What conditions are necessary for you to write?

JoNightshade · Jun 14, 2007

I've read that writers are notoriously superstitious about various things they need in order to write. For example, having a certain pen or just the right notebook.

So what conditions do you need to be true in order to write?

Here are mine:

1) I need a window to look out of. (Or, alternately, actually be outside.)
2) I cannot have music playing, although conversation in the background is fine.
3) I need to be able to put my feet up on something other than the floor. A box, the back of the desk, another chair, whatever. My feet need somewhere to go.
4) I need some little distraction to piddle around with while I'm mulling things over in my head. Right now I have two things: a plastic rose on my desk and Absolute Write. I write for a while, get hung up on a sentence, and pick up the rose. Start twiddling it. Formulate sentence. Go back to work. Get hung up on a plot twist? Make a post on Absolute Write. (Before AW it was voting for t-shirts on threadless.com.)

scarletpeaches · Jun 14, 2007

Can't have music playing.

I need to be alert. I don't sleep too well and I can't concentrate on a story arc if I'm thinking about a lovely snooze.

Apart from that I can write anywhere unless there are kids running about screaming and shouting like in the local library or near a playground.

Stijn Hommes · Jun 14, 2007

1) I need to be away from distractions (loud conversations, TV, music)
2) I need to have an idea where to start and end the story I am going to write.
3) I need either paper or a computer
4) I need a comfortable seat, I can't write in any other position.

Andre_Laurent · Jun 14, 2007

TV on real low in the background and a nice cold Mountain Dew.

nevada · Jun 14, 2007

I need nothing. I write when I write. Yesterday I wrote several pages at work, before I started cutting the baseboard. I once wrote a whole short story on the bus. I can write with the tv on or off. Although i have noticed that I seem to write faster when a hockey game is on. (Ice hockey for you non-canadians. lol)

I refuse to be held prisoner by learned habits. It's bad enough I have routines at work and I slow down when I don't follow the routine. There is no way that rigidity will influence my writing. It's hard enough as it is to also have to pay attention to things beyond the words.

NeuroFizz · Jun 14, 2007

Time. That's all. A twenty-fifth hour in the day would be greatly appreciated.

RG570 · Jun 14, 2007

I don't need anything. Well, a good premise helps. That's about all I need, a good idea.

JoNightshade · Jun 14, 2007

Aren't all you enlightened unsuperstitious people sad that you're so boring?

Gillhoughly · Jun 14, 2007

Being conscious usually works best for me.

ChaosTitan · Jun 14, 2007

JoNightshade said:
So what conditions do you need to be true in order to write?

A computer, or a pen and paper.

sunna · Jun 14, 2007

I need a computer. A working computer. I can no longer read my own handwriting after about a paragraph.

Not being hungry or in a lot of pain is also important. Other than that, I think I could work with most situations.

swvaughn · Jun 14, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Aren't all you enlightened unsuperstitious people sad that you're so boring?

Yes.

I'm with the boring crowd who writes any time, anywhere. Though I like to have some music (preferably loud and delivered via earphones).

Except for right now because I'm completely neurotic about being on submission and can't seem to write anything but crap. Crap (about not being able to write, that is...).

AllieB · Jun 14, 2007

Yeah, another un-superstitious one here...

I need time. That's all. If I waited for the right conditions, I'd never finish anything.

Sassee · Jun 14, 2007

If I can manage to:

1. Be away from the TV
2. Not have my husband drag me out of the house
3. Not have people walking past my cube all the time (@ work, lunch, whatever)

Then I can write. For some reason background noise doesn't bother me at all but if there are other visual stimuli in the area I'm irresistably drawn to them, and I jump guiltily whenever someone walks behind me in my cube, even when I am doing work!

nevada · Jun 14, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Aren't all you enlightened unsuperstitious people sad that you're so boring?

Only when it comes to writing. At work im positively anal. I always do the baseboard first. then I hang the doors, then i put on the door hardware. then i do the bathroom hardware and always the toiletpaper holder first and then the towel bar. Then i do the bifold hardware. then i do the pocket door hardware, if there is a pocket door. Then, and only then, do i install the closet rods. That order must be maintained at all times. If I vary from that pattern, I'm twice as slow and things are forgotten. I cant start a job halfway through the day. I always measure the baseboard starting at the front door and I always move to the right. I start nailing on the baseboard at the same spot and always the piece of baseboard to the left of the front door is the last piece to be nailed on. Not so enlightened and unsuperstitious when it comes to work.

sunna · Jun 14, 2007

Sassee said:
For some reason background noise doesn't bother me at all but if there are other visual stimuli in the area I'm irresistably drawn to them, and I jump guiltily whenever someone walks behind me in my cube, even when I am doing work!

