NationStates Jolt Archive

Writers: what helps you write?

I'm not talking about finding "something to say", or going for long walks to find inspiration or whatever; I'm talking about having to sit down and actually write something.

Where is best?
When is best?
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
How do you deal with procrastination?

I guess if you're writing purely because you enjoy writing, this probably doesn't apply.

Writers: what helps you write?

I'm not talking about finding "something to say", or going for long walks to find inspiration or whatever; I'm talking about having to sit down and actually write something.

Where is best?
When is best?
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
How do you deal with procrastination?

I guess if you're writing purely because you enjoy writing, this probably doesn't apply.

Exactly, for me, it doesn´t apply. I like writing for the pleasure of it.

So, since it seems like half the forum has a book coming out.

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Writers: what helps you write?

I'm not talking about finding "something to say", or going for long walks to find inspiration or whatever; I'm talking about having to sit down and actually write something.

Where is best?
When is best?
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
How do you deal with procrastination?

I guess if you're writing purely because you enjoy writing, this probably doesn't apply.
Well, although I enjoy writing, I prefer writing upside down on my couch with a pencil (More reliable) preferably in the middle of the day after I've gotten a few posts in on NSG, loaded with caffiene.

I don't have a schedule, and the whole upside down thing with a book nearby and the TV on helps (Yes, I read, then write a little, it calms me down in some weird way). And I don't procrastinate, cause I don't HAVE to write. I just do it when I feel like it. Occasionly I change from the couch with a book, to on the computer, but that's rare.

And yes, I'm actually being serious about everything in this post. I'm a weird person.

I'm not much of a pleasure writer at the moment. When I have to write something, I plan a day to do it, probably a weekend. I set my alarm for about 10. I get up, grab a banana, and get to work. I work until its done or late at night. I'm not one of those "hour a day" writers. Once I get going, I can't stop. It just flows. Like diarrhea.

screw books...if the story is worth telling they'll make a movie about it...:D

When I do write, I do it in short bursts when an idea hits me. I've had one story going on in my mind for the past 2 years though I have only written 1 chapter of it. I change all my writing a lot and my idea's always change.

I don't write books, but I do write for a living.
On the computer, because it's so much faster, and usually listening to techno, because it has a driving beat and no words. Cold water, sometimes coffee or black tea.
The most important thing, though? Deadlines. When your reputation and your livelihood is on the line, that's a great motivator!

Writers: what helps you write?
Smoking. And deadlines.

Writers: what helps you write?
A story that I find interesting and thrilling. That's pretty much it; if I'm interested in the story, nothing else will matter much, and if I'm not, nothing else will help.

Where is best?
Any place is as good as the other, as long as it's physically possible to write there; I'm good at shutting the outside world out of my mind. Mostly I just sit in my room, because that's where the computer is.

When is best?
After midnight, until about 4 AM. I'm so slow to wake up that I can't get anything useful done with my brain before that, be it writing or anything else.

Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
Computer if possible, because it's the fastest way, although pen and paper do just fine if I'm traveling or something.

Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Just cola, if anything. Sometimes I try to write when drunk, but then I always end up just listening to 90's techno-pop and watching porn all night.

Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)
No, I just write whenever I have free time. However, that might not be a good idea if you have something else in your life too.

Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
Here's one that I invented for myself: take an A4 sheet of paper, and draw a straight line in the middle of it from top to bottom. When your story is finished, see how many pages it has, and then divide that line into an equal amount of sections. Then, on the right side of the line, write a one-line description of what happens on every page into their respective places on the line. This way you get a good look at the overall structure of your story. The space on the left side of the line you can use to make notes and add story parts into the timeline.

Other than that, I don't have anything special. Just a txt-file with a bulleted list of random ideas for future use.

How do you deal with procrastination?
I just wait until the feeling passes.

I'm not much of a pleasure writer at the moment. When I have to write something, I plan a day to do it, probably a weekend. I set my alarm for about 10. I get up, grab a banana, and get to work. I work until its done or late at night. I'm not one of those "hour a day" writers. Once I get going, I can't stop. It just flows. Like diarrhea.

