_author That is what I struggled with at first. I went from an A5 to a self-cut happy planner to a three ring binder. Until, I finally settled with a travelers notebook using one of my 300 paged notebook designs. I'm loving it so far. But I do miss my rings, though. I feel another change coming in the near future, lol.
I have been highlighting and writing in my books for ages. I feel like a book that has been enjoyed, has inspired, and has taught is a book that has led a happy life. Those markings are just proof of the book's impact. Every book should be so lucky.
Yes!
I had a creative writing prof tell me "you don't really own the book and the knowledge in it until you show it some love." She encouraged marking books up. I learned to write a little summary of each paragraph or point in the margins from her. Helps me absorb the information better.
Oh I love this!! What a great perspective
I’m not writing a book but I am studying and love your videos of this type and others. Keep them coming. I think you should write a non fiction book collating all of your good ideas 😀
Yes, I would LOVE to see which writing books you like! And, also yes - books are meant to be tools to understanding, so MARK those bad boys as much as you need to.😋 Thanks for making this, as always. It's always a blast to see another writer's process.❤
I love writing in my books. It makes it feel sacred, like the book holds not just the authors thoughts/feelings/stories but also your own
yes to the booklist! Please share your list of books about writing books =)
Brilliant. I definitely don't write in the books :) I keep B6-sized travel notebooks around and use them. And then I tend to highlight them with pens. I do use sticky notes in the books, though. I like the idea of transparent stick notes and lots of other tips there :)
Yes, please share your favorite books on writing 😊
I do love this idea. I actually started writing and highlighting in my OWN self published book. Things I forgot I wrote or need to remember to go back and add more in the next books to come.
One way that could help you get through all the books you want to read these last few months of the year is to do a read with me video or even a read with me livestream. all the read with me videos are either vlogs or even similar to study with me videos where they're like 40 minutes to a few hours to hours upon hours. It depended on the person filming the read with me video and/or live.
I'm going to have to come back and study this a few times. lol Thanks for the tips!
Oh my! You know what's crazy? I began to watch videos of people annotating their books because I wanted to start doing it in a way that would inspire and fit me...
I'm one of those people that have full-on shivers of horror running down their spines just thinking about actually writing in a book hahaha. It feels sacrilegious and so so sooooo wrong to me. But more power to all the people out there who do not fear writing in their books!
So for the time being, annotating is mostly: tabs I write small comments on, sticky notes if I feel more verbose and some erasable highlighter for those sentences that really stand out to me or words I need to look up to expand my vocabulary (which is always fun when reading fiction books).
And YES! I'd love to see your process on annotating fiction and your favourite writing books!!! Definitely!!!!
Also loooove your nails! Just had to say it.
Such a crazy coincidence that I woke up today and planned to annotate a novel I just finished because it’s the same genre as my WIP. Excited to see how you do this for fiction 👍
I've always wanted to learn how to read fiction as a way to learn to write it, and annotating send like a way that would make sense for me ... I would love to see how you annotate fiction!
Former college English professor here: I'm glad to see that you write in your books. I worship the spirit of the book, not the corpse. Engage with the texts! Argue with it! Love it. Love is not hands-off. That's fetishization. Yeah, I know... I'm going to get people justifying their choices--THEIR books, THEIR choice, absolutely--BUT my books, MY choice, and NONE OF USE really have a need to even HAVE an opinion on what you do with yours, much less get ugly about it in comments. There's not a moral component to writing (or not) in books, no matter how strong our preference may be.
Love your wording, " worship the spirit of the book, not the corpse."
Well said!
Thank you for sharing your system! I’ve wanted to get into book annotating, but wasn’t sure how/where to start. I love how you’ve set it up. I made it partway through The Heroines Journey, so I’m going to restart and try annotating. Yay!
Thank you for the tips on how to not write in the books. I want to get physical copies of your books I've been reading and read them again. I plan to look for craft elements on series and how you handled certain aspects. The thought of marking up your books made my stomach turn though! I don't write YA but I think it'll still be helpful. I actually have a pack of transparent sticky notes in various colors from Amazon. I might get some clear ones too though. I also have highlighter tape for long lines of text.
I’d love to watch a video about what writing/novelist books you’d recommend!
