Writing Routine

Kaitlyn_Phillips · Post by **Kaitlyn_Phillips** » 21 Feb 2016, 00:08

As writers, we tend to be quirky people. What is your routine you follow before you can write/during your writing/after your writing?

For me, I absolutely need coffee and an instrumental music station playing. I cannot work in silence; it's impossible. Also, I always hand-write my work first, and then transfer it to a computer later. I find it easier to edit that way, because I see my mistakes and awkward points when I'm copying it into a document.

What routine works for you?

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 24 Feb 2016, 12:53

I cannot write while listening to music. I'm a big classical fan and so the music I'd be playing will be Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. No way I can focus on my writing while that great music is playing -- my attention would be drawn to the music.

I write straight to the computer. Why should I not? All my submissions are via computer and MS-Word anyway. I would waste time and energy by creating a manuscript first. Of course it's a learned skill -- we all started out writing manually, but for years, I write straight to my trusty HP laptop and directly into MS-Word files.

After years of working online and with computers for engineering specifications and tech manuals (everything on computer, zero manuscripts) I gained the ability to write primarily with keyboard and computer. I'm pretty proficient with computers anyway, so that helps.

No caffine -- my health won't allow it, so it's bottled water only.

But I sit in my very comfy recliner, lightweight HP laptop actually on my lap -- well, the tops of my thighs -- and I can sit and stare at the screen, type by touch, and I'm a fairly fast typist too. I rarely slow down when I'm writing a new passage or chapter in my novels, I just dump the words onto the page (screen actually) and don't worry about small typos (tpyos?) and save, then go back and fix stuff.

What I also do often is to write several versions of a chapter, saving them on my computer as ch13a, ch13b, ch13c, and so on, each with a twist or slight difference, and later I go back and pick and choose among the sequences, and consolidate them into a new "ch13" but I still save the a, b, c versions in case I later change my mind.

So I've got a folder on my virtual Winders desktop which contains many files -- a list of characters and their brief bios, a short plot thread -- where I want the story to go, and many sample chapters, other files with random ideas and misc data, and then a main "final" file which contains my full "manuscript" which is the novel in progress, ch 1 thru 39 or whatever.

I am very flexible at first, with many little random plot sequences and ideas saved, then I gradually pare them down and extract my main story from them. With the huge disk space on my computer, there's zero reason to delete these files anyway, so they're saved "forever" in case I want to go back and retrieve a conversation or idea.

Due to my "day job" career in science and engineering, I'm very organized and this pays off in spades.

KS Crooks · Post by **KS Crooks** » 27 Feb 2016, 17:22

Kaitlyn_Phillips wrote:I always hand-write my work first, and then transfer it to a computer later. I find it easier to edit that way, because I see my mistakes and awkward points when I'm copying it into a document.

Because I write in the morning while riding public transit on the way to work I also write by hand. The sounds of the other commuters and the train give me the needed noise...I can't stand silence as well. I sometime get some looks from people surprised that anyone still uses pen and paper. I too find that transferring what I've written into my computer provides a first editing step, which I hope will make editing when my story is complete feel easier.

DATo · Post by **DATo** » 28 Feb 2016, 16:28

Nothing special. An idea comes into my head and I sit (at the computer) and write. The one quirky thing, I suppose, is that once I start I become obsessed with finishing and have been known to write half way through the night to complete something I've started. Other than that there is nothing which I find which constitutes a pattern of any kind from one piece to the next.

This reminds me of a bit of trivia I once heard that Goethe could only write if he had a rotting apple inside one of the drawers of his desk. How weird is THAT!?

katiesquilts · Post by **katiesquilts** » 28 Feb 2016, 20:20

A lot of my writing process involves sitting in front of my laptop and staring at a wall while I think of how to phrase something. The whole "sitting still and not doing anything" thing bothers me because even though I'm technically processing my thoughts, it feels like I'm not doing anything productive at all. That's why before I try to sit down and write anything, I always have to do a few little tasks beforehand to make myself feel like I'm being productive. Being productive puts me in the zone!

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 28 Feb 2016, 22:23

What I might recommend is to not wait till the sentence is "just right" (the Goldilocks principle) and just pound it out. Then save the thing and keep going, shaky sentence after shaky sentence. That's what revision is for.

At least that's what I've found works for me -- I just write the hell out of the chapter and fix the shaky stuff later. That gets me off my mental duff.

katiesquilts · Post by **katiesquilts** » 29 Feb 2016, 09:06

Yes, well, we were discussing writing routines and how everyone is unique.

Besides, I'm not just thinking about how to make things "just right," I'm trying to remember a specific word in English. If I wrote freely half of my work would be in another language, not just "shaky."

njzeba · Post by **njzeba** » 25 Apr 2016, 20:47

I can write in almost any environment unless there's far too much noise (especially when people are speakign really loudly) but I am just naturally able to transport into my mind if I just have a pen and some paper. I usually prefer to write in a notebook, journal or diary but as long as I have blank paper and pen plus energy , I feel unstoppable. I also can't forget tea or coffee. I usually keep either by my side as I am writing. They really get my creative juices flowing.

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 25 Apr 2016, 21:29

katiesquilts wrote:Yes, well, we were discussing writing routines and how everyone is unique.

Besides, I'm not just thinking about how to make things "just right," I'm trying to remember a specific word in English. If I wrote freely half of my work would be in another language, not just "shaky."

katie, that's exactly what I am talking about. Use a synonym and keep plugging forward. That exact word will come to you in the middle of the night. When you are actively engaged in writing, even not precisely using the word desired, the very act of writing stimulates the creation centers in the brain and soon the words will flow.

I've had this over and over while writing my novels. If I stopped mid-sentence because I couldn't think of the exact word, I'd never have written over a quarter million words. I just charge ahead and write, write, write. Then as I'm re-reading a chapter from yesterday, there comes the eureka moment and that missing word is suddenly ready to be typed out. I can't tell you how many times this has happened. A quick example -- the major "reveal" in my mystery novel has this 2nd paragraph:

"Ricky reached to his inside coat pocket, retrieved a folded sheet of paper, handed it to me. I opened it.

"A message from the grave and it dealt with death most certain, most absolute."

I agonized over that "message" sentence for days, but I still kept writing beyond that. I'd go back and revise, revise again, and finally I knew it was just right. My point is that I didn't just sit and spin my wheels. I proceeded and soon the right wording was evident.