Right there with you! Nothing like trying to explain how this really is a draft letter to (fill-in-the-blank), and you'll be taking out the references to blood and the weird names any minute now. It's just a first draft.

...not that I've done this.

(actually, I now have my own little office type area, so nobody gets to walk behind me anymore.)

JoNightshade · Jun 14, 2007

nevada said:
Only when it comes to writing. At work im positively anal. I always do the baseboard first. then I hang the doors, then i put on the door hardware. then i do the bathroom hardware and always the toiletpaper holder first and then the towel bar. Then i do the bifold hardware. then i do the pocket door hardware, if there is a pocket door. Then, and only then, do i install the closet rods. That order must be maintained at all times. If I vary from that pattern, I'm twice as slow and things are forgotten. I cant start a job halfway through the day. I always measure the baseboard starting at the front door and I always move to the right. I start nailing on the baseboard at the same spot and always the piece of baseboard to the left of the front door is the last piece to be nailed on. Not so enlightened and unsuperstitious when it comes to work.

Haha, okay, so I guess compared to you, my work habits are pretty boring. I'm one of those "creative" people who get bored if I have to do the same thing the same way twice.

Anyway I guess I'm not really superstitious about my writing habits. I can work without my little twiddling rose, and I might manage it without a window. But it is certainly less pleasant and it takes longer for the words to flow.

Flay · Jun 14, 2007

1. Quiet.
2. Natural light.
3. Money in the bank.

3 is the only one I can't do without.

Pamster · Jun 14, 2007

I like to have my computer, the tv going, my son running around being himself and then a nice fan blowing. Although I do write while he's in school too, then I just have the music on and no tv usually unless there is a Incredible Hulk marathon on Scifi Channel...in that case I get no work done...LOL!

But other then that I am just one of the lucky ones I suppose being able to write whenever the mood strikes me, it's editing that I find harder to get in the mood to do.

Mike Martyn · Jun 14, 2007

I need a window which I have and a door which I can close as well as a computer with a nice laser printer.

If I'm writing YA, I don a pair of Chuck All Stars so I can connect with my inner 12 year old. I can't believe we used to play sports in those suckers!

I find regular noise ok but music makes it completely impossible for me to write.

jhtatroe · Jun 14, 2007

I am very happy to see others who don't like music playing while they write. Most of my writer friends say they need music and I was beginning to feel like a bit of a freak.

1. No music. I can bend this rule if I'm in a cafe and it's background music, as long as it's not loud. I've been known to leave Starbucks when they turn the music up, though.
2. I need to have recently read my email and message boards.
3. I need access to a clock or timer.

Additionally, sometimes I end up associating a particular project with a certain place. When that's the case, it's best to just go with the flow. I once wrote most of a novel sitting on the floor in the hallway outside my son's bedroom.

Saanen · Jun 14, 2007

I can write anywhere at any time, but the fewer distractions I have the better. I mean distractions like TV, computer, other people's books.

I don't mind noise or action around me (I like to write in coffee shops), as long as I'm not required to participate. Once I'm in the rhythm of writing, I can concentrate no matter what my surroundings--but once I'm interrupted directly (someone talking to me, for instance), it throws off my groove. I really, really, really dislike being disturbed when I've settled in for an intense writing session.

akiwiguy · Jun 14, 2007

I leave my wife tied to the headboard, chloroform the children and lock the cat outside. Yeah, I like space.

Mel · Jun 14, 2007

1. Prefer to be alone.
2. Feet up, because I'm short.
3. Can do music but needs to be something I don't know the words to. TV is too distracting for me, as are people talking around me. So music can drown them out.
4. Night is best; I like the dark.
5. Text Twist is good for finding words that aren't really words, but could work in stories.
6. AW is hard to stay away from!

Jack Nog · Jun 14, 2007

Wow, well lately, its:

1. The same CD (Mix that I made) over and over.
2. Sitting in my car in the parking garage at my work.
3. Air conditioner on full blast right at my face.
4. Piece of Denteen Ice Gum.

Yes, none of it makes any sense, but it's getting me through.

What conditions are necessary for you to write?

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

scarletpeaches

Stijn Hommes

Know what you write...

Andre_Laurent

nevada

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

RG570

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

Gillhoughly

Grumpy writer and editor

ChaosTitan

Around

sunna

swvaughn

adrift

AllieB

Sassee

Momma Wolf

nevada

sunna

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

Flay

Pamster

Counting Stars

Mike Martyn

jhtatroe

Saanen

akiwiguy

AW Inmate #90976

Mel

Never be completely back to normal.

Jack Nog

Brain-farts are useful too.