I highlight in non-fiction books and use a pencil in fiction books, but I'm not as organized as you are, but these are some super cool tips.
For people who don't want to write in books or highlight, you can take a photo or a screenshot ( for example of online article ) and then print those notes and file in a folder, which I do too. That way you can find them quickly and reread them. You can have a folder for concepts and one for fiction parts that you particularly like. I have 10 folders + one for current projects I'm working on and they are colour-coordinated. One is for courses, one for tips for revision, one for book cost (I'm self-publishing), one for keywords, one for grammar etc etc. I do have folders on my laptop too, but I do like to keep physical copies of things. It feels more like a business if you have folders and are organized with your papers. I haven't even mentioned multiple notebooks for various things like title ideas for future books, a tiny notebook for collecting names, a separate notebook for keeping track of my ISBNs and more. I have more than 20 books, most have ebook versions, some have hardback versions, as well as paperback so that is a lot of ISBNs to keep track of. Some of them are translated too.
I write picture books so I even have a separate folder for lyrical language tips and examples. I don't write or highlight in picture books so that's why I had to invent other ways of collecting info.
It is important to be organized for your future heirs too.
Such great ideas thank you!
I would love to hear more about your must read books on writing. Please and thank you.😊
I would love to see the list of books on writing that you recommend. I have quite a few myself and would be interested to see if we have some of the same ones
I always have marked my books. love these ideas! I circle words that I don't understand or I want to make sure I enter in the definition in relation to the context in the writing. Then I write that defn in the margin of the book close to where I circled.
This is so useful to me. I have so many craft books and I’m starting to read them and annotate. I’m also starting a common place book for my craft books. I’d also like to know if there is a list of craft books you have for writing. :)
I'd love to hear more about your process of annotating in art/craft books. That's interesting to me.
@EFergDindrane OH goodness. Thank you for asking. To annotate, I find 1 mildliner that I want to use throughout the books and a black pen. I usually just look for nuggets that jump out to me and highlight or underline. From there, I take notes about it in my stalogy notebook. I use that stalogy as my commonplace planner. I started this with my nonfiction books and I'll have a specific stalogy for my craft books, doing the same thing.
@@k.ldouglas401 I love those stalogy books, too! Dot grid forever.
I love these ideas. My books generally have pages which are all written over. This is so much more efficient!
Thank you for including links to all the products you're using. You did all the work for us! Are any of these affiliate? I hope so, so you can be supported for doing all the research for us :) Do you find yourself having difficulty categorizing annotations as "orange" or "blue?" I can see how some "orange" things could fall under the "blue" category, and vice versa.
Definitely make a video on your fav books to help with writing books!!
This helped me so much! There's a cute pencil case I want so much but couldn't get past the fact that I already have four. I now have a reason to buy it. And I love taking notes and writing in books, so double win! Sarra, you're like my twin. The cuter something is the more I want to use it too. All my writing supplies are cute. My NaNo nook this year (my white boards surrounding my desk nook) is decorated in rainbow unicorns this season. I'll put up a photo on fb when you all show off your prep stuff. ❤
I always wondered what people do with those clear sticky notes. They make them in colors too.
This is great! Would love to hear about specific books you recommend on writing. Thanks for everything you do!
Thank you so much for sharing this!! And for including links for your supplies!!! I love geeking out with all of this!
I had to pause the video to ask - please please please do share your favorite books on writing!! That would be such a wonderful resource for us 💖 Loving this video, thank you!!
I also use gray zinpangu mid gray mild liners. You can mark things as done and still see the unadulterated ink color of whatever was written under the gray.
I've seen people using light-colored Tombow markers as well!
Would love a video about your favorite writing books! And super excited about preptober!
I would love a video breakdown of your favorite writing books! I’m trying to slow down, learn, and then write instead of plowing through writing. 😊
A video about your favorite writing books would be great!
I’ve actually just started using the highlight and notes feature in my ebooks.
That's great!
These are great suggestions! I mark my non fiction books but I think having a key guide and tabs will be a game changer. Thank you!
I started annotating fiction too this year. It's so fun to see how others have built their stories and what works and what doesn't :)
Hope you have a greta time at the convention!
