What helps you write?

Calamity_Jones · Oct 8, 2008

So, over the past two weeks, I've been exploring methods of improving my writing and helping me plan my story. I have found some useful methods...

The one thing that I would say helps the quality of my writing the most is printing it out. When I look at the words on the computer screen, I can see some problems, and I can fix some of them... But when I see it on paper and I have a pen in my hand, the ideas just flow. I usually assume that I will remove about five hundred words and add another thousand on the first revision of every chapter. My first prints are an absolute mess, covered in scribbled out words, substituted words, arrows telling me to move individual words, sentences or whole chunks of paragraphs. Then I usually make a second pass and correct the corrections, some times ending up with words that are crossed out, substituted, and returned to as they were. I have big chunks of text scruffily written in the margins, whole scenes scribbled on the backs of pages. Nothing has worked better for me than simply printing it out!
Full screen text editors. I would highly recommend that anybody who has not tried one, try it! I just wrote a good 2000 words in the last hour, and it was the easiest thing ever. I'm using WriteMonkey, it's free, simple and easy to use. Prior to this, I have been sitting in front of an open document in Open Office and staring at the screen. I usually listen to music, and have Firefox and MSN running. Distractions. Music doesn't trouble me much, but the other things do.
Character interviews. I found this to be very useful. I started with the main characters, and asked them all "What is your purpose in my story?" and went from there on, using Dale Emery's idea of following their energy. It helped me to get into the minds of my characters, and I found out things about them that I did not know I had created...
Sticking notes all over my wall P). It's helped me plan the story out and fix all sorts of holes that I previously struggled with. I created new links between sub plots and found all sorts of odd discrepancies that I hadn't noticed before. Before this, my plan consisted of bullet points in a word document, but it just didn't cut it. I gave up planning after a while because I could not figure out how to make the plan 2d. As in, start at point one, finish at point ##. By putting it into a 3d network of cards, I can plan properly, and now, by merely glancing to my right while I write, I can remind myself of the plot to the story. If I get stuck, all I have to do is look to my side!
Using a note pad and a pen. When I get stuck, or when I need to think about the plot a bit, I wander off to the park and sit under a tree with a note pad and a pen. I've come up with some great ideas and dialogue doing this. I guess that it's just a different place, a different location to the usual one. My room, and my computer. There's also the whole lack of distractions advantage.

I've started to realise that my computer, though an essential tool to my attempts to write a publishable book, is also a huge distraction... I'm a 'bit' of a gamer, and my machine is high performance, and rather noisy (It contains seven fans

... ). So I put on music to drown out the noise, which in turn serves as a distraction. Then as soon as I get stuck, I usually open up Firefox and have a quick look at facebook (which is more habit forming than crack), a few conversations on MSN, followed by the news. Then I see an interesting story and go look it up on wikipedia. And we all know how dangerous wikipedia is. Before I know it, two hours are gone and I've written nothing.

The full screen text editing seems to be a solution to my problems. I can really see the appeal of writers retreats now. I suppose you don't really notice distractions until you remove them, like your brain filters out repetitive sounds... Suxh as an air conditioner or fan, after a while you don't notice it, then when it is switched off, the world seems suddenly silent.

Anyway, anyone got any more good suggestions? What has helped you the most? I'm going to have to be ready and full of fresh ideas and methods for next month!

Clarec · Oct 8, 2008

Er, my muse? Although she's on an extended holiday. Otherwise just being really motivated and for me that means writing the bits I enjoy i.e. action mostly. The rest I drag myself through. I'm so easily distracted too. Obviously.

Clare

Norton · Oct 8, 2008

What helps you write?

All I need is pen, paper, notebook, silence and loneliness.

Full screen text editors. I would highly recommend that anybody who has not tried one, try it! I'm using WriteMonkey

I'm using Q10.
Also MS Word has "Full Screen" button

Phoebe H · Oct 8, 2008

The way my life works right now, my writing time is during my commute (on the bus) and during lunch. These are not ideal writing situations, but learning to deal with them has greatly increased my ability to write under *many* circumstances.

My computer is a laptop. During my writing time it is disconnected from the internet, and usually from a power source as well. This drastically limits my ability to engage in non-writing activities on it.

I usually listen to music -- I have a playlist with about 75 songs on it, many of them movie, tv, or videogame soundtracks, which work really well to mask noise, engage my brain, and fade into the background

I use a simple word processor. (Specifically an old version of Appleworks.) I don't want a word processor that corrects my typing or my grammar, or thinks it can spell better than I can. I want it to let me type, do just enough formatting to meet Standard Manuscript Guidelines, give me a word count, and easily convert file types. That's it. Anything more than that and I have to spend too much time fighting it.

