Writing Meme
Sep. 24th, 2015 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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bleodswean, original entry and comments here.
The Questions, in a textbox for easy copying to your own journal if you want to.
My Answers
1. Do you use a computer? Or pen and paper?
Computer. I do sometimes use a pen and paper for notes or very rough drafts but I wrote the novel by hand and it took ages to get it typed up and in a decent state to begin editing.
2. If you use a computer, do you utilize software? And if so, tell us about it!
Word, sometimes notepad, yWriter, and I've downloaded the free trial of Scrivener.
3. What references do you use and how do you apply this to your active writing?
I'm not precisely sure what references means in this context but I do have print dictionaries and a thesaurus but these days I, like most people, do most of my research online. The other day I was able to find how much apples cost in the USA in the late 1940s for example with one search. That would have been a visit to the library and hunting through reference materials pre-internet.
Name books are my weakness though. I have a ton of them, and a handful of favourites including one meant for writers (the Reverse Name Dictionary). Any time I see a name book in a charity store or discount bookstore I flick through it to see if it has enough unique entries/ways of organising them to make it worth adding to my store. Again though, I love sites like behindthename.com.
Stationery is another weakness. While I do most writing on the pc, I love having notebooks and carrying a notepad with notes, to do lists, favourite recipes, etc.
4. Describe your writing "space" or post a photo.
My pc desk. I don't have a laptop so it's me and the PC. I might post a photo when I do my next photo post.
5. Do you use character sheets? If so, can you share your sheet?
No. I've used the one at Hiveword.com before because it is the least constrained but I tend to make general notes or play answering memes rather than the "your character's favourite colour/what undergarments they're wearing/their date of birth" things.
6. Do you use photographs or artwork to visualize your characters or settings?
Yes. To my occasional frustration I don't draw well. So I use photos, I use dolldivine.com, I make bad Photoshop manips, but I enjoy the extra dimension.
You see, I don't just read and write fanfic. I also consume and create fanart, icons, graphics, fanvids, and fanmixes. Why should I not engage with my own work in the same way? Fanvids might be beyond my scope, but many writers make mixes that inspire their work, and I don't really see the difference between being inspired by a piece of music or being inspired by a fairy tale or by a photograph.
7. Do you use music to inspire your writing? Do you need to write in silence?
Sometimes I make mixes, as I said above. Sometimes I have music on – sometimes the same song on repeat for a while. Sometimes it's too distracting while I write but I get a lot of ideas – including scenes, trailers, "fanvids" – while listening to music. Someone on my flist a while back introduced me to the scientifically created Focus At Will music and you can use their samples at YouTube – this is my favourite.
8. When do you edit? How long do you find you need to leave a work before you can return to it fresh?
I'm working on trying to get all/at least most of the way through a piece before editing but it's a hard habit to get into. Obviously the longer a piece is left the better, a couple of weeks or more ideally. I also find putting it on my ereader helps me get into reader mode, where I notice the flow and errors more than when I'm at the computer in my writer mode.
9. Do you share your work with others? At what stage is this most beneficial? Is there a stage at which it is detrimental?
Yes, but I don't have any strong opinions or answers there. Having a cheerleader can help. My artist for the small fandom big bang last year helped me regain my inspiration for the fic enough to do a full edit and include some new scenes that came out of our discussions about the work. I suppose there is a danger early on that people will sway your own opinions about a story, especially since they're only seeing a part of the whole you're invisioning.
10. Is there a certain time of day/week that works better for your creative energy?
It varies. I like to think I'm a morning person but that's become mid-morning when I'm more awake and have done any major chores and dealt with any important email and so on. Late afternoon and early evening often work too.
bleodswean, original entry and comments here.The Questions, in a textbox for easy copying to your own journal if you want to.
My Answers
1. Do you use a computer? Or pen and paper?
Computer. I do sometimes use a pen and paper for notes or very rough drafts but I wrote the novel by hand and it took ages to get it typed up and in a decent state to begin editing.
2. If you use a computer, do you utilize software? And if so, tell us about it!
Word, sometimes notepad, yWriter, and I've downloaded the free trial of Scrivener.
3. What references do you use and how do you apply this to your active writing?
I'm not precisely sure what references means in this context but I do have print dictionaries and a thesaurus but these days I, like most people, do most of my research online. The other day I was able to find how much apples cost in the USA in the late 1940s for example with one search. That would have been a visit to the library and hunting through reference materials pre-internet.
Name books are my weakness though. I have a ton of them, and a handful of favourites including one meant for writers (the Reverse Name Dictionary). Any time I see a name book in a charity store or discount bookstore I flick through it to see if it has enough unique entries/ways of organising them to make it worth adding to my store. Again though, I love sites like behindthename.com.
