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

[inlovewithboth.livejournal.com]

now there's a thought! And I have a friend who would be very pleased to accept that offer! LOL!!

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

He's a bit of a dish, isn't he? *g*

[judesmk.livejournal.com]

Not quite but I have two notebooks and a lot to sort out.

[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

[liriel1810.livejournal.com]

*g* I may not have to chuck out so much - more... condense things. ;)

I would kill for a room I could go into and close the door. Failing that, I'd just like to have a couple of days off where hubby and the kids bugger off to work and school and leave me in peace to write.

It depends on how deeply I am into the story. If I'm struggling, EVERY noise is a distraction - if I'm 'in the zone' I don't even hear it, no matter what it is. Generally, music with lyrics interrupts the movie playing in my head when I'm writing. *g*

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I think "edit" may be the word we're looking for, yes. *smooths crinoline*

My little study is only 10' x 12' but it's all mine and I love it. I think Ginny was on to something. :D

I just can't turn off the soundtrack in my head, MG says I something sing or hum in my sleep. The soundtrack just changes with whatever I'm writing and sometimes gets pulled in to the story or at least ends up in its title.

[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.

[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]

I'm working on it. :)

[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. :)

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

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

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Hey! That's not fair!

[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?

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Always such a lovely surprise when it's really just flowing along. Don't forget to relish this feeling, it'll get you through the headdesking parts. *g*

Whumping the lads? As if any of us would ever do that. :D

Like Kat said, yes. I think the more writers you talk to, the more you'll find that there are a million different ways of writing it depending on what works for you and what sort of thing you like to write. For instance, I like a convoluted plot, so I'm likely to do more plotting than someone who prefers to concentrate on emotional aspects. Someone writing AU might have weeks of research to conduct before even starting and so on.

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Oh, all right then. :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*

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Well, I plan in my head and then there are always surprises as I go into the first draft, but that's still in my head. Once I start typing, which I think of as second draft, there are usually only odds and ends that crop up unexpectedly, like bits of dialogue. This is a bit of a generalisation; occasionally things change even at third draft. But I don't start typing until I at least think it's all worked out!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

That's pretty close to how it works for me. I'm fascinated by how people can produce great stories where they just started typing with a single scene in their head but it doesn't work that way for me. Even with the shortest of stories I have a beginning, middle and end in my head before I start.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Not only that. Some people write bits from all over the place in their story and still pull it all together into something coherent. However, I'm glad I'm not alone! *g*

[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

[lillianorchid.livejournal.com]

**crosses Fingers** Good luck. :)

[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.

[lillianorchid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm very weird, any sort of background noise is good... well apart from a very loud ticking clock. Somehow that just drives me nuts. lol