A masturbation and a diarrhea reference in the same paragraph?

Why hasn't the universe imploded?

All of your difficulties can be solved with one word: plagiarism. If you worried about getting caught, there's another word to fix that: extortion.

Writers: what helps you write?

I'm not talking about finding "something to say", or going for long walks to find inspiration or whatever; I'm talking about having to sit down and actually write something.

Where is best?
When is best?
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
How do you deal with procrastination?

I guess if you're writing purely because you enjoy writing, this probably doesn't apply.

Writing well is like anything: you have to practice at it to get good. You've got to write every day to get your style down enough to make anything that anybody else would want to read.

Some people like writing at internet cafes, but I prefer the quiet of my apartment, with the tv and wireless modem turned off.

For me, I've found writing in the morning (after a shower) is the best time. I do all my good thinking in the shower. Coffee makes me jittery, alcohol makes me sleepy and apathetic, and pot makes my writing not make any damn sense.

Computer nowadays, since it's really easy to save drafts and go back and revise crappy portions of your old stories.

I try to write the ending first, so I know where I'm going with the story. An outline helps too. Also, when writing dialogue, add in descriptive sentences.

Example: "Whew! It's a hot one," Jim said.
"Yeah, went up to ninety," Marty replied.

"Whew! It's a hot one," Jim said, as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand.
"Yeah, went up to ninety," Marty replied without turning from his task of building the hydrogen bomb.

See the difference?

Where is best? Wherever inspiration hits. Usually when I collect my thoughts, in bed.
When is best? Whenever inspiration hits. Usually in the evening, though.
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter? Keyboard. So much faster than anything else.
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up? I think inspiration shines when your half asleep, defences down. As for the rest, I don't need to be high or drunk to think/act like I am.
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar) Not so much a schedule as quotas and deadlines. But every day, for at least an hour.
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help? Going through the text looking for any plain words "walked, said, talked, etc" and spicing them up, as well as anything else, as mush as possible.
How do you deal with procrastination? Quotas and deadlines.

Writers: what helps you write?
Lots of mental stimulation -- other writers' works, movies, television, art, conversations about anything, etc. You never know what is going to spark that connection you've been struggling to make.

Good sleep and hot showers.

Time. From initial idea to actually doing the work, I usually need a lot of time not writing to let the idea "percolate" through my brain. The work always comes out better for it.

Where is best?
At home. In my pajamas.

When is best?
With breakfast and/or after dinner, with a 2-3 hour midday break.

Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
Computer. I used to use a manual typewriter, but it's just too hard to get the ribbons anymore. And anyway, computers make it much easier to format and disseminate a manuscript.

Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Loads of coffee. Also ice water and crunchy, low-salt snacks. Also, fresh air and bright light.

Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)
No set schedule. I don't write every day, though I think about the project every day (percolating). I like to set aside whole days for writing -- or at least not doing anything other than writing.

Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
Music and images. I like to make playlists for every story/character I work on. Playing the music while working helps me stay in the mindset for the person or scene.

Also, I use visual aids for characters and settings. I collect images/video of actors or movie scenes that express something that I've already planned for a character -- their appearance, or a facial expression, or body movement, etc -- and I refer to these if I get stuck, again to help me get into the mindset. Also I collect pictures of real places to stand in for the real or fictional settings of my scenes.

How do you deal with procrastination?
Badly. It is the number one thing that holds me back. I need therapy for it, I think.

I guess if you're writing purely because you enjoy writing, this probably doesn't apply.
Why wouldn't it apply?

Where is best? Where ever's comfortable
When is best? When the inspiration strikes (it's not my moneymaker)
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter? yes
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up? Nope
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar) See the second answer.
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help? nope
How do you deal with procrastination? I wait it out. :p

Where is best?
On my bed.
When is best?
About 3AM when I can't sleep.
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
Open Office on my Linux laptop with the "paper" pink and the font in mom's typewriter (google it) and the program on that makes my computer make old fashioned typewriter sounds (seriously)
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Slightly rested, unstressed, no pressing matters to deal with. I drink a lot of pineapple juice while writing.
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)
Only if I'm under the wire or have a deadline, otherwise it flows when it flows.
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
When doing fiction I've found the snowflake method of outlining has been helpful. If you poke around google you should be able to download an excel spreadsheet for it.
How do you deal with procrastination?
The only reason you would procrastinate would be writers block, I get over writers block by writing something unrelated or writing in an unusual place, you never know what new things you will come up with when you are writing somewhere unexpected.

