Use Idea Indexes for Journals and Fiction

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Use Idea Indexes for Journals and Fiction

A Zettelkasten is a personal tool for thinking and writing that creates an interconnected web of thought. Its emphasis is on connection and not mere collection of ideas.

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ctietze

Since idea indexes came up recently, I wonder who's been or is actively using these. I shared some of mine in the linked blog post.

Phil

(This is not necessarily a journal or fiction index, but I apply the same method to those genres too).

I use them all the time. In fact, it's become a habitual enough practice at this point that if I don't create one, my thinking about a book or article feels somehow incomplete. Here are a couple of examples.

After this stage, I take each idea in the index and write a rough draft of a zettel on an index card or, if I'm pushed for time, directly into my ZK inbox. But I prefer the former practice as it really makes a difference in the 'final' version of the zettel.

Will

@Phil is right, this technique/tool is useful for nonfiction too. I experimenting with applying the idea index tool to short papers to see if this can help with digestion.

I love sharing pictures and here is an idea index I created reading Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City.

This and the two other pages of the idea index resulted in 14 notes integrated together with 41 other zettel. I can't remember who on the forum recommended this book but it is a good one.

Nick

@Will thank you for that last bit. That’d be fascinating to see the data on a large set of books. How many zettels were extracted, how many of them are interconnected with each other, and how many other notes in the vault they connect to.