3.5.4 Understanding note card structure
Navigation notesare shown as cards. Each note is one card,
and each card is one unit of thought. Notes are not one long document;
they’re blocks of thought.
What’s on a note card
1. Title or first line
At the top of the cardyou see a line that stands for the note.
It’s a short version of the main idea.
2. Body
Inside the note you can type freely.- Short questions
- Hypotheses
- Revision memos
- Big-picture memos
Incomplete sentences are fine.
3. Tags
You can add tags to notes. Examples:- Idea
- Edit
- Plot
- Deadline
they’re for quickly distinguishing kind of thought.
Color and tags
Color and tags on note cardshelp you tell types of thought apart. Examples:
- Idea-style notes
- Edit-focused notes
- Plot-related notes
don’t create structure;
they separate thought.
Expanding a note to document or plot
Notes don’t have to stay notes.Some become documents;
some become part of the plotboard.
When you’re ready, you can expand a note
into a document or plot
and turn that thought into something structured.
Summary
Note cardsdon’t hold finished results. They’re flexible blocks of thought
for separating,
labeling,
and expanding when you need to.
3.5.5 When to use notes
Notes aren’t something you use all the time.They’re most useful at certain moments. Notes are
not for finishing thought;
they’re for pausing it.
When do notes help?
When writing is stuck
When sentences won’t come,instead of forcing more text,
move the thought into a note.
You can separate the idea
without breaking the document’s flow.
When you’re not ready to change structure
You might want to change the plot or settingbut aren’t sure yet.
Rather than editing structure directly,
write the possibility in a note.
Safer.
When something feels “important but not now”
An idea that appears while you workmight not fit the current context.
You don’t have to deal with it now.
Put it in a note.
What notes do
In Pensiv you don’t have tofinish every thought right away.
Notes are
not for delaying decisions;
they’re for keeping thought safe.
Notes
store thought you’re not handling yet
without losing it.
In Pensiv, notes are
not where you stop;
they’re a buffer before the next step.