Who says half the forum has a book coming out? I may be kicking around a couple of ideas but I've only started a formal outline for one.

Writers: what helps you write?
Personal experience.

Where is best?
Probably at a computer terminal with Word up and a dictionary, thesaurus, and a notebook on the desk.

Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
I recommend you pen out the basics before taking it to the computer. Most typewriters don't have spellcheck.

Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Sober when you're wide awake will probably be best. Don't stop when you're on a run but try to get to bed and get up at an appropriate time.

Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
I think of the most offensive crap I can imagine and try to work it into the story so that anyone who reads it will want to lynch me. The story I most want to tell is a celebration of Columbine-style massacres where people get what they deserve and the heroic gunmen emerge victorious from a heated battle with bloodthirsty suburban rent-a-cops to the cheers of thousands in the heartwarming conclusion. There could even be a sequel where the protagonist becomes a superhero that sets callipygian paragons of virtue on fire and then have a running gag that all flamers are just waiting to snap.

How do you deal with procrastination?
I'll have to get back to you on that.

I guess if you're writing purely because you enjoy writing, this probably doesn't apply.
If you're going to write you're probably going to have to like it because writing, especially a book, can be difficult.

Writers: what helps you write?

I'm not talking about finding "something to say", or going for long walks to find inspiration or whatever; I'm talking about having to sit down and actually write something.

Where is best?
When is best?
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?
How do you deal with procrastination?

I guess if you're writing purely because you enjoy writing, this probably doesn't apply.Writing isn't limited to text only. I work on comics, and it sure as hell involves writing as much as it involves drawing.

I usually do it at home in my bed. Sketching the characters and thinking of what their personalities are like helps getting things going. Usually, listening to music that emulates the character or scene helps get my mind into focus for how I want to tell the story.

How do you deal with procrastination?
I just wait until the feeling passes.

:D

Why wouldn't it apply?

Because you can just do it whenever the mood takes you, wherever the mood takes you.


I get over writers block by writing something unrelated

I think is a fantastic idea - and one I use all the time. I've replied to my own OP below.

Who says half the forum has a book coming out? I may be kicking around a couple of ideas but I've only started a formal outline for one.

Well, it was an exaggeration, and this thread isn't just about people who are writing books.

If you're going to write you're probably going to have to like it because writing, especially a book, can be difficult.

Writing can be tough but you don't always have the luxury of being able to do what you like.

Writing isn't limited to text only. I work on comics, and it sure as hell involves writing as much as it involves drawing.

I didn't say it was. If anything, comics require that you take more factors into account.


Where is best?

In my office. A dedicated space without too many distractions (bloody internet :mad:)

When is best?
As soon as I get up. Probably the worst possible time in terms of being in the mood to write but it produces decent results.


Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?

Pen for outline/sketching scenes. Keyboard when I'm writing a full draft.

Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?

Lots of writers report a reliance on some kind of stimulant. I can't write if I'm not "clean", for lack of a better word.

Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)

Not a strict one, but I do try and write for a few hours each morning if I can.

Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?

As smunkee said, I find that "writing something unrelated" helps enormously. If you're working on one project, you always seem to have a flood of ideas for the project that you aren't working on. I've harnassed that by setting up two computers in my office, one running project "A" and one running project "B" and I move between the two.

How do you deal with procrastination?

I set mini-deadlines. If I'm meeting someone for lunch then I have to write ten pages by the time I have to leave.

I didn't say it was. If anything, comics require that you take more factors into account.

The writing is a little more simplified, however. Given the visual element to comics, vivid descriptions don't have to exist to paint a picture in the reader's head. The picture is there. Dialog still is important though.

