The Writing Meme

The Writing Meme (by way of the lovely and talented bleodswean)

1. Do you use a computer? Or pen and paper?
2. If you use a computer, do you utilize software? And if so, tell us about it!
3. What references do you use and how do you apply this to your active writing?
4. Describe your writing "space" or post a photo.
5. Do you use character sheets? If so, can you share your sheet?
6. Do you use photographs or artwork to visualize your characters or settings?
7. Do you use music to inspire your writing? Do you need to write in silence?
8. When do you edit? How long do you find you need to leave a work before you can return to it fresh?
9. Do you share your work with others? At what stage is this most beneficial? Is there a stage at which it is detrimental?
10. Is there a certain time of day/week that works better for your creative energy?

My replies:

1. I use a computer. Twenty-five years ago or so, I trained myself to write on a computer, giving up my notebook diaries. The only time I use pen and paper is if I'm on a long train ride or plane ride, and my battery has died.

I used to write with Rapidographs only. Oddly enough, I still retain an obsession with very thin-pointed pens. But I never, ever use them.

2. I use MS Word. No storyboarding software. If I need to do an outline, I'll do it as a Word document.

3. I usually keep two documents when I'm writing fiction, even short fiction. The first is the actual piece itself. The second is a kind of log. So if I'm writing a first draft, and I use a character on Page 5 who really should have been set up on Page 1, in the log I'll write, Introduce Marigold on Page 1. And then in the second draft, I will introduce Marigold on Page 1.

This also works for research. If my heroine lives in a French chateau, and I need French chateau interior decor status detail, I'll write in the log, Research interior decor of French chateaux. And I'll do that as I'm writing the second draft.

4. My writing space is just a desk with a computer in a room that nobody enters without my express permission.

5. I don't know what character sheets are, so I don't use them. :-)

6. I do occasionally use photographs to give me an idea of what characters and settings look like.

7. Can't listen to music when I write, nope. Never! Listening to music is a really participatory activity for me. My mind instantly starts separating out the various instruments, visualizing the musicians. I write to the ambient noise of the day.

8. I try never, ever to edit something while I'm writing it. (I don't always succeed.) I find that if I start editing, I absolutely lose the writing rhythm. Writing is hard; editing is easy. I try to accept the fact that much of what I write in a first draft will be no damn good, but that it will improve by the second draft.

I usually forget the visceral experience of having written something about six weeks after I write it. Which makes that the perfect time to edit.

9. Yeah, I'm one of those people who luvs workshopping! I don't even care if the other people in the workshop don't like what I've written. Other people's reactions are interesting to me. While there have been plenty of times when workshopping hasn't been particularly beneficial -- because nobody has actually gotten what I was trying to express, I can't say that I've ever found it detrimental. Probably because when all is said and done, I have a very high opinion of my own writing ability. :-)

10. I write in the morning. The earlier the better. Sometimes, if I've got a lot of stuff planned for the day, I'll get up at 4am to write. I try to write every single day, even if it's just for an hour, and even if I'm just writing in my online diary. It's very easy to lose the rhythm of writing if you fall out of the habit.