WEEKLY CHECK-IN: Tickety boxes and a couple of questions

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

[Poll #1824744]

Now that you've started hyperventilating thinking about your story, are any particular songs coming to mind, like "Please release me (Let me go)" or "A Whumping hunting we will go?"

Any particular writing/vidding/drawing survival must-haves at your house? I have to drink pots and pots of tea (probably explains why I always have the lads consuming copious amounts) and my mate Cherry has to listen to the Bee Gees... don't ask.

Or, if none of this foolishness appeals to you, feel free to just check-in and let us know how it's going.
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Comments

[judesmk.livejournal.com]

I was SO proud of myself for having written over 1000 words and then SS and I sat down to complete the plot outline and now I have to go back and re-write what I've already written because she had an absolutely brilliant idea for my central crime. I don't consider that fair at all. But I reckon the story will be better for it.

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

*iz jealous of your brilliant idea*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

On the bright side, you weren't 10,000 words in when she had a brilliant idea for your central crime. *g*

I LOVE to plot so this is sounding very good to me.

[inlovewithboth.livejournal.com]

Sounds totally brilliant! You were worried about that central crime plot, weren't you? All sorted now?

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

I keep getting ideas for scenes and I'm jotting them down in some sort of shorthand that I hope will make sense when I want to use them. However, I have no real plot as yet. It's not looking good, Drayce.

I don't have any writing must-haves. Family-sized bags of maltesers or revels are always a good idea, but I'm not sure how they aid the creative process. I may have to do some research on this.

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

I'm jotting them down in some sort of shorthand that I hope will make sense when I want to use them.

This, I know. I tend to write notes pictorially as well, which doesn't help me *g*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

*readies pom poms*

I'm actually dead impressed that you're starting with scenes without having a plot yet. Anything over about 5,000 words and I have to have a plot first. If you want to bounce any ideas of my little pointy head I'm pretty good at plot doctoring.

Large bags of chocolate that can be easily popped in your mouth while typing? Sounds very practical to me. :D

[inlovewithboth.livejournal.com]

Can you join all the scenes up together to make a plot out of them? It could be like a pick and mix. :)

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

AMNESIA EVERYWHERE *g*

I have to have a writing soundtrack. It is usually reprehensibly awful mainstream pop but there is always 'the song' that backs a given fic. Last year I had Madonna's 'Die Another Day' for my Pros Big Bang fic (and Fleet Foxes 'Mykonos' for my LoM Big Bang which is rather more respectable)

Tea is not a writing survival must have, it is a LIFE survival must have *g*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've written an amnesia story (it could just be that I have amnesia *g*) which is odd as I love the trope.

You do love your man bands pop. *g* I have Dessa's Seamstress stuck in my head right now with a story I'm working on.

True, but isn't creativity a life survival must have too? <-- Allowed one such arty comment a year. :D

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Jumping all over the place - have no plot, just a series of ideas for scenes and lines that amuse me. But I am 2,000 words in to the madness...

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

"2,000 words in to the madness" probably belongs on one of a series of fangirl t-shirts. :D

[dawnebeth.livejournal.com]

I actually quite liked "I have a cunning plan jotted down on a serviette' half because it sounds like Hayley Mills said it in The Trouble with Angels and half because I have actually written plot ideas on serviettes.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I assure you, I am not now, nor ever have been, Hayley Mills.

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

No plot or actual story idea as yet... just a page with a weird stream of consciousness and lots of question marks.

I tend not to write with music on, not sure why. Which is not to say I don't think of songs... was just zooming through rush-hour listening to Scissor Sisters, so now my head is full of choice lines like "take me anywhich way you want," "you're so skintight" and "tonight I'm going to toughen you up" which of course is *cough* no help at all.

Writing must-haves: warmth, caffeine, chocolate, carbs, peace and the occasional gin.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I'm always fascinated by the different ways we all approach this writing business.

I don't always write with music playing but it's nearly always running through my head.

Nice list. Straight gin or cocktail?

[krisserci5.livejournal.com]

I write more words sitting in the car on breaks than I do at home. . .go figure.

I love listening to Rob Thomas (solo or Matchbox 20).

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Hey, if it works, it works. Perhaps on one of these check-ins we should ask where people write. *makes note* :D

Oooh, nice choice. A lot of his songs would really well for the lads, I think.

[inlovewithboth.livejournal.com]

I'm listening to the soundtrack to I Was A Teenage Werebear, which is somewhat distracting rather than helpful. But I have at least decided to go with my new plot idea and am now 300 words in, with a very clear view of where I'm heading. Phew!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you're just in the mood for something anyway. *g*

It's always a relief once you know where you're going.

[loyseofverlaine.livejournal.com]

Until the end of the month, it will be dribs and drabs, but once my course essay is handed in, full-speed ahead!

One of the side effects of being a perpetual student is that I run on caffeine, so for me, writing is fueled by endless pots of Darjeeling and English Breakfast, with the occasional double espresso latte thrown in.

For this story, in additional to my usual Springsteen and Dire Straits, I'm going to dig out some of my Ladysmith Black Mombazo CDs. I want to try and get some of that African rhythm into my thought processes and see if it translates into the writing.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I drink a lot of coffee but like you, it has to be tea when I'm writing.

