Customer Reviews

Idea Catcher: An Inspiring Journal for Writers (Story Press)

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Although this book is intended for writers to gain story ideas, it is also full of great inspirational prompts for any journaler. I especially like the reminders to pay attention to your surroundings and write about them, whether you are in the supermarket or on a bus. Even my 10-year old was writing as a result of the ides in this book.

A variety of different prompts from imagination strainers to quotes from successful writers are divided into sections such as Charachters, Description, Observation, etc. Very useful to flip back through when you need a certain element for a piece and bring up an old idea.

I absolutely love this book. When it says "inspirational journal for writers" it means it. It takes quotes, ideas, methods other writers have used and really pushes your own ideas forth. And it helps you work through ideas, dialogue, characters, names, and more! I'd reccommend this one to anyone.

"Idea Catcher: An Inspiring Journal for Writers" sounded like a cool idea. It's filled with little "prompts," and you use the blank page beneath each to free-write or take notes on things you can use in your writing. Normally I enjoy prompts and exercises, but this journal didn't thrill me.

Some of the prompts are engaging, but most just left me flat. Sure, some of this is going to be individual preference. However, I think I do have a few valid quibbles. For example, each prompt comes with the rest of one blank page of paper. Great in theory, but some of the prompts clearly seem to be exercises that will take up *much* more than one blank page of paper. Other prompts just don't seem to suggest anything further to write about at all.

The book is broken up into a handful of sections--Ideas, People and Characters, Conversation and Dialogue, Descriptions, Observations, Names and Titles, and Dreams and Anecdotes. The introduction suggests that, for example, if a person somewhere strikes you as interesting, you should flip to the "People and Characters" chapter and jot down your observations. First, this makes the book sound more like a workbook or, well, a blank notebook that happens to have some quotes in it, than a journal. Second, none of the pages are numbered. So if you want to flip to a certain section, it could take you a while to find what you want.

This book's problems boil down to two things. It can't quite decide who it's aimed at: Writers who want guidance to help them write about something every day? Writers who think blank notebooks aren't good enough to do free-writing and take down observations in? It also can't quite decide what it wants to be: Is it an exercise workbook? Is it a journal with something interesting for people to write about every day? Is it a notebook for taking down observations in, that just happens to have quotes across the tops of the pages?

Ultimately, I don't recommend this book. If you want a journal, you can do better by cutting neat quotes out of the newspaper, copying interesting exercises out of writing books, and pasting them at the tops of the pages in a blank notebook. And if you want neat prompts, there are plenty of books out there that will give you much more bang for your buck, like Heffron's "The Writer's Idea Book" or Rekulak's "Writer's Block".

This book is 160 pages, but there is only one prompt per page, so (minus the 8 pages of copyright info, etc.) that gives you 152 writing prompts. Not quite worth the $12.99 I paid for it when it came out, but certainly worth it if you can get it for the minimal price it's now listed at.

There are some good prompts in here to get you thinking and get you started in your journals. If you need some extra ideas to keep you going then pick this book up.