Ravenous Beauty: A Writer's Workshop

What's your writing process like?

Music/silence?

Desktop/Laptop?

Inside/outside?

Do you use any writing exercises or prompts to "get into" it?

Look at websites while you still have the document open, or clear your desktop completely?

Anything strange or unusual that you do while writing? What would someone might think if were to see you in the middle of writing something?

What's your writing process like?

Music/silence? music, generally.

Desktop/Laptop? laptop, since i got one anyway

Inside/outside? inside. i like the library better than home though. no TV, research at my fingertips, and free music.

Do you use any writing exercises or prompts to "get into" it? if i havent been writing recently, or if im going for something that is outside of my usual style, or character

Look at websites while you still have the document open, or clear your desktop completely? clear desktop. websites are only open for research purposes, and thats rare. i do most of that in print

Anything strange or unusual that you do while writing? What would someone might think if were to see you in the middle of writing something? i tend to actually experience what im researching. not that i buy into that whole 'write what you know' thing, but, at the same time there are things you can only know once you have done it yourself, like when i did the homeless thing.
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Silence at a blacked-out monitor indoors, either workstation or laptop (they're networked). Hotel rooms are my favorite (I worked on my book in like eight cities). If someone saw me in public, I'd pack up and go elsewhere; those duders who use it as a pick-up tactic annoy me. Although I did inadvertently meet a lovely bimbo in New York that way.

lovely bimbo, haha.

I am a failure at process:

Alternate between ear-shattering music to silence. Depends on the scene and time of night. Usually I have a specific set of songs that I listen to, alternate depending on my mood. Other times, when I'm really focusing on the words and how I'm writing things, I write in absolute silence.

Laptop. Used to have a desktop, bought a laptop just for writing.

Inside... but I might start writing outside more. I also don't like strangers around me when writing. If it gets the bimbos though...

When I hit writer's block, I write for a minute or two without stopping. Usually get something decent enough that I then craft into the beginning of a chapter.

I look at websites all the time while writing. It's a bad habit, and sometimes I can't get back into it afterwards.

I... do some weird things. I lean back on my chair and spin around sometimes. I'll go through the house to get a drink and don't talk to anyone because I'm repeating lines in my head so I don't forget them. I stick my tongue out sometimes. Don't ask. And uh... sometimes, I pace back and forth in my room, thinking. Sometimes I mouth my thoughts out loud, too.

my process is basically the complete lack of process and/or focus.

need music. no matter what im writing, even essays for school, need music. any music works as long as it doesnt annoy me. sometimes a lot of spanish music. if i find that the lyrics are too intrusive i switch to instrumental. one exception: cant listen to tom waits while i write. otherwise i write stories that are just complete rip offs of whatever album of his im listening to. but i really need the music. silence is way too much for me. cant handle it.

now, laptop. i used to do everything by hand because i couldnt type for shit. still cant really but im much better. also, i just never get around to writing long hand anymore. need to be plugged in to work.

inside. always inside. i become agoraphobic when im writing/reading/doing homework. too much space makes it impossible for me to concentrate on anything. always afraid a monsters going to come behind me and eat me and all the stealth ninjas hanging around outside are way too much trouble. cant focus unless i can see all the walls in a room. door closed. i say door because i wont write in a room with too many doors. need some light other than my screen. do all of my work at night for the most part. if i can see sunlight i cant work. prime time work hours: 1am-5am.

i dont know any writing exercises so ive never done one. ive never had trouble with writers block or anything like that. however, for my writing class when we had to write poems id usually write about ten half poems before i found the poem i was trying to write. but thats mostly because i dont like to write poetry. not enough space for me. but, yeah, ideas usually stew in my skull for weeks or months before i end up putting any of it on paper so i usually sprint out a couple of pages before i need to actually think about what im doing.

the biggest reason i use my laptop is because i need to be able to wander at any time. constantly looking at websites while writing. sometimes for practical purposes such as research. but, more often than not, i'll just need to look up some random fact. such as who did the voice work for storm on the xmen cartoon: iona morris or alison sealy-smith. a constant random free association game is being played in my head and i get very distracted. some times for several hours before i come back to the half sentence i ended on. um, i dont think its bad though. it helps me. i need to run around while im building a made up world. so, websites are a necessity to me while writing. sometimes i'll talk to my friend on AIM while im writing. shes my only fan so she gets things while i finish them.

strange things i do while writing...pretty much everything i do is kind of strange while im writing. i dont have a desk so im on my bed the whole time. sometimes i'll be laying on my back with my feet in the air a few feet away from my computer. sometimes i'll turn on a movie and start watching it. stand up and walk on my bed. throw knives in a wall. play solitaire. change my clothes. i dont know, a lot of weird shit goes on while im writing. if someone in pblic was watching me write theyd probably assume i was doing anything besides writing. writing one page can take me anywhere from ten minutes to seven hours depending on where my mind takes me.

but because of this i do a lot of re-reads and touching up during the process. i probably read everything i write upwards of thirty times before im done with it. constantly editing and changing. yeah, ive never been much of a process type person. deadlines help me though because there are so many things i'll write ten pages of and then not look at it again for six months.

I fear I'm a typing cliche when it comes to my process. I work best indoors, coffee, and late. Weekends are the best as I can usually drink enough coffee to keep my going unitl 4 or so in the morning.

I can usually get going anywhere as long as there isn't much noise and I have something to do with my hands when not typing (insert gross - but likey funny - joke about masturbation here). If I have a cigar or a cup of coffee to keep my fingers moving I'm good.

Hotels, as Flash indicates, are great as well. One day I want to take a vacation to a local hotel and just write.