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+--- Thread: Writing Habits (/showthread.php?tid=13247)
Writing Habits - Super Buu - 01-05-2009
Writing methods are as diverse as writers themselves. For example, some people like to use a dedicated space for writing - like a shed or an attic - or other 'triggers' which they use to put them in the writing state of mind. Others prefer to do it away from a computer (on which obsessive editing is way too easy, and has the distractions of the internet) and then type it up later, editing as they go.
I'm very interested in the processes people use, and sometimes I even find something I can steal for myself. This thread is for you to share your little habits and routines, if you have them at all.
When I'm staying in a place with nice scenery, going out with a pad of paper to write is a nice, distraction-free change of pace. For the most part, however, I type. One weird little habit that I haven't seen in others is this: when I'm trying out different wordings for a sentence, I don't delete the sentence, but rather I hit the return key a few times and leave the old phrase/sentence at the bottom of the file. This lets me compare them and use my favourite. So often I will end up with tons of crap like this at the bottom of a word file:
Quote:tumbling and bouncing down the angled roof.
as her fingers grasped for holding on the sharp tiles.
Without a second’s warning, the Knowledgarium shook violently, sending the girl careening from her perch. She bounced down the angled
careening down the Knowledgarium’s angled roof.
With a yelp, she tumbled over the edge, fingers slipping on the sharp tiles.
With a yelp, she stretched out her arm, grabbing for the side of the building.
As another thing, I got a cafetiere for christmas and ended up writing 1600 words the night I broke it in, which for me is a lot. Since then I've been making a jug every time I sit down to start writing. I don't know whether it's being drugged-up or whether it's purely psychological (since it's kinda become a routine, and I've always loved the smell of coffee) but it seems to help.
Your turn =O
Writing Habits - Super Buu - 01-05-2009
Oh, and it's also interesting to see the kind of balance people have over planning vs. spontaneity. There are people who plan out everything before they write it, and others who literally just type the first thing that comes to their head.
In my opinion, planning too much can make things seem very contrived or unrealistic, and under-planning can often lead to something that has no direction or cohesion. Neither of those things are necessarily bad (there are examples of great writers for both. Like Hunter S. Thompson for the latter) but I like to strike a nice balance. If there's one thing I've learned from writing that I can apply to real life, it's that sometimes I should just disregard my elaborate plans and go what seems to work.
Recently I've found that if I don't plan, my subconscious (or some otherworldly force that's using me as a conduit) seems to come up with much better plots than I would have otherwise. So generally I will outline the basic details but avoid getting too far ahead. If I do plan, I keep myself open to new ideas; by the end of a story, what I've come up with is usually completely different to what I originally had in mind.
Writing Habits - Dehan - 01-05-2009
I've found that my 'best' work comes spontaneously than planning it out but I almost always love to have a plan even when I write but I'll be changing that and seeing where it takes me. I have managed to write some good stuff off the top of my head then develop it further.
Writing Habits - Jesper - 01-05-2009
The only thing I've ever, ever planned was Burden In My Hand. Even ASS was almost completely spontaneous. xD
Writing Habits - Belle Hibiki - 01-05-2009
Before writing a saga, I sit down and sketch out a bare bones direction I want the story to go. For A Path of Broken Dreams, I knew I wanted Hibiki to start off in a dojo, go to the mountains and fight a "dragon" creature for possession of the Dragonball before I set to writing. Everything else grew outward from that central idea as I wrote, like leaves sprouting on a tree. Sayana, Cog, Long, the wife; I didn't know when I sat down that they were ever going to exist.
As to where I write, it shifts. For Veni Vidi Vici, my writing was done both at home and at school on my laptop. The library environment of the school was really awesome for getting me to buckle down. As Supes said, there are a lot of distractions when you're at the computer, and not having access to the ability to boot up WoW - but still having the ability to surf the web - was largely responsible for how quickly I was able to belt that saga out, and partly responsible for the quality.
Now that I'm graduated, I don't have access to ye olde library anymore. I tend to write a great deal of my posts long-hand in a notebook before committing them to a word processor. In addition to keeping me away from the endless black hole of the internet, I've found that it helps keep my writing tight(er), as when I'm writing with a pen or pencil I have plenty of time to 'hear' the way a sentence sounds in my mind.
Writing Habits - Misa Fujiroka - 01-05-2009
I can't write if there's anybody around me. I have to be totally isolated to write. I don't usually plan things out, unless it's the first time I'm writing for a character. Once I really get into the character's head, though, they pretty much write themselves.
I have trouble with describing things, though. Not in the sense that I can't, but in the sense that I can't stop. I keep wanting to slap words where they aren't wanted, and it ends up being way too hard to understand what's actually going on. I've gotten a little better lately (looking at my old stuff made me cringe), but I still tend to wander off into Adjective Land when I get too carried away.