Sending you love and creative vibes
This was great! Thank you Sarra!❤
I'm looking forward to your preptober videos. I've rewatched each year's this month- they're gold!
If you need a video or series idea, I'd love to see stuff about author marketing. If you have any advice or resources on making videos, posts, marketing etiquette, or overall how to get started- it would be greatly appreciated. Your recent Social Media template has helped me SO much!
Have you taken my Publish & Thrive course? I detail all kinds of stuff on author marketing there!
@HeartBreathings Yes, I have! And I can't even tell you how much it's helped me! Its incredible. I definitely need to watch the marketing section again. I've been focused on the business videos right now- but I'm just a slow learner with media. 😂 Thank you for taking the time to respond!
I have a section in this year's project in Campfire where I put my book notes once I finish reading it.
For those who don't want to highlight their books with pen, you can buy long, thing sticky notes that go the full width of the page
Thanks, Sarra. This makes so much sense. I normally make notes on my phone as I read, but that interrupts my reading. I’m going to try your approach instead.
Love this! I have been wanting to do more than just highlighting in my business books!!
Would LOVE a video on your writing must-reads! I picked up The Heroine's Journey after a coffee chat where you talked about it and have found it super useful. I would love to know what else is on your shelf! (I'm a Save the Cat and K. M. Weiland gal myself.)
I would LOVE if you compiled a list of writing books! I feel overwhelmed by the amount of advice out there and you are an amazing filter haha
I would love to see a video of your favorite writing books! Yes please!
Absolutely would love to see a vid with your recs for books on writing.
Loved this video! I've been marking in my nonfiction books since college. I feel like I'm better engaged with what the author is saying when I do that. I will definitely be watching this video again to take some notes and get ready to do this with my own stack of writing books.
Definitely would love a video about the books you have on writing!
This made me think about notes I take in the various forms of Kindle gadgets I have - they are invariably lost for ever. This made me take a look at what is now a vast library of books in some electronic form or other - have had a good clear out - some of them for good - not helped by the various Kindle apps constantly updating on different machines - makes it look a lot fresher prospect - and got rid of old collections as well - might get a few fresh notes out of the lot now :)
I would love to see your list of books on writing, I love your channel and your style and am interested in what you read!
I’d love to hear your top recommendations for writing craft books. I read The Heroine’s Journey recently and I found it so helpful.
I use translucent post-it's, they come in different sizes--4×6 would be good for covering a page. I also have erasable highlighters. If you decide to sell a book, you can delete your marks, although, I'm not sure for how long it will erase.
Great ideas!!
Thank you for this. Very helpful. I would love to see a video on annotating fiction as well. I look forward to seeing more.
Yes please I would love to know which are your favorite writing books as well as continued detail on and Tatian. This was a really cool video. Thank you.❤
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This is fabulous, Sarra! Thank you so much for sharing.
Having major grad school flashbacks. 😂 During my masters in English program, I did A LOT of book annotations, both non-fiction and studying fiction. I’ve had people ask if studying writing and literary theory hurt my joy of reading. Honestly, it’s enhanced it because I can better appreciate a much wider array of genres, authors, and styles.
I love to hear this!
Yes please to the video about your favorite craft books.
I would love to see the list for writing! Love you Girl!💓💓💓
I really thought I was the only one who NEEDED matching pens, highlighters, and sticky notes. 🤣😍 Thanks for normalizing my nerdiest, LOL!
Isn't that one of the best parts?!
Once I found a way to export Kindle notes and highlights to my computer, I cut way back on reading physical books. No color coding with my digital system so I add notes to highlights in code so items and concepts are easy to revisit by search function later. I love to read before bedtime and annotations in my genre allow me to double dip so to speak coz I'm studying fiction while also enjoying it as entertainment.
Sounds like a great system!
@@HeartBreathings It's completely elevated my reading and writing life. I track description types for things like setting (zett) or eating/food (doof) and characters (lewk) the words I use are never in the novel's text so my highlights are easier to review on the computer later. I use !!! in the way you're using the pink flags. I hope you make a video about your system for fiction - I love your approach to other organizational stuff and I'm curious how you tackle reading in your genre
Thank you! I’m going to try your method 👍✍🏼
Let me know if it works for you!
