ElegantPaws wrote:
I don't know if they are quirks, but I actually meditate a bit before I sit down to write in earnest and do a bit of stretching. The phone goes off and I light my favourite scented candle and turn on quiet music.

EP

Sounds like you are trying to seduce your writing Ep.


I tend to walk about aimlessly around the house when I try to write. If I think of something I have to rush back and write it on a pad of paper.

I guess this applies to this thread.

For some reason I have the most difficut time writing like the first page and a half of a chapter. I tend to write a few lines, and then I loose focus, and do something else. Then I'll think about what I want to write, and go back again.

I am in fact doing it right now! I'm in the middle of working on a story. Tee, hee!!!

To brainstorm, I tell everyone I'm going to sleep, lock myself in my room, and lay in the dark staring at the ceiling (or where I guess the ceiling is). When I write, I usually have to be eating something crunchy, but I also write during my calculus class.

I usually have a notebook with me at all times. I have to buy extra large purses just so I can carry one. That's because I never know when it'll hit me. other than that I usually write just before bed and wake up and read what I wrote. I usually get one burst of wow-inspiration only once a month. Boo for that...

Danyealle wrote:
I can't read anything if I'm working on something. If i do that i end up incorportating what i read into my work unconciously.

Same here, especially if I'm writing a multichapter fic. I'm very paranoid about unconsciously plagiarizing :-/

I have a strange little system for writing; most of my ideas are tinkered with in my writing notebook, but I absolutely can't write in longhand anymore. I don't sit down to work on a piece until the idea is pretty clear in my mind - I can't do something like NaNo where you write freely without editing, LOL. My first typed draft is generally close to the finished product.

I like to let a piece rest before I do a final edit & post, though it can be difficult sometimes

I'm also a nocturnal writer, and music plays a very heavy role in my overall creative process. I used a mix when writing Four Seasons, but generally, I choose a specific album or song, depending on the content of the piece or the mood I'm in I've found DMB best for love/sex scenes and Rage Against the Machine best for battle scenes. LOL.

I also use my LJ extensively for meta-writing and as a place to compile research. I've found it to be very helpful in organizing my thoughts.

LOL!

Absolutely....and it works too lol!

EP:P

prettykirai08 wrote:
Another odd thing i do is when i'm writing a really good thing or just typing something like now, I pull the collar of my shirt over my nose. I don't know why but it's relaxing.

That is definitely an odd writing habit.

I go with the flow. I mean a sentence or even paragraph might pop up in my head and i write it down. Then about a week or more later more ideas come to my head and I write it down. I try not to think about cause then I mess up my head... The thing is, I have a short memory so as soon as I think of it, I HAVE to write it down. One time I was in the shower and an idea came to me. I fully ran out the bathroom and into my room just to jot it down!!.I know I'm crazy!!!

My muse requires music to flow. However, it typically comes at me in the most inconvenient time (staff meeting, audit in another state, etc...). I keep a tape recorder in the car because I've become a hazard writing stuff down while I drive. Most of the time I'll write snippets down and then do the long haul when I'm in front of a computer. My hands can't type quick enough to keep up with my thoughts, no WAY could I pretend to write fast enough.

Quirky, I typically have to be in Shigure form (from FruitsBasket). Fuzzy blue bathrobe, cup of hot tea. Sleep becomes optional.

I get my ideas when I'm meditating. The sad part is when an idea hits me I think "Remember it but keep meditating," so of course I have a tendency to forget it, but that is also a great help because I always remember really good ideas. It's like helping myself choose stories that won't make me sound like a moron.

Also when I actually do start a story, I need to keep one CD playing at a time. If I'm writing and listening to say Hybrid Theory, I remember that the next time I go to write, and can't make it sound good unless I turn Hybrid Theory on. (or whatever CD I'm listening to for that story)

When I write ( poetry, stories, drabbles, fanfictions, etc ), I must have music, even if I tend to tune it out after I get absorbed in writing because subconsciously, it's still there.

Second, I must be typing anything I write because my thoughts whirl by with so many ideas, the only way I can record them all before I lose the perfect wording ( in my opinion ) is to type it all down in a word document. Since I can type an average of 114 words a minute, it's really the best solution for me.

If I were stuck with just a notebook, I'm 100% positive anything I write would be utter failure.

I think that's it really, other than my bad habit of procrastinating when I don't have the inspiration to write. I'm a real perfectionist so I get incredibly discouraged when the words I type doesn't sound as good or doesn't portray what my thoughts are for the story. I'm a little OCD when it comes to writing. Haha.