Writing Habits - Celena - 01-05-2009
Who are you/was your old character btw?
Writing Habits - Vad - 01-05-2009
I use music to write. Each song plays out to the mood of each scene in one post. Every post I do, has at least 2 songs going with the theme. It's sort of a drug that allows my thoughts to escape through my fingers onto the screen in front of me.
I strive in Combat. Narrating and just plain dialouge need work. Plus I need to effing READ more. I worked my ass off on the introductions for Vad, and I ended up with a lot of holes now that I look back on it.
The problem I have is, that I complete something, call it done. Then 2 weeks later, read it again and go, "I COULD HAVE DONE IT DIFFERENTLY DEMMIT!"
=( It's annoying.
Writing Habits - Juno - 01-05-2009
Xena Wrote:Who are you/was your old character btw?
I think she's new.
New people make me happy. =]
EDIT: I have a bad habit: indecision. I have to sit there and really think and make sure I want something. It's like Juno right now. I'm reworking him completely because my trial run of him wasn't satisfactory.
I also can't write and watch television. Music sometimes, maybe.
Writing Habits - Pinky - 01-05-2009
I try to have a theme. The theme dictates the characters, their environment, and the characters' reactions to the situations.
Then I imagine what the end-goal is. With that as a focal point, and with a theme, characters, and environments the story pretty much writes itself.
This is actually a problematic process for me. I have an imagination that burns like wildfire. If the story in my head goes too far beyond what I've actually written then I get bored writing the "older" parts, and since a story has to flow in a logically linear fashion I can't just jump to the new parts, and so I stop writing altogether.
Writing Habits - Sullivan - 01-05-2009
My worst habit is that I'm horrible at planning things.
I can focus really well after drinking an energy drink. >.>
I do best when in an environment that someone else made for me. I.E. a saga.
Writing Habits - Sage - 01-05-2009
I'm mostly stream-of-consciousness, which an occasional plan here and there.
Writing Habits - Super Buu - 01-05-2009
Really interesting stuff, so far. I found a similar thing, Misa, that when I really like a character it becomes more automatic; it's almost like they take over the decisions for me. And your methods sound pretty similar to mine, Belle =o
A weird thing for me (following on from from what I said earlier) is that I didn't plan out Rose's sense of humour at all, but I noticed afterwards that it's kind of an amalgamation of her parents; she can be blunt, childish and juvenile like Supes, but cutting and sarcastic like Violet. And I kinda had in mind that Rose the kind of person who doesn't commit to anything for fear of narrowing her options. Then I looked at her abilities - one which makes her more flexible, the other which makes her more rigid - and her stat distribution. I swear to god, I did not plan that correlation. Not consciously at least.
Music always helps me write, but I haven't been using it recently because going to find the track I want mid-writing tends to distract me. I need to make playlists.
Writing Habits - Super Buu - 01-05-2009
Rod Hardwood Wrote:This is actually a problematic process for me. I have an imagination that burns like wildfire. If the story in my head goes too far beyond what I've actually written then I get bored writing the "older" parts, and since a story has to flow in a logically linear fashion I can't just jump to the new parts, and so I stop writing altogether.
I really feel you there. So many fully-planned out plots that I never managed to write. It's why now I force myself to write out my stuff when I'm still excited about it. If I wait, then I'll get interested in something else and the motivation will be gone.
Writing Habits - Jonathan Meer - 01-05-2009
I have to be completely and totally rested and settled, or I get stressed and frustrated while writing.
I don't do much in the way of editing, which might be a bad thing. I write fiction like I write papers: so that my first draft is my final draft, and contains no errors.
I don't revise my papers before I turn them in, and I usually get A's or high B's. I don't revise my fiction, except for maybe fixing up a nagging phrase.
If I ever get to a point where I'm at all stuck on a word or sentence, I have a lot of difficulty continuing to write.
And coffee is a god-send.
Writing Habits - Misa Fujiroka - 01-05-2009
Xena Wrote:Who are you/was your old character btw?
Juno's right; I'm total newbsauce. D: I watched the forums for a long time before the reboot, but the posted rules were iffy for a while, and I felt intimidated by the number of people here. I'm still intimidated, but I'm trying really hard to get over it. That's also why my character is the way she is--naive, fragile, not that great at fighting but willing to try. ...Just like I feel, lol.
Writing Habits - Sage - 01-05-2009
We're all coldly abusive, but we really do mean well. <.<
Writing Habits - Celena - 01-05-2009
I like listening to music when I write. Fast songs for fight scenes and calm songs for calm scenes.
Writing Habits - Android-18 - 01-05-2009
I just...write.
Writing Habits - Vad - 01-05-2009
Alexandra Wrote:I just...write.
You Mozart Clone. =(