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dragongirlG · 07-16-2002, 02:59 PM

Goodness, I haven't been here for ages. I'm lost. Below are some answers to questions that occurred in the last few pages.

Inspiration and spending time on the story
Sadly, I do not spend the majority of my time working or thinking about my story. My unfortunate writing habit is that I think up a beginning and perhaps middle of the story, then write and just let the characters come out and do whatever my hands tell them to do. Naturally I make some corrections, i.e. spelling, grammar, and literary devices, but most of the time I'm just writing whatever comes out of me. I'm sort of "on the go" or "in the flow." This way I don't really get writer's block. I pay attention to what I'm doing, but in a way, I'm not really thinking. I guess you could say that my subconscious, or soul, or whatever term may be used to describe it, is writing for me, instead of my head and my logic. Then, the flow stops, and that's writer's block. Sometimes it only stops for an instant--I like to think of it as an unfinished dam with water rushing through it in a flood--and the ideas, characters, settings, and different plots all come back. I describe writer's block as a dam that is finished, completed, cemented, very strong, and only when the high tide comes will it fall down and the ideas rush in. Then the tide ebbs, and that's my process of elimination--"Oh, no, that's a totally crazy idea not fit for the story at all," or "My gosh, that's great! Why didn't I think of it before?" Of course, there's always experiences that affect the story too. Sometimes experiences give you writer's block, and sometimes they make the tide of ideas stronger. I've had a lot of experiences and discoveries lately, and it's given me quite a bout of writer's block. Ergh.

When does my Muse come? Hmm, well...sometimes when I'm practicing my musical instruments, sometimes when I read something and my mind just wanders off to what I'll write, when I write in my journal and can't think of anything to say...basically, when no other aspect of my life is interesting or is calling for attention, or when I am just too lazy to go practice my instruments or prepare for the SATs. Paper is always available to me, and usually this computer is too, so sometimes I just start a file and begin writing. When I take long car trips (in which my father is driving) I bring a binder and write--not specifically my fantasy novel, but ideas that have been bugging me and have prevented me from finishing this or other works.

The story of how I decided to write a fantasy novel is quite interesting, though. I saw this thread, and was in the process of making a decision on what I should write for my sci-fi unit in English (I ended up writing an argument against the advancements of technology). I put this off for a while, caught up in graduation ceremonies, awards shows, concerts, and finals, and then I wrote a few poems about missing my school. I came back to this thread one day, and I thought about the play that I had never written for my sci-fi unit, thought a while, and then went upstairs to my journal that night and put down the characters and points of the opening chapter. I planned to put them in official paragraph form the next morning. The next day, I got up early, wrote it, and that's how it came about. (Okay, to put it in simple words, I sat down at my desk and said, "Okay, I'm going to write a fantasy novel." The idea had never occurred to me except a character's name--she had no past or anything, I just liked the name.)

As I said earlier, though, I don't really think about it all that much. I care, but as I'm now experiencing writer's block, I'm content just to sit back and read some other great works, including the FWW or my summer reading Brave New World. The tide has been low these weeks. I've also been busy with summer school and my music, so I haven't had a lot of time to think about it. My day is just physically routine: get up, go to school, go home--practice, watch movies, whatever, and go to sleep. Summer school ends on Thursday, though, so perhaps I can spend some more time with you guys. Or I'll need to catch up on my music, which has been lagging behind and is more important to my family (they make me feel so guilty!)

That's about all I can say for now. I'm finally back!

[ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: dragongirlG ]

[ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: dragongirlG ]

07-16-2002, 02:59 PM	#2
dragongirlG Wight Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Stock, the Shire Posts: 151	Goodness, I haven't been here for ages. I'm lost. Below are some answers to questions that occurred in the last few pages. Inspiration and spending time on the story Sadly, I do not spend the majority of my time working or thinking about my story. My unfortunate writing habit is that I think up a beginning and perhaps middle of the story, then write and just let the characters come out and do whatever my hands tell them to do. Naturally I make some corrections, i.e. spelling, grammar, and literary devices, but most of the time I'm just writing whatever comes out of me. I'm sort of "on the go" or "in the flow." This way I don't really get writer's block. I pay attention to what I'm doing, but in a way, I'm not really thinking. I guess you could say that my subconscious, or soul, or whatever term may be used to describe it, is writing for me, instead of my head and my logic. Then, the flow stops, and that's writer's block. Sometimes it only stops for an instant--I like to think of it as an unfinished dam with water rushing through it in a flood--and the ideas, characters, settings, and different plots all come back. I describe writer's block as a dam that is finished, completed, cemented, very strong, and only when the high tide comes will it fall down and the ideas rush in. Then the tide ebbs, and that's my process of elimination--"Oh, no, that's a totally crazy idea not fit for the story at all," or "My gosh, that's great! Why didn't I think of it before?" Of course, there's always experiences that affect the story too. Sometimes experiences give you writer's block, and sometimes they make the tide of ideas stronger. I've had a lot of experiences and discoveries lately, and it's given me quite a bout of writer's block. Ergh. When does my Muse come? Hmm, well...sometimes when I'm practicing my musical instruments, sometimes when I read something and my mind just wanders off to what I'll write, when I write in my journal and can't think of anything to say...basically, when no other aspect of my life is interesting or is calling for attention, or when I am just too lazy to go practice my instruments or prepare for the SATs. Paper is always available to me, and usually this computer is too, so sometimes I just start a file and begin writing. When I take long car trips (in which my father is driving) I bring a binder and write--not specifically my fantasy novel, but ideas that have been bugging me and have prevented me from finishing this or other works. The story of how I decided to write a fantasy novel is quite interesting, though. I saw this thread, and was in the process of making a decision on what I should write for my sci-fi unit in English (I ended up writing an argument against the advancements of technology). I put this off for a while, caught up in graduation ceremonies, awards shows, concerts, and finals, and then I wrote a few poems about missing my school. I came back to this thread one day, and I thought about the play that I had never written for my sci-fi unit, thought a while, and then went upstairs to my journal that night and put down the characters and points of the opening chapter. I planned to put them in official paragraph form the next morning. The next day, I got up early, wrote it, and that's how it came about. (Okay, to put it in simple words, I sat down at my desk and said, "Okay, I'm going to write a fantasy novel." The idea had never occurred to me except a character's name--she had no past or anything, I just liked the name.) As I said earlier, though, I don't really think about it all that much. I care, but as I'm now experiencing writer's block, I'm content just to sit back and read some other great works, including the FWW or my summer reading Brave New World. The tide has been low these weeks. I've also been busy with summer school and my music, so I haven't had a lot of time to think about it. My day is just physically routine: get up, go to school, go home--practice, watch movies, whatever, and go to sleep. Summer school ends on Thursday, though, so perhaps I can spend some more time with you guys. Or I'll need to catch up on my music, which has been lagging behind and is more important to my family (they make me feel so guilty!) That's about all I can say for now. I'm finally back! [ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: dragongirlG ] [ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: dragongirlG ]