I have a spreadsheet where I track my daily productivity. My only responsibility is to make the blue squiggly line go up.

Those are the tools that work for me.

Michael Parks · Oct 9, 2008

Norton said:
All I need is pen, paper, notebook, silence and loneliness.

I'm using Q10.
Also MS Word has "Full Screen" button

ooo.. Q10 is cool, too! thx for the link

Michael Parks · Oct 9, 2008

Doh... what helps me write?

Primarily.... my intense desire to "work on my book".

Deeper: the need to be creative. Nothing else in my life allows me to be so creative than my time spent writing. Controlled, measurable, tangible creativity... using the world's greatest medium for visualization, the written word.

That and a cup of cocoa on a cool night.

Calamity_Jones · Oct 9, 2008

Phoebe H said:
I don't want a word processor that corrects my typing or my grammar, or thinks it can spell better than I can. I want it to let me type, do just enough formatting to meet Standard Manuscript Guidelines, give me a word count, and easily convert file types. That's it. Anything more than that and I have to spend too much time fighting it.

That's why I stopped using MS word. I once tried to write a CV on it, and all the auto formatting sent me crazy. Trying to move words to different locations, and it suddenly decides to turn it into a set of bullet points, change the font, the size, and indent it. Or it changes spellings when you're not looking... Etc. Really annoying. Nice interface though

Ms Hollands · Oct 9, 2008

I find writing in the dead of night is great for no distractions: nobody can call me, activity on the internet lulls (although only on the more European-based sites I use, but as most of my Facebook friends are in Europe, that means activity on there dies down at night too), television is not worth watching and I have some sort of zombie focus that lets me write quickly and well.

OremLK · Oct 9, 2008

Clarec said:
Er, my muse? Although she's on an extended holiday. Otherwise just being really motivated and for me that means writing the bits I enjoy i.e. action mostly. The rest I drag myself through. I'm so easily distracted too. Obviously.

Clare

For me, that's when I jump on a plane and fly over to wherever my muse is vacationing. I have to stalk her for awhile and kind of pretend to myself I'm not doing it or she might notice and run away. At some point I catch her in a dark alley and knock her unconscious with a big stick. Then I interrogate her and try to get her to tell me everything she knows. She's a tough one, though, that muse, and slippery too, so more often than not I only get a little out of her before she escapes again and I have to start the whole process over the next day.

Calamity_Jones · Oct 9, 2008

April Hollands said:
I find writing in the dead of night is great for no distractions: nobody can call me, activity on the internet lulls (although only on the more European-based sites I use, but as most of my Facebook friends are in Europe, that means activity on there dies down at night too), television is not worth watching and I have some sort of zombie focus that lets me write quickly and well.

Heh. I was up at 5AM creating this thread after spending a while looking for a good full screen text editor, then writing for an hour or so.

OremLK said:
For me, that's when I jump on a plane and fly over to wherever my muse is vacationing. I have to stalk her for awhile and kind of pretend to myself I'm not doing it or she might notice and run away. At some point I catch her in a dark alley and knock her unconscious with a big stick. Then I interrogate her and try to get her to tell me everything she knows. She's a tough one, though, that muse, and slippery too, so more often than not I only get a little out of her before she escapes again and I have to start the whole process over the next day.

Sounds exciting. Just hope she doesn't file a restraining order

Eldritch · Oct 9, 2008

Caffeine, preferably tea.

Calamity_Jones · Oct 9, 2008

JustJess · Oct 9, 2008

Well my laptop is an unreliable piece of crap. It has a nasty habit of freezing, shutting down and then not restarting-for days or WEEKS (yeah I should probably just get it repaired but I'm afraid it will be $$$) Also I hate the glare! I'd like to type at my dinning room table or even outdoors but can't.-So this is my long way of saying-my laptop does not help me write.

So what helps?

#1-sleeping children! I've got 5 of them (ranging from 13 years to 10 months)

#2-Music, I need some kind of background music to get my brain going

#3-Scented candle. Ok this sounds weird but each WIP gets a different candle-when I sit down and light it, the scent triggers memories of the book and helps me get back in the flow.

#4-Notebooks and different color pens. I'm a big note taker but prefer single subject notebooks (hate flipping through blank pages) so I just use different color pens for different kinds of notes. Red=brainstorming, Green=character stuff, Black=scene ideas, Blue=writing exercises

Clarec · Oct 9, 2008

OremLK said:
For me, that's when I jump on a plane and fly over to wherever my muse is vacationing. I have to stalk her for awhile and kind of pretend to myself I'm not doing it or she might notice and run away. At some point I catch her in a dark alley and knock her unconscious with a big stick. Then I interrogate her and try to get her to tell me everything she knows. She's a tough one, though, that muse, and slippery too, so more often than not I only get a little out of her before she escapes again and I have to start the whole process over the next day.

