Pro Tip: Don’t Make Your Notes Cryptic

You know how you and your bestie have inside jokes that no one else gets? Or how you and your spouse have your own private language? Maybe don’t lean too heavily into those sorts of things when you’re writing up your notes. Ask us how we know!

Before Jen started writing the synopses for the rest of the books in the ghost series, we  read through their plot rainbows together. Unfortunately, in several places there were phrases that were clearly meant to be cute, quippy references, but the context is lost to time. The plot rainbow is particularly prone to this sort of thing because each square in it is small. There’s not a lot of room for detail, so we often resort to shorthand. To our occasional detriment.

We’ve immersed ourselves in those plots again, and that’s allowed us to decode (most of) what we were talking about. There are no giant question marks. It’s a good reminder, though, that thorough notes are important, and pop culture references don’t always stand the test of time.

A writing partner is someone who can let you know when you’re being too clever, unless they’re caught up in it with you.