Kevin's Watch

Ha Loremaster, that'd be funny to see. With regarding to The Leper Fairy swooning over a fresh piece of paper and some new pens. I know the feeling. The reason this thread was started is cuz I just changed over to a new journal and I always kind of go fancy for my journals, nice leatherbound and usually some fancy french or italian made paper, has that "smell" that just kind of permeates the pages. Man if I could bottle that smell. Ah well I love to write, cheers.

Loremaster wrote:

The Leper Fairy wrote:Nothing better than new pens and a fresh piece of paper! Ahhhh... *swoon*

Dear lady, if I were to dress myself in paper and have pens attached to me, would you find me irresistable?

What do you mean? You ARE irresistible, you little cutie.

Matrixman wrote:I have a small collection of notebooks, in varying stages of decay, accumulated since my junior high school days.

Me too.

Never go anywhere without a notebook and pen, just in case. But I don't do much "recreational" writing these days.

--A

The Leper Fairy wrote:My writing bump is on my ring finger, not the middle finger, like normal people. My middle finger goes on top of the pen and the sides of my index and ring fingers go on the sides of the pen.

Sounds just like me More or less...

Hmm... Microsoft Works, bold Georgia font, size 12. Or, when I'm not able to use the hunkahunka'splodin'junk, a composition notebook and a blue ink pen. Yeah, that's a good thing, 'cause if I typed everything, the people who read it would suffer, 'cause what I write in my notebooks is... . I'm most inspired when I listen to *don't stone me* Esteban and Blue Oyster Cult. And Tony Bennett and Benny Mardonez's Into the Night. Oh, and Marylin Manson. And... What, no one's going to stop me? Argh.

I have lovely handwriting and I write the normal way, thanks very much.

Ideas... I write them down on the nearest paper-product and put them away in a jar or something, and then I look at them later. If it still makes sense, I'll work with it, and if it doesn't... Well, I keep it anyway, you never know when it might make sense later. *cough literary pack rat cough* Heh.

Turi Shepherd wrote:Hmm... Microsoft Works, bold Georgia font, size 12. Or, when I'm not able to use the hunkahunka'splodin'junk, a composition notebook and a blue ink pen. Yeah, that's a good thing, 'cause if I typed everything, the people who read it would suffer, 'cause what I write in my notebooks is... . I'm most inspired when I listen to *don't stone me* Esteban and Blue Oyster Cult. And Tony Bennett and Benny Mardonez's Into the Night. Oh, and Marylin Manson. And... What, no one's going to stop me? Argh.

I have lovely handwriting and I write the normal way, thanks very much.

Ideas... I write them down on the nearest paper-product and put them away in a jar or something, and then I look at them later. If it still makes sense, I'll work with it, and if it doesn't... Well, I keep it anyway, you never know when it might make sense later. *cough literary pack rat cough* Heh.

Interesting format there. I think I'll run with it.

Microsoft Word, usually Arial font, size unknown. I'm most inspired when I don't expect to be. I have terrible handwriting that is impractical for anything longer than my signature; my hand cramps after a couple of lines, and most people - sometimes including me - can't read it.

As for ideas... I don't write them down; I let them gestate (or stew, if you prefer ) for a little while. The ones I write down immediately because I don't want to lose them are usually pants, so I rarely bother. As I said above, if an idea is worth remembering, I won't be able to forget it. Anything that fades from my mind is just so much static.

*thinks of the movie White Noise* Mmmmmm....... static.......

Which is why most of what I write is... questionable.

One morning, after getting an idea from a dream at three a.m. and writing it down on my arm for remembering (which was totally futile, btw, as it was written down in my dream language, which I don't know when I'm awake), due to the position in which I slept, there was blue ink all over my face. Heh. The lesson: don't write stuff on yourself. Well, unless it's a ? mark. That's permissable. Ooh! Idea. *wanders off to ask the aliens if they would please... argh*

Thats why I keep my journal next to my bed at night. I've woken up randomly sometimes from a dream or just suddenly I'm awake and written some of the best poetry I've ever come up with. And you're so groggy you just need it legible enough that you can read it in the morn, cheers.

Turi Shepherd wrote:I have lovely handwriting and I write the normal way, thanks very much.

Bah... who needs legible handwriting? Not I! I can make it passable when it has to be, and that's all I need.

Turiya,

How do you expect to be a doctor with legible handwriting?! :p

The hot male secretaries will love me for that and flock to me with offers of lunch dates, thankyouverymuch. (My office is going to be a bit like a strip club. (Nah, I'm just really bored and I feel like being stupid. (Oh, do you? (Yes, I do. Now, get back in your cage and dance, imaginary poolboy. (Yes, Mistress.)))))