Ah, so direct association and an excellent choice, btw. *g*

[liriel1810.livejournal.com]

I wrote notes while waiting for the train to work the other day. Then I asked questions that needed answers (and got them! Yay for this mob!) I might actually be ready to chuck out two thirds of what I wrote two years ago and make a start this weekend!

What do I absolutely need for writing? My youngest not to come and interrupt to tell me about his latest achievements on the computer game he's playing. *g* (although I only get cranky with him when he's interrupted me 5 times in an hour)

As far as music goes I generally listen to nothing (or ignore the radio) when I'm writing, unless I need to block out externals (or pretend I can't hear them), then I listen to classical (a favourite is Holtz's The Planets. I find lyrics distracting when I'm trying to write.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

It's always lovely to see someone thrilled about chucking out work... Erm... *g*

Ah, as Virginia Woolf remarked no computer games a room of one's own.

I like classical when I'm attempting to beat a plot in to shape. I find Mozart particularly good. Otherwise, I'm pretty much listening to music if I'm conscious, even if it's just in my own head. :D

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

I am going into hospital on Monday and have every intention of writing at least the first chapter in my head to take my mind off things. I always write the first draft in my head, which margaret_r says is grossly unfair because I can then just type it out... I think it's just as much like hard work; it's only that my beta can't see what I've done.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about the hospital and hope you make a swift recovery.

I suspect there may be a lot of us who do things this way, pretty much have it drafted out in our heads before we start... well, I do it mostly that way but then there are always surprises that creep in once I start typing or do you really have it *completely* worked out?

[marjorammax.livejournal.com]

I'm absolutely gobsmacked that it's coming along as well as it is. I have (unbelieveably) a fairly detailed plot and I'm about three quarters of the way through my (very rough) first draft ... That sounds impressive until you see the HUGE gap between the first few paragraphs and the part 3/4 of the way through that I'm currently working on.

I'm sorry but I just had to give in to the urge to whump the boys. I find writing the action scenes so much easier than the scenes where nothing much is happening. Hopefully by the time I'm done with this scene I'll find enough inspiration to fill in the middle, and it won't seem too disjointed for having been written out of order.

How does everyone else write? Do you start at chapter one and work through chronologically, or do you jump in and out and link it all up at the end?

I'm trying to immerse myself in music from the era. Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel's Make Me Smile has been played to death and my family are threatening to walk out (sorry, I just love that song!). But when I'm actually writing I prefer silence.

And the number one survival essential has to be tea - cups and cups of the stuff.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

How does everyone else write? Do you start at chapter one and work through chronologically, or do you jump in and out and link it all up at the end?

Yes. :)

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I'm working on it. :)

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Good, good, then no spanking for you. :D

[murphybabe]

Urgh. I had an outline - tick. In chapters, with a brief description of what happens in each chapter. Tick. I had a massive scribbling session on the plane and when typed up had 2200 words - tick. Unfortunately, that was about three quarters of the way through and my mind seems to think that I have finished now. I am about to spend another 20+ hours on planes, and more hours in airports, so the opportunity will be there. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Fingers officially crossed as of 16:12 EST. *nods*

[lillianorchid.livejournal.com]

Tea is definitely needed not just for Writing survival, but for life survival in general. :D Also Chocolate helps.

I always need Music or some sort of Background noise to write. If its really quiet it can really put me off. I know, I'm very weird. :D

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Completely with you on the tea... and sometimes on the chocolate. *g*

I don't think so. Sometimes I'll put music on at work just because I find it less jarring than the unpredictable noise coming from other offices.

[margaret-r.livejournal.com]

I haz a plot! But it has no ending and hardly any middle. I haz 300 words written! But that is only a tiny portion of the epic tale that’s in my head. My music choice at the moment is Evenesence – Going Under. Is there a hidden meaning there somewhere do you think?*g* Pass the Scotch:P

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

That sounds less like a plot and more like a beginning. I know, I know, semantics. :D

Perhaps not so hidden?

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

I'm one of the "completed rough draft" crowd. It just sort of... happened. I got very inspired. Now the story is sitting so I can get some perspective, and the time and energy to go over it. Then I'll try to work out the things I got wrong, and then get some outside perspective on it and... well... a lot of work to do....

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

It just happens that way sometimes and other times it's like beating your head against a rock... or perhaps that's just me. *g*

I always think it's a lovely thing if you have time to let a story lie fallow for a while as looking at it after some time away from it always brings fresh perspective.

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

Have a margarita! :pours:

Well, I have a couple thousand words (though this story will have to be beyond 15K to be told properly), I've talked to a couple of people about the concept, it's going okay for me considering I don't have much time to write.

My main problem right now is that they can't know each other's names for awhile, and I am not doing the "curly-haired man" / "tall man" / etc bit for 70-odd pages. (And sadly, I'm not sure sunshine and angelfish would work, either.) "Oy!" would probably last about three pages.

I was just on my LJ complaining about that, LOL.

Am keeping up the right tone so far, though. \o/

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

So... they're not talking, just seeing each other hanging about the place? I ask because if they just keep seeing each other it's human nature to saddle someone you see frequently with a name/nickname often based on appearance or something they commonly wear.

Just a thought...