Ok, so what's the secret?!

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Patrick94, May 10, 2011.

  1. cretinhop

    cretinhop New Member

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    I agree with pretty much everyone else. I do a lot of reading, personally, but find myself to be slowly phasing fiction out for non-fiction so that I have knowledge to contribute to my own writing. My school has a series of books called: IDEAS: A SYNTOPICON, and it’s ordered every philosophical idea alphabetically. So, Angels is the first chapter, and the man who wrote it has included the ideas of the West’s most prestigious philosophers from Aristotle to Freud on the subject (the books were written in the thirties, I believe. Something like that.) It’s really useful for all sorts of neat ideas and helps to think more creatively and critically. The next chapter was Animals and proposed the idea of animals as machines (though Philip K. Dick’s already jumped on that (;) I also think about writing all of the time and try to view everything in terms of how I’d describe it on paper, houses, or actions, other people, especially parties since my roommates and I tend to have a lot of guests over. Then I do write it down when I get the chance, particularly in classes at school that are boring to me. I’m sure there’s ten thousand ways to keep in touch with your writing, though! Oh, also, I read the dictionary. I love love the dictionary. Learning the origins of words, and learning new words, or places, and further researching them can spawn all kinds of neat ideas! Or, making up a list of words, and then choosing some at random and making a story of them! I don’t really write just one story, which I must work on, but the beginnings of several million a year (perhaps a hyperbole?)
     
  2. Yoshiko

    Yoshiko Contributor Contributor

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    I've heard this from many other writers too but don't have this issue. In fact, recently I've been opting for acapellas when I write. :rolleyes: I've tried listening to instrumental tracks but found all except music boxes a little off-putting.

    I can't stand silence so I always have music playing no matter what I'm doing. It's a constant source of inspiration yet often the ideas the music inspires have nothing to do with the songs themselves.
     
  3. MMC83

    MMC83 New Member

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    Sometimes I write short stories about each of my characters. Not necessarily stories that have any bearing on my actual novel, but just a random scenario that makes me wonder how character A or character B might react. It helps me further understand my characters and helps keep my writing fresh ... well, I hope it does :)
     
  4. Tesoro

    Tesoro Contributor Contributor

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    This is something I agree with partially. I Can listen to some songs, (the ones that put me in the right state of mind for the writing im doing) actually they even help. But there are no rules to specific genres or anything, just noticed that some songs work while other (most) don't. I also have to have more or less silence around me, no tv or people talking, I think that is why I have been so slow in my writing lately. My mom is always trying to talk to me while im writing, lol. And saying " please don't disturb, Im writing" is really not any help at all since she seem to ignore that. :D actually even internet is a disturbing thing, When I spent nearly two weeks without either computer or internet My writing got to a totally different level. I was back to handwriting again, which was so cool, I wrote like never before, until my hands cramped an I had to stop out of pain rather than lack of inspiration, lol.
     

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