Goodness me, no wonder she is on the run with that kind of treatment! She's probably had plastic surgery and living in Costa Rica now, flying under the radar and scared of big sticks!

Clare

Charlie Horse · Oct 9, 2008

Well, since my retirement plan is in the toilet, the hopes of generating some sort of income from my writing in the next 10-15 years has become a bit more urgent.

Straka · Oct 9, 2008

Calamity_Jones said:
I've started to realise that my computer, though an essential tool to my attempts to write a publishable book, is also a huge distraction... I'm a 'bit' of a gamer.

I still consider myself a gamer though I think I've played 3 hours of games in the last month. If I want to write there doesn't seem to be time for games much anymore. This whole job thing gets in the way as well.

Personally I like listening to repetitive music, techno and such to get my mind into a certain state of mind and stay there.

johnzakour · Oct 9, 2008

I don't do any writing exercises, I use to but I found they didn't inspire me as much as doing non writing related activities to spur my writing.

For instance, if I am on a deadline and simply must write even if I don't feel like writing or it's going slow then I turn to caffeine and chocolate. Makes me feel and hyper a great combo at least to get me through a crunch.

Other times I find exercise helps. Hitting my punching bag for five minutes or taking the dog for a walk can do wonders.

When I'm really not in the mood I watch TV. I never know how seeing one idea on TV will spark my brain.

Finally there are times when I will play some World of Warcraft. (WoW can really help me reset my mind.)

Deccydiva · Oct 9, 2008

Charlie Horse said:
Well, since my retirement plan is in the toilet, the hopes of generating some sort of income from my writing in the next 10-15 years has become a bit more urgent.

Yep, me too!

Mr Flibble · Oct 9, 2008

1- sleeping kids or kids at school.
2 - Husband otherwise occupied ( it's been sooooo much easier since Warhammer online came out lol)
3 - Tea or alcohol. Preferably alcohol, but there's only so much my liver can take

4- tobacco
5 - having had a good bit of time at work to think through what I'm going to write about today. This bit is the most vital. I have to have mulled it over, or I'll get nowhere fast.

Telstar · Oct 9, 2008

Lets see...

Needed:
1) Two or three hours: The best is afternoon or evening when my boyfriend is sleeping or watching tv.
2) Music with headphones - the best to isolate from the computer noise (I have more fans than the sum of all other components). Mostly classic or other music that inspires me at the time.
3) Word, One note, notepad and excel open. I cant stand any other word processor. I like to write with some format, that will print as likely as would be a printed book. I revise on paper with red pen - this is a must and everybody who tries it will feel the difference.

Welcome:
3) Chocolate or tea.
4) Having had sex already.
5) An interesting part of the story to be written.
6) The approaching of a deadline (my closest deadlines are a chapter ended and revised a week).
7) Being in the mood.
8) Occasional willing breaks

Unwelcome:
4) msn (i dont log when i'm writing).
5) interruptions of any kind.
6) work email that needs to be replied quickly.
7) appointments that happens during the time shift above.

CaroGirl · Oct 9, 2008

Things that help my writing:

When my job hits a boring patch (frequent).
When my boss is away.
When I "work from home."
When there's only crap on TV that my husband wants to watch (Monday nights are great writing nights for me).

Sunshine13 · Oct 9, 2008

Coffee house, Music and headphones.

Calamity_Jones · Oct 9, 2008

If I drink coffee, I prefer proper freshbrew coffee. *drools*

tehuti88 · Oct 9, 2008

I realize this is utterly stupid and not what you were looking for, but the only things I can think of that literally help me write are

* An avid interest in the thing I want to write about

* Reading/learning more about said avid interest

and

* Interested readers who respond to what I write

Aside from that, I just write. There must be more concrete things that help me but I honestly can't think of them.

Bookdragonette · Oct 9, 2008

A good kick in the pants. Sadly, I still need to work on the motivation-part.

I do find that having the resources available to me (paper, pen, etc.) helps. Also, privacy. I tend to not mention that I am engaging in this to others, and so I can't write when others are around.

What helps you write?

Boomer's Disposable Minion

Writer

In the moment

In the moment

Boomer's Disposable Minion

Cow lover

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Speaking in metaphors

Bored Fanatic

Dangerous with a Keyboard

Back from the dead

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

I create people

Living the dream

Mom by day, writer by night!

Boomer's Disposable Minion

Mackinac Island Fanatic

Differently Actual