When You Get A New Story Idea...

I get bombarded with ideas all the time, so I usually just scribble a couple key words (spiderman!Kendall, Audrina/James dressing room, etc) in a list in my notebook (I have a three-page list of all these oneshots I want to write ), but I have an awful tendency to lose these notebooks

When I know I'm going to set aside time to write out one of these ideas, then I usually try to think about it, set the scene, the phrasing, etc before I go to sleep, just because it's easier for me to concentrate and focus on things during that time. I'll mull it over in my mind for a couple nights before I actually type it up so the words come more easily and I won't get stuck.

Ice Queen.:

What do you do when you get a new story idea, but find yourself in a situation in which you can't start writing it at the moment? For example, when this happens to me, I pace back and forth while I think about it, and as I do so I start coming up with the characters and forming the plot.

Basically, what I do is listen to music. (I like Michael Jackson, George Michael ("Father Figure"), Chris Isaak ("Wicked Game"), Backstreet Boys, Garth Brooks ("The Thunder Rolls"), Hilary Duff, Nick Lachey, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber and NSYNC, among others.)

Then what I do next is basically make up the story as I go along (while adding good details for description).

I write it down (on my hand, arm, notebook, napkin,whatever) or type it (on my laptop or phone) depending on which I have.

I'm in the process trying to organize all my actual ideas (character 1 and 2 meet *insert*)
Prologue type stuff ("The day stopped"..."it was the end")
Basic summaries
Broad broad ideas (story about...Atlantis...Story in...Rome)
Various scene ideas
Beginnings of stories

It's the most frustrating thing on the planet for me right now. You try distinguish "The day stopped..." from "Prologue type stuff", "basic summaries", "scene ideas" and "beginnings of stories". I want to rip my hair out! Okay, I'm done...

If it's an idea for a oneshot, I usually just jot down a brief note in one of my notebooks or on my iPhone.

If it's an idea for something chaptered, I generally have to get all of the preliminary stuff out of the way (title, summary, layout, etc) before I can really start fleshing it out and getting into it. I don't believe in making outlines for stories, but I generally have an idea of what I want to take place in the first few chapters and how I want things formatted.

I write down a snippet of it in a note on my phone and get back to it when I can.

Normally the story ideas that I get never make it out onto paper or anything, so it's super annoying. But I write it down in my phone and then stalk NaNoWriMo for further inspiration.

If I have the basic outline for a story I usually write up a summary and post it on Mibba so it's just there ready for me when I want to start submitting chapters. I have pages and pages of stories on here that I haven't started yet.