Writing Quirks

[rasinah]

;D Hep, it's me again. Hope you guys don't mind me making up pointless threads.

Erm, just FYI, I like my name to be spelled out in small letters. Hee... sorry, but just that I find capital letter R too imposing.

Ok, back to the topic...

I'm wondering what are your writing quirks. I mean, when you are writing, do you have to sit at one particular spot, or do you have to listen to a particular song etc? Do you have to munch on something?

For me, I find that I write better in the privacy of my bedroom, lying on my tummy, rather than in the living room where my study table is. It's cuz I don't want to be distratcted by the internet. I have to listen to songs; usually I'd prefer to play my Win Media Player MP3 playlists rather than tuning in to the radio. I don't particularly need to have something to munch. Oh, and yes... the fan must be on at high!

^________^;;;

[KarotsaMused]

Heh, I don't normally require an environment for inspiration, but for the actual writing it seems I always do it in one place -

In my bedroom, sitting at my computer, with the door closed, the window open, and my music on. If I'm in the zone I'll tune the music out (only to realize later the CD ended twenty minutes ago) but other times it's good to just pump up the MSI or whatever, depending on the mood I want. Oh, and it really helps if I'm chewing gum. No idea why, but it does. ;D

But for handwriting, my stuff always, always, ALWAYS comes best on long car trips. That's really because I have time to think and nowhere else to put my ideas. All of my writing done over winter breaks (the stuff dated Dec-Feb, usually) is done in this manner, in blue pen on a college-rule notebook, often with sketches and doodles in the margins or on adjacent pages. And yeah, it's gotta be blue pen.

[elven dreamer]

*grins* I need no perfection. I write, or I write. Though writing on the school bus is definetly one of the best places for me, despite the bumps and the crazy year sevens up the front And at home, at my desk in my room, with quiet music (usually avril) and either the aircon on or off. I have no fan!!!! It's so annoying! So its either really hot/cold!!!!!! *die, evil people who don't install fans...*

[Me-Nuriko]

I do the thinking and scrabbling down notes lying on my bed. I need to be alone, both with the thinking thing, and when I'm doing the actual writing sitting in front of my laptop in my room.

Music I use for inspiration, to put me in the mood, but I can't have any music on while writing. What I listen to differs. It can be pop music, new or from the 70s. Or something a little more folk lore inspired, Swedish, or why not Irish? Or of course, anime music - themes and characters' songs.

I can assure you I don't need any fan, here. Very rarely in some really hot summer's day it would be convenient, but otherwise, no. What I call a hot summer's day, you probably would think of a nice chilly day. ;D

[Blood_Debt]

Writing on the activity bus home is a must, even if it's just one word. I write out my chapters, then type it out and edit it. Music is also a no-no for me, or I'll start singing along. - and no one really wants to hear me sing...

To define chilly, less than 20 degrees is unnecessarily freezing yourself. And I'm not allowed in air-con right now, I have a bug. *sniffles unhappily* My nose runs faster than my feet.

[Ganheim]

I'm one of those people who just has to write, sometimes it strikes me like a bolt of lightning and I start right there (I carry a pocket-notebook and at least one pen at all times).

More of my writing is done in front of my computer, where I've got all my music copied to the hard drive so I can just queue up a single playlist and listen to particular songs. The type of song can help the scene I'm writing: the "Nazgul" music from the Fellowship of the Rings, "Isengard/Uruk-hai" music from The Two Towers, and most of The Matrix (Don Davis's stuff) helps me write fight scenes, big or small. I still remember the songs I listened to while I wrote and finished The Mountain Shifter for Life of the Silver Tear.

I've also got favorite albums to go with my stories. I don't know how or why, but when I hear my The Matrix soundtrack, I think of The Legends of Kaizor. Um...I can't really think of anything else. I suppose that when I listen to the Inuyasha soundtracks I think of Inuyasha (which I do often now that I'm putting a lot of work into my fanfic, Crossing the Rubicon).

This looks a lot like some of the threads on the other proboards I go to, Dream and Write. I guess it's a little obvious that there's a lot of good writing topics there.

[kanshu]

Hi Ganheim! Welcome to the weird people section. It's nice to see someone with such a serious attitude towards writing. Me, I'm rather the 'enjoy factor' kind of writer.

Me, I love to write at work. Maybe it has to do with the productive atmosphere here, or maybe it's just so that I can escape from work.

Otherwise, I write at home at my desk. I usually listen to mp3s of my CDs that I mix so that the songs match the story I'm writing. I do love Hans Zimmer Soundtracks as background music for writing.
Most characters have been assigned their individual theme songs, which help me to focuss on them. Like, Hakkai's "Africa" from Toto (because of the 'frightened of this thing that I've become' line, I guess).

[Salmastryon]

When I was at school I use to find an odd corner in some building and curl up in a comphy chair and write.

