Why You Need a Rich Idea File

raw materials
Originally uploaded by nuanc

Whenever I give a speech writing workshop, one of the bits of advice I give attendees is to keep a rich idea file: a collection of ideas and stories to have on hand whenever they need material.

There are two reasons. One is that when you get a speech assignment, if often needs to be done in a hurry, and it's useful to have a stock of material on hand. The other and more important reason is to build a repository of stories and ideas -- a broad assortment you collect by honing your powers of observation. The richer your stock of stories and ideas, the more creativity and value you can bring to whatever you're wrriting.

Where do you get this stuff? Books. Blogs. Conversations. Children playing at being grownups. Opinion pieces. Cartoons. Speeches. Magazine articles. Ideas that occur to you in the shower. Things you see on television or the movies. Talk shows. Comedy. NPR programs like "This American Life" or "Science Friday." Ads, often a terrific source.

Capture it all where it's easy to get to. For me, that's a Word file. Note where you get things, so you can give credit where it's appropriate.

In the beginning, story and idea files are like root cellars, or shelves full of canned goods: they're bounty stored for later use.  But over time, they become more like wine cellars, ripening and maturing. For this to happen, you need to keep going back to them, not just to add new material but to polish ideas or replace them with better ones. While you're there, think about ways you can add connections between older ideas and newer ones.

When you do use material from the file, note how it worked, so you can reuse it, re-shape it to work better, or discard it.

Do you keep an idea file? How do you do it? Post a comment!

Flickr image, "Raw Materials"

Comments

[Sue Horner]

I keep an idea file in Word as well, to remind me of things I want to blog about. Sometimes I just note a new word I've run across; other times, it's a web site, a news item I've heard, a great example of marketing or a horrible example of customer disservice. Our brains are bombarded with so much information from so many sources, it's a good idea to have a place to collect it all! (P.S. Happy Fourth of July!)