A, E, I, O, U, and Sometimes Y

[queenoftheskies]

A, E, I, O, U, and Sometimes Y.

(Chanted in a sing-song monotone.)

Which, of course, means nothing at all to you unless you like old Disney cartoons and ever watched Darkwing Duck.

My sister and I were comparing notes today via e-mail on remembering things for our stories/novels when we were away from paper/computer/recording device/any way to make notes.

For me, it was in the bath this morning.

I'd been trying to decide on the perfect name for an Ancient alien race and three members of that race that survived to kidnap one of my main characters after she arrived on Earth.

Well, of course (OF COURSE), the absolutely PERFECT name for the race and all three characters hit me in the middle of a bath intended to soak my poor, aching back. Now, when you have a poor, aching back, it's difficult to hop out of the tub like a lightning blast and get out of the bathroom to your computer in record time.

So, I began the writerly chant of the perfect names over and over and over...until I got to my computer and could put them down on my cast of characters list.

I was telling my sister about it later in e-mail and she told me she did the same thing.

So, I wondered what other people do...

How do you remember things when you have no way to write them down or record them? Or, do you, unlike me, have one of those marvelous brains that retains EVERYTHING?

Comments

[serenity-space.livejournal.com]

I too repeat it over and over in my head. What I hate is before I can get to the paper to write it down, someone needs something and an hour later I've forgotten what I was trying to remember. Sometimes it comes back, most times it's gone forever.