David Lodge gave a good description of what I’d call a project notebook:
When I write a novel, I usually keep a notebook for some time, in which I jot down ideas of how I'm going to develop the core idea. I try to think of events and character sketches and things that can go into it. I also write memos to myself about how I see the story developing.
Lodge, who taught at a university, was astonished when he began attending academic conferences and decided to write a comic novel about them. It occurred to him that the search for stardom was like the search for the Holy Grail. So he collected notes on the Arthurian legend for a while. His project took off when he connected his own experiences at academic conferences with the legend.
I like Lodge’s story because I tend to use my notebooks in the same way. When I’m struggling with an idea, connecting it with a larger idea often helps. That’s a good strategy for breaking the logjam. And when I’m really stuck, I write memos to myself, just as Lodge did.
I sometimes run across lists of things that every kid should learn to do: ride a bike, swim, play a musical instrument. I think every kid should learn to keep a notebook.
• Sources: Raymond H. Thompson, “Interview with David Lodge,” May 15, 1989, for The Camelot Project, one of the digital projects of the Robbins Library at the University of Rochester. It’s here:
https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/interview-with-david-lodge.html
Lodge died recently. The Guardian’s obituary is here:
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