A writing meme
Aug. 11th, 2005 03:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperSnurched from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wiredwizard!
1) Where do you write?
Wherever the mood suits me. When I'm not at home with my laptop, I have my handheld with me and can work on a story on that.
2) Do you use/have a laptop?
Yes. Its name is Newstar!
3) What distracts you from writing?
Stress is my number one distraction. If I'm stressed, it impacts my ability to get to the words in my brain, which stresses me in turn; it's a very annoying and distracting cycle. Failing that, I sometimes have trouble writing if there are too many people around me, or too much noise.
4) What makes you write even more?
The creative drive of the musicians or actors or other writers I admire, or making enough progress on planning out a storyline that I'm certain I know what I need to write. Having a story start to really come together in my head is highly motivating.
5) What do you have set up for yourself so that you can write even more?
Oddly phrased question; I'm not sure how to answer it. If this means "what changes have I made to my life to accommodate my writing", I've set myself a daily goal of shooting for 500 words or doing something that's otherwise writing-related, such as working on outline or character notes.
6) What do you do when you're stuck?
Work on another project; brainstorm at sympathetic ears until I come up with a new way to approach the problem I need to solve; ask myself if the point at which I'm stuck "feels" right, because I find that sometimes if my characters are refusing to let me write about them past a certain point, it's a signal that I've tried to write them doing something that's out of character for them just before then, so I should backtrack and fix it.
7) Do you write from beginning to end... or do you jump around as the mood suits you?
I used to jump around when I was working on fanfic projects, because I'd want to write all the "good" (read: the parts where romance was happening or otherwise high-emotion scenes) bits first. I soon found that I dawdled on writing all the other bits. And when I began to write things intended for actual publication, I found that I need to write beginning to end in order to keep myself focused--and, because I find that if I try to write point B before I write point A, something in point A might actually affect how point B turns out and I'll have to go back and fix it anyway.
8) When do you write?
Usually in the evenings during the week, and on the weekends as time permits.
9) If you're a novel-writer of any sort... how do you set up your story, or do you? do you make outlines, write character descriptions, etc? Or do you just start writing?
I usually start by making at least some form of outline and character notes, then I start writing. However, it's an organic process for me--once the writing starts, then I discover new things that I need to add to my notes, which in turn will affect further things that I write in the story. I often find that when I get to a chapter I've previously outlined, what actually gets written is not what I had in my notes before. (Which is another reason why I write beginning-to-end.)
10) How do you stay motivated to write... to keep going, even if you've been rejected time and time again?
So far it's really helped that I simply enjoy the act of writing itself, of building a story, of building a world. It's something I've wanted to do all my life, ever since I was small, and now that I'm finally doing it I get a huge amount of personal satisfaction out of that alone. The likelihood of publisher rejection is almost immaterial. (Still, I hope to get around that problem by having a whole bunch of stories to throw out into the market!)
wiredwizard!1) Where do you write?
Wherever the mood suits me. When I'm not at home with my laptop, I have my handheld with me and can work on a story on that.
2) Do you use/have a laptop?
Yes. Its name is Newstar!
3) What distracts you from writing?
Stress is my number one distraction. If I'm stressed, it impacts my ability to get to the words in my brain, which stresses me in turn; it's a very annoying and distracting cycle. Failing that, I sometimes have trouble writing if there are too many people around me, or too much noise.
4) What makes you write even more?
The creative drive of the musicians or actors or other writers I admire, or making enough progress on planning out a storyline that I'm certain I know what I need to write. Having a story start to really come together in my head is highly motivating.
5) What do you have set up for yourself so that you can write even more?
Oddly phrased question; I'm not sure how to answer it. If this means "what changes have I made to my life to accommodate my writing", I've set myself a daily goal of shooting for 500 words or doing something that's otherwise writing-related, such as working on outline or character notes.
6) What do you do when you're stuck?
Work on another project; brainstorm at sympathetic ears until I come up with a new way to approach the problem I need to solve; ask myself if the point at which I'm stuck "feels" right, because I find that sometimes if my characters are refusing to let me write about them past a certain point, it's a signal that I've tried to write them doing something that's out of character for them just before then, so I should backtrack and fix it.
7) Do you write from beginning to end... or do you jump around as the mood suits you?
I used to jump around when I was working on fanfic projects, because I'd want to write all the "good" (read: the parts where romance was happening or otherwise high-emotion scenes) bits first. I soon found that I dawdled on writing all the other bits. And when I began to write things intended for actual publication, I found that I need to write beginning to end in order to keep myself focused--and, because I find that if I try to write point B before I write point A, something in point A might actually affect how point B turns out and I'll have to go back and fix it anyway.
8) When do you write?
Usually in the evenings during the week, and on the weekends as time permits.
9) If you're a novel-writer of any sort... how do you set up your story, or do you? do you make outlines, write character descriptions, etc? Or do you just start writing?
I usually start by making at least some form of outline and character notes, then I start writing. However, it's an organic process for me--once the writing starts, then I discover new things that I need to add to my notes, which in turn will affect further things that I write in the story. I often find that when I get to a chapter I've previously outlined, what actually gets written is not what I had in my notes before. (Which is another reason why I write beginning-to-end.)
10) How do you stay motivated to write... to keep going, even if you've been rejected time and time again?
So far it's really helped that I simply enjoy the act of writing itself, of building a story, of building a world. It's something I've wanted to do all my life, ever since I was small, and now that I'm finally doing it I get a huge amount of personal satisfaction out of that alone. The likelihood of publisher rejection is almost immaterial. (Still, I hope to get around that problem by having a whole bunch of stories to throw out into the market!)