Dear Sarra,
Thank you for sharing this Video with your Knowledge on my Birthday (Sep 21st). I loved this Video. For me writing in a Book is disrespect for the Author, who put so much work into it. But with the colorful transparent pageflags it's fine. I learned so much. Best regards from Germany
Julia
Happy birthday!
@@HeartBreathings Thank you
I'd love a list of must reads❤
YES!! Bring on the video of writing book recommendations! Great video, I love it when you upload 😀 ❤
Yay! Thank you!
I would love a video about writing craft books for preptober
Yes, I would love a video about Books for writing!
I also have a few on my desk, some I've read, others I want to read but don't find the time.
I have 3 of Lisa Cron. I loved "Wired for story" and "Story or die" but I have problems reading "Story Genius". Don't know why. It's too difficult? That can't be right, can it?
I can't wait for your Preptober vibes 😍
Yes please. I'd like to see videos on that. Thank you.
this is great! thanks so much!
I have used highlighter tape that comes on a roll just like Scotch tape. I can’t remember the brand name and it is at work.
I would love to see how you annotate fiction books because i have been strugling with it
Would love a video on annotating fiction books!
Sarah I'm so excited I just ordered all the supplies!! :) Kind of geeking out but in a really good way! I also have The Heroine's Journey and Lisa's books! I just ordered The Virgin's Promise (which is akin to the Heroines Journey). Can I ask about your plotting book? I was looking at it and wondering is it a printable? I have taken your plotting classes here on You Tube - brilliant!
Haha new stationery supplies are always SO MUCH FUN!
Great ideas.
yes, more, more,more!
I would love to see your list of books!
Check out my brand new website www.sarracannon.com and all my books are listed there :D
Love this!
More please! 😁
Currently, I write purely for fun, and it's basically Sci-Fi/underground/erotica. For the most part I'm still in world building (5 generation over 141 years age gap from the oldest to the youngest, 328 characters of which there are 148 pairs and 42 solo supports. 20 pairs are full books, 134 pairs are supporting as side stories (some are supporting in others full stories), and 47 side character pairs will only get an erotic short story to tell more about them.). Unfortunately I'm a "scene" writer, which is how I ended up with so many characters appearing in different stories over the 5 generations. The Sims 4 is also where I gave physical representation to all 328 character. I keep it all organized by families with 3 binders of character bios sorted by surname in alphabetical order. There's another binder containing age-based timeline, who's cousins with whom (with pics, and so I don't pair extended family by mistake), and a section dubbed "uniforms" where everyone (pictured in work clothes) is grouped by what field they work in (or don't) for tracking how/why they'd interact. The last binder has the pairings (and resulting kids) and who they'd just dated, and either a short summary of how/why they ended up together or a huge write-up including the "ah-ha" scene that came to mind when I paired them. That binder's sorted by timeline rather than family so I can find who is a supporting pair to whom easier. I've read too many manga lately with the villain being a character that the writer completely changed in the sequel and it messing with the world because of it when the writer is sucked into their works.... and I got paranoid and needed to make sure I have continuity. Hahaha. If you didn't guess by now, yes I have OCD. ;) I'm currently trying to put together a "Who Knows Who" spreadsheet for simplified tracking but my laptop is breaking and it's a struggle. I've got the 1st story that lead to me building this surrounding world written to 31,169 words (10 chapters, 52 pages in Word, 2 of which are "future" scenes that need to be connected), but in reality I struggle HARD to connect scenes, and that book has taken me over 3 years to get that far. I don't even know how to write an ending to work towards. Because of the OCD I can't stop editing as I go, and in reality it's overwhelmed me. Thus the expansion of the world but still not a finished story. I'm going to use Preptober to pick a different generation of the family to write about, to see if that gets me wanting to finish the original story. I'm really looking forward to the updated planner so I can get started on a solid foundation for this years NaNoWriMo. :)
That's such a huge world and it sounds like you've had fun developing it. I somewhat understand your struggles as my friend also has OCD. I hope Preptober gives you the opportunity to get motivated again!!
Do you hsve any reccomendations for books on writing?
i love your videos sm
Where can I find those books
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Can you give me your organization please??? I WISH!!
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