Not that I'm ragging on comics or anything. I have no artistic skill, so I could never pull it off with the additional factor of illustrations.

Because you can just do it whenever the mood takes you, wherever the mood takes you.

What Indri said:

If you're going to write you're probably going to have to like it because writing, especially a book, can be difficult.

If you just enjoy putting words on paper, you can do that "whenever," but if you want to write an actual book -- whether or not you ever intend to do anything with it -- then you're probably going to develop some techniques for getting that done. It's like if you just play tennis for fun, you still go to some effort to make time and set up conditions that will allow you to play tennis. If the only reason you write is for enjoyment, that doesn't change whatever conditions you need to do writing in.

Maybe your OP question should have been "what helps you meet deadlines/finish projects?" That really is something that people who write only for personal pleasure might not need to think about.

Writers: what helps you write?

I'm not talking about finding "something to say", or going for long walks to find inspiration or whatever; I'm talking about having to sit down and actually write something.

Where is best?
At home, with the blinds closed
When is best?
Anytime really, when inspiration hits me
Pen? Keyboard? Typewriter?Pen or keyboard, i don't own a typewriter. I don't prefer one over the other, more a case of what i feel like.(although the penned down stuff needs to be put inthe comp eventually)
Loads of coffee? Drunk? Sober? Drugged up?yes :P
Do you keep to a schedule? (Three hours every morning or similar)No schedule, inspiration comes when it comes.
Do you have any special techniques or methods that help?I read, a lot.
How do you deal with procrastination?
I always finish the passage i'm working on, but i will spent lots of time staring at the wall/ceiling.
I guess if you're writing purely because you enjoy writing, this probably doesn't apply.
I do enjoy writing, getting a story finished can be quite a chore, especially if my ideas have been drifting to new pastures. I have at least 5 unfinished stories on my comp, and at least 20 story ideas on my writing pads.

What Indri said:
If you just enjoy putting words on paper, you can do that "whenever," but if you want to write an actual book -- whether or not you ever intend to do anything with it -- then you're probably going to develop some techniques for getting that done. It's like if you just play tennis for fun, you still go to some effort to make time and set up conditions that will allow you to play tennis. If the only reason you write is for enjoyment, that doesn't change whatever conditions you need to do writing in.

If you want to complete a book then you aren't writing "purely because you enjoy writing". You're writing because you want to complete a book - even if the only reason for that is personal pleasure.

If you want to complete a book then you aren't writing "purely because you enjoy writing". You're writing because you want to complete a book - even if the only reason for that is personal pleasure.
Nonsense.

I guess that reaction means I disagree.

The trick I've always used is this.

Given the subject matter, I write the various separate sections I can definitely write about. I need to use a computer for this, I could simply write on separate sheets of paper but then I'd need to rewrite the whole thing out so...

Anyway, I'll write the separate parts and then I'll order them as I see fit. Often I find the theme of the piece naturally appears, or I'll see a tangent or particular angle that interests me and I can expand.

I do this because if I think of a piece from start to finish, I can't stand the start, I just sit there dithering about how best to start it. If I just write section here, a section there, I find the start tends to come to me.

If I have to write something long then I find I need multiple inputs, I'll have the TV on silent on something very visual and I'll have music on and the windows open - I just need lots of stuff happening around me for some reason.

Most of this isn't helpful but I think, though poorly expressed, that the first part is, possibly for any project. Do what you can first and then you'll see where the gaps are. A linear approach means that a quarter way through, you might see you're heading in the wrong direction and so you need to start again.

That's a killer, well for me anyway.

I didn't say it was. If anything, comics require that you take more factors into account.Indeed, however the questions you're asking are heavily biased in that direction. Just calling it to your attention ;)

I write purely for enjoyment. A friend and I have worked out a concept for a book, and we have a rough draft of the first few pages, but we haven't worked on it in a while - especially because she's going to be leaving our college.

Indeed, however the questions you're asking are heavily biased in that direction. Just calling it to your attention ;)

I don't know about that. I tried to make them fairly general because I write things that are susposed to be perfomed (plays, screenplays) but most people here write prose fiction.