I'm curious about people's favourite places/time to write and what gets you in the mood. Personally I write late at night time and listen to jazz. Also, does anyone else find having a few drinks helps their creativity?
I write in the breakfast nook, a few steps from the coffee pot, and an arm's reach from the sharpening waterstones. It's also close to the washer and dryer, because I'm married and I have honey-dos.
I will make a distinction between typing the story and creating the story. Typing the story I prefer to do when it's quiet, usually late at night or wee hours of the morning. The story creation usually comes as I'm falling asleep or in the hours just before I wake.
Anywhere, anytime. Growing up with a large family made it a necessity to be able to do so and it's just grew to the fact that I prefer to write whenever and wherever the urge takes me. I carry my writing journal around with me for that reason. Typically, though, I tend to write curled up on the couch, until something starts aching.
Interesting, I also enjoy working in cafe's yet I freeze when writing around family and friends. coffee is also an essential of my writing and life in general. Superpsycho, Do you simply remember it come the morning, or do you note it all down?
Funny, it seems like we all drink coffee by the bucket. I just brewed up a second pot, and I've been to the coffee bar today already.
Tourist, I'm pretty sure if it was safe, I'd take it by the vein. I'm about to start the 4th pot. (Mind you, this goes three ways, but still... two cups per pot is a goal I try to reach.) Unfortunately, it's very bad. When it gets to the point where you literally cannot function without coffee, it's a full blown addiction... and withdrawals are horrible.
Speaking of things writers have in common; I was reading an article in the guardian the other day about people who live alone and noticed 3/4's were authors (of the 4/5 in the case study). It was a little bit worrying as I can see myself going the same way.
Funny, one thing I don't drink is coffee. I write crammed into the corner of the sofa, obsessively hiding the laptop screen from anyone who walks by... or late at night, in bed, in a notebook.
Coffee is my only bad habit. But when I drink it I notice I do it like every other writer I've met. I write a little bit, pick up the cup and re-read the snippet, set the cup down and repeat. Before you know it, I'm trying to drink out of an empty cup. Wanting to write more, I get another cup, and the cycle begins again. BTW, my cup is as big as a soup bowl. My 12 cup coffee maker is good for about three cups.
I remember it then write it down when I get a chance. Sometimes it can take a couple nights to flush out a complete chapter or storyline.
I usually write in a Batman notebook I bought just for the hell of it -- and said notebook stays in my bedroom. But mostly I write on the couch of my living room, where I can connect my laptop to a energy source and the wifi works better there
Unfortunately, I can't drink coffee any more. I drank so much of it in my youth that I developed a hypersensitivity to caffeine, and now it just gives me heart palpitations, sweats, and jitters that are unendurable. I even have to stay away from Coca Cola, some other soft drinks, and some kinds of tea. I have a table next to my bed, and I sit on the edge of my bed and write on my laptop. Usually this is because my roomie has the TV blaring in the living room, which is where my actual desk is, and I can't write with the TV blaring. When I get stuck, I grab a notebook and sit in my easy chair and write by hand - that helps me sort things out without the "pressure" of having to get it right in the word processor. During the summer, I often take my notebook out into the back yard and bask in the sun as I write. It's quiet out there, but sometimes my local squirrels want attention, so I keep a bag of peanuts handy to toss to them if they beg.
That's where I'm heading with my coffee intake. If I was smart, I'd stop now but I hate not feeling awake. I forgot about that, writing outside. I just moved back out to the middle of nowhere, been living in the city too long with no yard for peace, but I forgot the peace that comes with writing outside. I'll have to start doing that again before it gets too hot outside and I'll remember the sunscreen. That really is why I prefer writing by hand, there's no easy way to fix mistakes and get everything right without a lot of scratches on my pretty paper; I rarely just type, I leave that for the revisions.
so basically there are two kinds: the one who use coffee as a fuel and the one who use wine I guess they create opposite effects in a writer.
I try to write whenever the mood hits me, but it's always at my computer, with my headphones on, generally late at night, listening to whatever music suits me. Sometimes it matches the mood of the story, sometimes...not...even a little. Or at least I hope Lady Gaga does not reflect in my current story. Don't judge me, the peppy beat keeps me motivated! But I've also been known to listen to opera, metal, alt rock, punk...pretty much anything but Broadway style music, the lyrics get too distracting for some reason.
I have a hard time writing when it's nice outside. It might have something to do with the fact that my writing style is a bit on the darker and gloomier side. I do my best writing at night where I sit in the corner of my couch with just a lamp on or during a storm, at one of my favorite coffee shops and sit along this bar that faces out a giant window. I'm not much of a coffee drinker (I'm not a fan of the aftertaste) but I go through vitamin water like it's nobody's business.
I like to write when the sun is shining ... or when it is completely dark outside! Also; I'd like to be able to see the ocean when I type away. I'm currently living in my mom's basement so the closest thing I have to the sea is my aquarium; it's not the same as the ocean, but it works! I also prefer to have something to drink while I write (coke/tea/regular-water-if-I'm-desperate)!
I write at my computer. Usually with smooth jazz or rock music playing. I like to write at night, except I don't write horror stories night. Never ever write horror stories at night.
I write at home, only. Could never write at cafés or libraries, I need to be alone. no distraction, no music, no people walking around doing stuff. The only distraction I tollerate is the internet!
i'm never not in the mood to write... and i can write easily anytime, anywhere, with anything that's handy... though i did often drink while working, in my old life [due to my life situation at the time], it's an alcohol-induced delusion that alcohol aids creativity... same goes for caffeine... in re 'drinking' it's been amply proven that alcohol adversely affects and eventually kills off brain cells, as well as driving men's testosterone levels down to an inability to 'perform'... the fact that so many creative people are alcoholics and other substance addicts isn't what made them creative... it's the stress the creative mind often suffers from that causes the addiction, not the other way 'round... poe, steinbeck, hemingway and yes, even beethoven might well have turned out even more and perhaps better works had they not been caught in the clutches of their addictions... don't fool yourselves into thinking anything but a naturally creative brain is needed to create great works of art... or even good-enough-to-sell stuff... therein lies disaster for you and for all who care about you...
The bottle is not your friend. It's like the charming life of the party - if you're the sober observer, or even the clown after he sobers up and sees the video, he's really being an obnoxious arse. All the laughter is at his expense. The person most amused is he himself, and mostly while his perception is impaired. You need clear thinking to write well.
Some people can write anywhere at anytime, I can just sit and write, even with booz in me! You may call that natural or not. And I think it's important to never take anything too seriously and not approach everything with a level head because then life gets boring and you can spot those people a mile away! I write at my PC or in bed with a pen and paper on napkins in resturants whilist on a date (I know I'm bad) my mostly in my mind, it's like a recorder now, I remember whole scenes I wrote in my head when I wasn't with paper and pen.
dark, it has to be dark outside. i attempt to write during the day, quite frequently actually but it always turns out to be scrap or something I just build off of and then throw away. music is also a plus, especially if i'm trying to get in the mood for a story. if i'm trying to write something dark or dreary and i'm in a normal mood, a few depressing songs later and i'm good to go. same goes for angry moods, peppy moods, there is always a song that aids in setting the mood for the story. oh! most important thing: it's rock music or nothing haha