Now, I write mostly at my desk. The living room is too noisy and distracting a place to write. I always put music on to listen to. Though sometimes the music has nothing to do with what I'm writing. I wrote smouldering to Lincoln Park and Evervesence.

As far as quirks go...

I guess how I act when a something grab me would be considered one. It isn't a rare thing to see me pacing up and down the hall muttering to myself as a bit of story grips me.

The other thing I do is work on stories in my head as as I lay in bed at night. Sometimes I get a break through and I have to get up and write right then and there when it is vivid.

[elven dreamer]

Linkin Park and Evanescence?! Hello, fellow fan! Fav rock bands. Doesn't really "go" with smouldering if you ask me. Though I can't think of anything that ficcy DOES match... ....heh heh.

I've started to stop writing. *gasp* It's really freaking me out!! I spend more time on this darn forum and reading fics. (Though the fact that I'm devouring the fics of karotsamused and rasinah doesn't help!!)

Any hints for "getting back in tune"? Else thou shalt be punished with a lack of new fics!!! (rewarded more like. ;D )

[Salmastryon]

Set aside a time of day to write. It is okay if it is only a half an hour or an hour, as long as it is some alotment of time. Then during that period of time don't do anythig unless it has to do with writing. That means no internet unless it is research that specifically partains to your story. Same with reading. ;D

[wildelamassu]

Proust needed the cork-lined room, and, although I don't approach him--so do I. ^^

Closed door, empty room, always with a word processor (I edit as I go, and then I edit again). If there's music, it needs to be classical or jazz, very quiet--something without lyrics, or it'll infect whatever I'm trying to hack out.

If the phone rings, I'm done. *facepalms*

[sheepichan]

^^; Before I write anything down on paper (usually on my computer) I write the words and the actions in my head. (The few things I actually remember are my plot ideas). Usually I get my plot ideas during school, and then daydream about them throughout classes.

After I come up with an idea, I act it out. Usually right before I got to bed. From outside my room, you can sometimes hear me talking to myself, acting out the roles of all the characters. Needless to say, my parents have given up any hope they may have had in me, and are both taking it pretty well, actually.

When I finally start writing, I'll open up the Word program, and then just sit there for a good 15 minutes staring at a blank screen, while listening to random J-Rock or anime themes. Sometimes I'll just minimize the page and do some other work, then get back to it.

Once I finally get around to writing, it's usually in short bursts. For example, one day I'll write five or more paragraphs, while on another day I'll write five words. Other days I'll just have the document open, read through it and make any corrections, then just forget about it until my computer time is up.

^^; This is probably why I can never keep up with any deadlines...

[darkraion]

All of my writing is done in the same place- in front of the computer in my room. I hate writing things down if I have a choice because my hands cramp up really easily that way. A lot of the words that end up in my various stories start out in thought-form in my head, generally when I'm someplace away from the computer, particularly the bathroom. One of my most succesful stories was thought up while brushing my teeth, and another one crashed down out of nowhere while I was in the shower. The only trick is trying to keep it memorized long enough to transfer it to my computer.

Writing in front of my computer can be done with door opened or closed, TV on or off (though it usually needs to be on low volume) music on or off. If I'm stuck I might turn on some music to push me along, and late at night when I go to sleep I might listen to some Yoko Kanno because the coolest ideas and images come to mind in the dark, when I'm less than half coherent and listening to the GitS:SAC OST. Eventaully, each story compiles its own soundtrack, sometimes inspired from the beginning by a CD.

Unfortunately, not only do I frequently suffer writer's block, I also suffer writer's ADD. That is, I currently have eleven full-length stories in the works and two one-shots, the intent to finish each and every one of them, new ideas making it to my list of 'keepers' every couple of months, and the inability to focus on any one story for any given length of time.

So there you have it- music, and the bathroom, that's what makes my writing tic... I sense a joke of some sort somewhere in there, but I can't seem to think of it right now...

[narrizan]

iwrite when i can where i can, its difficult for me...'cos my kids are still quite young (2 and a half and 5 going on 6) it is still "mama this and maa that" and i'm probably a soft touch as well. so mostly when they've gone to bed and i really don't want to do other stuff...and its a quiet time..usually between midnight and three in the morning. also i never go anywhere without a notebook and a pen, and its gotta be black i'm afraid.
sometimes though when i feel the need for 'just me' time i drop the kids off at my mum's or leave them in daddy's capable (but questionably lenient) hands and sit in a cafe for hours, using the hum of people as a background for my thoughts. works sometimes!
-
zan

[Taltos]

I always need total privacy [or at least the illusion of it] to write. I guess it's the years of my writing not being received well by friends and family [hence: the internet]. So it's me with my battered spiral-bound in a corner...or home alone at the computer with blaring techno or something--I eventually tune it all out, anyway.

But like Dark-Raion, I write things in my head, too. I generally have to map everything out one way or another. The trick is remembering it; though I figure that if I forget something before I can even write it down, it wasn't meant to be. Fate and all that.