What are your Writuals?
I found this article very interesting, it’s great to have an insight intowhat other writers do to get in the writing mood and then what they do whilst writing too. I’d love to see what the Writer’s Retreat member’s writuals are *cough*hinthint*cough*
“Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw and Roald Dahl did it in sheds at the bottom
of the garden. Shaw’s desk was famously on castors, so he could turn it
throughout the day to get maximum light. Dahl even had one of his own hip bones
sitting on the desk. Every writer will have their own ritual. Kerry McKittrick
examines the modus operandi of some of Ireland’s favourite writers and asks:
What are your Writuals?”
Where are you?
I write at home in my bedroom, usually surronded by the bits of scibbled on paper that contain my plot, character bios and obscure doodles of things to do with the story. Oh and Jérôme the cabbage patch is usually around somewhere.
What are you writing with?
Always paper for the plan and then my laptop for writing
What’s the oddest object in front of you?
I’ll take a picture, there are no words for its epicness.
What are you listening to?
The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance but it can be anything from that to Ludovico Einaudi. I can’t write with the TV or radio on though because people talking disturbs me.
Is there anyone else in the room?
No way, that would drive me mad.
What time of day is it?
The best stuff seems to appear around 3am but any time in the day seems to work alright.
What do you look at when you’re looking for inspiration?
Go on wiki-trails, for people who’ve never heard of it, you start on a random wikipedia page and then click on any link on the page that catches your interest. And generally stuff in my room or out the window that catches my eye, sometimes dreams can be quite useful too.
What is guaranteed to remove your concentration?
People talking and lack of tea
I like this Fey, thank you for sharing what writuals serve you best in your writing. 🙂
Love the details of how others write. And your own particular points of contact. It\’s interesting to see that we are all different and yet similar in our creativity.
I write on the computer, in the dining room, there is a stuffed animal, a tiger sitting on the tower, I have bowls filled with pretty rocks and shells that are ready to be moved into place if need be for inspiration.
I need silence to write, no kids, no television, no music. I find the music I listen to just before writing is important. I have my sappy sweet stuff for my romance and the harder, Linkin Park and AFI for the wilder stuff.
What is guaranteed to ruin my concentration…any noise, a sad thing because my house if full of kids, animals and other distractions.
I set aside Saturday and Sunday mornings to write, everyone knows not to disturb me, sleep in and stay silent!! Beware the wrath of MOM!!
If I need inspiration a walk does wonders, or writing my morning pages. There\’s always something exciting to see outside in my neighborhood.
E
Great Wiley post, Fey! My only mandatory writual is icewater with lemon, and my iPod. I generate playlists for the particular story or section of the story I\’m working on, and put it on repeat. I don\’t mind listening to the same 20 songs over and over. Sometimes I make a collage of inspirational photographs and make that my desktop background. When I have to think for a minute, I go to the desktop and stare at it.
I LOVE the wikitrails idea!!! I\’ll have to try that. I bet it just brings up all sorts of things you wouldn\’t consider otherwise!