Stationery is another weakness. While I do most writing on the pc, I love having notebooks and carrying a notepad with notes, to do lists, favourite recipes, etc.
4. Describe your writing "space" or post a photo.
My pc desk. I don't have a laptop so it's me and the PC. I might post a photo when I do my next photo post.
5. Do you use character sheets? If so, can you share your sheet?
No. I've used the one at Hiveword.com before because it is the least constrained but I tend to make general notes or play answering memes rather than the "your character's favourite colour/what undergarments they're wearing/their date of birth" things.
6. Do you use photographs or artwork to visualize your characters or settings?
Yes. To my occasional frustration I don't draw well. So I use photos, I use dolldivine.com, I make bad Photoshop manips, but I enjoy the extra dimension.
You see, I don't just read and write fanfic. I also consume and create fanart, icons, graphics, fanvids, and fanmixes. Why should I not engage with my own work in the same way? Fanvids might be beyond my scope, but many writers make mixes that inspire their work, and I don't really see the difference between being inspired by a piece of music or being inspired by a fairy tale or by a photograph.
7. Do you use music to inspire your writing? Do you need to write in silence?
Sometimes I make mixes, as I said above. Sometimes I have music on – sometimes the same song on repeat for a while. Sometimes it's too distracting while I write but I get a lot of ideas – including scenes, trailers, "fanvids" – while listening to music. Someone on my flist a while back introduced me to the scientifically created Focus At Will music and you can use their samples at YouTube – this is my favourite.
8. When do you edit? How long do you find you need to leave a work before you can return to it fresh?
I'm working on trying to get all/at least most of the way through a piece before editing but it's a hard habit to get into. Obviously the longer a piece is left the better, a couple of weeks or more ideally. I also find putting it on my ereader helps me get into reader mode, where I notice the flow and errors more than when I'm at the computer in my writer mode.
9. Do you share your work with others? At what stage is this most beneficial? Is there a stage at which it is detrimental?
Yes, but I don't have any strong opinions or answers there. Having a cheerleader can help. My artist for the small fandom big bang last year helped me regain my inspiration for the fic enough to do a full edit and include some new scenes that came out of our discussions about the work. I suppose there is a danger early on that people will sway your own opinions about a story, especially since they're only seeing a part of the whole you're invisioning.
10. Is there a certain time of day/week that works better for your creative energy?
It varies. I like to think I'm a morning person but that's become mid-morning when I'm more awake and have done any major chores and dealt with any important email and so on. Late afternoon and early evening often work too.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-24 01:41 pm (UTC)This I suppose there is a danger early on that people will sway your own opinions about a story, especially since they're only seeing a part of the whole you're invisioning. SO HARD. Yep, yep, yep. Protect your fragile work while it's still so new...time will come when it's hard as steel and can withstand.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-25 04:53 pm (UTC)19,600 words - I still have that draft because I hate deleting my work! It was about 2/3 done by my reckoning as the Fairy Tale AU.
After many months I started editing it into something coherent and changed it from the AU fanfic it had begun as to a an original novella, which gave me more freedom with some of the plotlines. So there are some scenes almost unchanged but it became massively different in most respects. It was now 35,800 words.
Then I did a major editing job which pushed it into the novel length, 65,800 words. Then constant tinkering.
And now it's still not done, because I lack confidence and keep encountering reasons for self doubt, not helped by bs like the article I mentioned the other day that insists your career will be ruined if you don't fork out thousands of pounds to have your first book professionally edited.
In a lot of ways it's a good example of how not to go about writing a book. I don't like making an outline when I start writing but I wish I hadn't left it until so late in the editing process to do so because it made keeping timelines straight much more difficult.
All the kerfuffle is why I think it should be "sold" for free, as an example of my work rather than the best I can ever offer.
I'm proud of what I've learnt and accomplished so far but it's been an uphill labour of love and has both good and bad memories attached to it for various reasons. That ties in with the "watch out for beta readers" because my first beta had some really screwed up and hypocritical notions about sex/sexiness/relationships/consent and I got tired of explaining why I felt there was definite consent for a *kiss* (not sex, just a kiss) and that consent didn't have to fully verbal...
no subject
Date: 2015-09-29 10:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-29 04:04 pm (UTC)You could adjust the meme to suit drawing - computer or pen & paper still works, for example, as does do you listen to music, etc. The editing one probably doesn't work but maybe you sketch and then later colour or something? :)
my writing space
Date: 2015-12-11 05:17 pm (UTC)