Imagin how hard it is to write coherently when you have eighty-something different voices dictating how you should end this scene?

I don't write in public. I don't even like to write with my family in the room. I write in the basement, in the dark, with instrumental music playing to further insulate me from the world. Writing to me is a one way process: from me out to the "page" (screen, actually). If I have to wait for my environment to inspire me, then it's too late. Writing isn't painting (I do that, too). It's not a process of articulating impressions that are coming in, but rather getting things out. And to do this, I have to get into a certain state of mind. It's almost like a trance, or self-hypnosis. I have to put myself in the world of the story, and coax it, taunt it, berate into being. It's like a spell, really, calling forth an alternate reality through words. It's magic.

I can't write my stuff out longhand. That's just too tedious, too dependent upon the limitations of my muscles and joints. I need the process as transparent as possible. I don't want the smell of paper distracting me. I don't want the pretty pens engaging my attention. I want as little resistance as possible between my imagination and getting the words out.

But that's just me--not a criticism of anyone else's process.

I write here,
I write there.

I write, write, write,
Most anywhere.

I prefer to write on my laptop--
But I ALWAYS have a spiral notebook and at least two pens with me to jot down ideas, bits of dialogue, a quick scene.

I have written on a grayhound bus, on an airplane, in a restaurant (several, infact), in my car on the side of the road while waiting for the road construction guy to let me go by.

I have written in a tree, in a haymow, in a boat. (Granted, those were all when I was much younger.)

I have written in my bed.
I have written in the waiting rooms of doctors, dentists, chiropractors, and optomitrists.

I have written during inservices rather than listen to the lame-ass presentations.

I have written in the margins of my program at plays, in church, at concerts.

It doesn't seem to matter WHERE I am.

The hole between this world and the world of my mind just opens up and I lean forward and let it swallow me up.

There is NOTHING like the feeling of being utterly swallowed up by your own imagination.

Of course, I have no basis for comparison, but I find it hard to believe that even sex can hold a candle to the giddy delight of creating worlds.

Malik23 wrote:Writing isn't painting (I do that, too). It's not a process of articulating impressions that are coming in, but rather getting things out.

I know what you mean. I write in spite of the environment, not because of it. I have to achieve a certain level of tranquility in my surroundings in order to be able to "hear" my muse speaking. However, that doesn't necessarily mean isolation from different locales, just from people and the sounds thereof.

Malik23 wrote:I have to put myself in the world of the story, and coax it, taunt it, berate into being. It's like a spell, really, calling forth an alternate reality through words.

This bit I can't relate to. I can't coax anything into being; if I do that, it's a monster. All the worst things I've written came that way. I will suddenly be seized by something, and it will come or not, of its own accord. Sometimes I don't have a specific idea, just an urge to open a blank document and see what happens. We each have our own ways

Malik23 wrote:It's magic.

Can't argue with that though

I agree with the last few posts. I would prefer a calm, blank, distraction less place to work but nothing like that exists in my world. I live in a 2-bedroom apartment with my wife and teenage daughter. Privacy is non-existent. I write what little I can on either my work pc or a laptop. Microsoft word is my greatest ally. I believe in the cocoon of music that SRD recommends for writers to immerse themselves in. I do enjoy symphonies I prefer instrumental rock. Joe Satriani seems to work best for me. Everyone has his or her own creation zone. One day I hope to have a private home office I can fill with inspiring things or to be left bare.

A cocoon of music is only marginally better than ringing phones and buzzing voices

CovenantJr wrote:

Malik23 wrote:Writing isn't painting (I do that, too). It's not a process of articulating impressions that are coming in, but rather getting things out.

I know what you mean. I write in spite of the environment, not because of it. I have to achieve a certain level of tranquility in my surroundings in order to be able to "hear" my muse speaking. However, that doesn't necessarily mean isolation from different locales, just from people and the sounds thereof.

Malik23 wrote:I have to put myself in the world of the story, and coax it, taunt it, berate into being. It's like a spell, really, calling forth an alternate reality through words.

This bit I can't relate to. I can't coax anything into being; if I do that, it's a monster. All the worst things I've written came that way. I will suddenly be seized by something, and it will come or not, of its own accord. Sometimes I don't have a specific idea, just an urge to open a blank document and see what happens. We each have our own ways

Malik23 wrote:It's magic.

Can't argue with that though

I agree to all that.