BY ANGELA BECERRA VIDERGAR
Writing Tip #1: Use sticky notes for brainstorming and organization
Here are two of my own biggest, baddest writing roadblocks: the empty page and the overcrowded one.
But wait, aren’t these opposite problems? Not necessarily. Both of these very common problems in your #writinglife are related to organization.
Often people see organization and “structure” as the much more boring enemies of creativity and inspiration. After all, didn’t Jack Kerouac just write On the Road in a single wild swoop of creative genius laid out on a continuous piece of paper? That famous scroll is also a frequently-used example of the possibility of writing a work of genius without (ugh!) outlining or structuring.
So sure, the Beats were creative savants who experimented with the writing process, but a closer look will show you that even for them the road to a final revision wasn’t an uninterrupted red carpet. As you can read on NPR,
“The truth is that the book actually had a much longer, bumpier journey from inspiration to publication, complete with multiple rewrites, repeated rejections and a dog who — well, On the Road wasn't homework, but we all know what dogs do.”
One way to avoid those inevitable bumps and roadblocks is to integrate organizational tools that work for you at every stage of your writing. For me and many of my former students and clients, one of the most powerful tools is the humble sticky note.
Jotting out your ideas loosely on sticky notes is a low-stakes way to deal with an empty page by creating a scaffold you can build onto, or to reorganize an overcrowded piece of writing without confusingly moving paragraphs and sentences around in your document. After a series of student meetings my office at Stanford University was usually covered with a rainbow of Post-Its scribbled with dozens of paper ideas and argument structures, whether on my desk or on the walls. When we went fully online for COVID, we found digital sticky note alternatives that allowed us to visualize ideas together in real time. I have found few tools as consistently effective as those delightful, colorful squares - but there are a few things to keep in mind to make sure you get the most out of them.
Keep it Short The most valuable facet of sticky notes is that they are modular. If you write too much on each piece, you lose the ability to separate out and move individual ideas or sections. Keep the content of each note from one word to a short phrase and the size of your writing on the larger size so that it’s easy to read at a distance. Stepping back to look at your Post-It configuration can be very illuminating!
Play with Placement Try different ways of configuring the sequence of sticky notes in order to find what makes the most sense for your own brain. You can arrange them in order vertically like a traditional outline, in order horizontally, in a circle, or like a word cloud. You can place them on a table in front of you, on the floor, or on a wall or window. The world is your canvas!
Make it Collaborative
A great way to level up your use of sticky notes is to involve another person who is collaborating with you or who can provide feedback. With my students, I put them in pairs and give each person a different color of Post-Its. Each student then lays out the map of their ideas independently. Once they're done, they switch places at the table, wall, or window and look over their partner’s map, leaving comments, questions, or suggestions in their own color of sticky notes. This method allows both the writer and reader to visualize possible gaps in the structure or places that are particularly impactful. Read on for a digital collaboration tip.
Put it on Screen
If you aren’t in the same place, don’t despair! I have very successfully substituted digital sticky note tools in online video consultations while coaching writers on structural issues and idea development. My favorite digital visualization tool is Google Jamboard, in particular because it’s free, has a simple user interface, and you can collaborate in real time. However, there are many other tools out there that can work for the same purpose, such as Lucidspark, Miro, or even the popular brainstorming tool Milanote.
Do you like using sticky notes as part of your writing process? Do you have another tool you love or one you want us to try out? Let us know in the comments and maybe we’ll include it in a future article!
Now I’ll go break out my Costco-sized block of Post-Its and start planning my next article. Weee!
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