My writing habits? I guess I have to be in a place where it is either noisy like at work or even school. Or in complete darkness across from my computer with nothing else going. Strange I know but that is just the way I work.

I have another one! It's probably not weird or anything. When i write I have a tendency to yell at whatever I'm writing. Sometimes i even cry. I've been mumbling and cursing. I've had my dad walk in the room and ask me if everything is alright a few times. it kinda falls into this category.

One thing that was just pointed out to me is that I bob my head when I'm writting fanfics! It might be the fact I like listening to my ipod while typing, or just habit...

Personally, I just sit down in front of my laptop and start typing. I never have anything planned out, but it somehow all comes together.

It's almost frightening, actually. I never know what I'm typing until it's on my laptop and when I start, I almost never have any idea what I plan to write. It just...happens.

My best ideas come when i'm doing homework. I'm a history major so I read something funky and then try to incorporate that into the story.

I write down random scenes, dialogue, plot ideas, then I shuffle and reshuffle them until I get them into a position I like. I also have a deep affinity for writing drafts and outlines by hand.

When I write, I have to write in a notebook. There´s just something about a pen on paper that makes it easier to write for me. I usually edit things once on paper, and then once more when I type it up on the computer. Which ends up making wrting a veeery long process for me.

I also used to have a very wierd quirk: I could only write when using a Black Pilot V5 pen. I don´t have to do that anymore (thankfully), but I still only use Pilot brand pens to write...Hahaha.

I never listen to music while I write, though. Whenever I try, I end up doing one of two things: I listen to the music and ignore my writing or I concentrate on writing and ignore the music. XD I seem to be unable to do both things at the same time.

And finally: I write in English. Why is this wierd, you say? Everyone here writes in English! Well, I´m bilingual and English is my second language....I can write just fine in Spanish (I do tons of project work and other study/work-related things in Spanish), but for some reason all of my stories come out in English. It´s like Spanish is my "study" language and English is my "story" language.

I prefer a dimly lit room, and perhaps some music on very softly in the background. I can't write around other people or distractions. I also have a tendency to write bits and pieces of a story in small blocks. I never sit and write from beginning to end, because that's never how my inspiration hits.

Inspiration usually strikes when I'm doing some mindless task, like washing my face before bed, when thoughts just kind of take off on their own. Or in the shower. When I was little I had a set of crayons designed specifically as bath toys so you could write on tile. I wish I still had them, because by the time I get back to my room after a shower the idea's gone.

wow lots of interesting ways, i just zone out and daydream, go for along walk in the woods, or i listen to my wonderfull hard rock or metal music or i go take a shower, for some reason running water really helps me thing (and i think it is even proven) but the only problem for this is i come up with some many ways i have to sort through it, and it is a pain because there are so many ways i can take a story.

I have to speak my character's dialogue out loud, then put it down to paper. Makes me sound like a crazy person (especially given the fact that I've done this in a park), but if I just write it or type it out, it never seems right. But if I say it out loud, and use the emotion that I want my characters to be feeling, the words just come more naturally, and they just seem better to me!

There's the thought process and the actual writing. When I actually start writing a story I make some quick notes in the beginning for the order, then proceed to write random sections. It's whatever sections my muse sends my way. XD

I usually get my inspiration while soaking in the shower, or listening to music on the long drive home. lol. I had one co-writen fic with a friend, where we always made sure to consume pixi sticks and Dr. Pepper before writing our madness. This tradition still carries on depending on the theme of the story.

Sometimes I have fics inspired by one line or scene I thought up. Like Pint Sized! came about from wanting Kagome to squeel about him in tiny dog form, and in another section having him shot him like a arrow. lol. Poor Sessh. I abuse him so.

Like many of you, I cannot write on the computer before putting a story to paper first. Every time I sit in front of the computer to write, I just draw one big blank. For me, I think it has something to do with not being able to sit in a relaxed position while sitting in front of my desktop.

Usually, I write only at night. I can't seem to get myself to work on something until around midnight, then the next thing I know, it's 4 a.m. It sucks to be me when I have an early shift at work the next day.

Also, to get my mind working on a story, I like to do things like knitting or coloring (lately I've been working on a poster I got at a craft store) -- things that are repetitive and/or don't require much concentration so I can let my mind wander.

hm... one this that i have a tendency to do is to pull the collar of my shirt (usually if i'm wearing a t-shirt) over my nose. I have no idea why i do this, but it helps me relax lol. i'm most comfortable writing while laying down or sitting on the floor.

Um, a weird haibt I have when writing is that I will yell or talk to myself sometimes. I don't know why, I just do.