Weird Writing Habits

Hey guys, just seeing if anyone would share the weird habits that you have before/while/after you're writing.



I have the most horrendous habit of writing JUST BEFORE AN EXAM (ie. school finals, midterms, road tests). It seems like all my brain juices start flowing when I'm uber stressed about something else. It totally does not help (but I end up writing quite a bit )

For some reason, I can't write in the daytime. I usually write at night (later than 11:00pm) and it can go to 3am if I don't make myself to go sleep. This, along with writing just before an exam is seriously BAD.

If I'm writing at night, I set the background colour of Microsoft Word to black to reduce glare and eyestrain. If anyone's ever done that, you'll know how freaky it looks.

All my ideas come to me while I'm in the shower. (NO. I know what you're thinking. Just NO)


...I think that's it for now

 

I can only think of two and I don't think they're very weird actually.

Anytime I type a story/poem it's never as good as when I write it on paper, so I usually have to do that.

And depending on my mood, I have to have total privacy and silence, or music playing constantly until I stop.

 

Writing at night.

 

Oh haha! That second one is so contradictory! Total silence for me except for this one time where I played the same song over and over again to drown out my neighbour's dog's barking.

I gotta type mine. I don't write fast enough. The only time I would ever write it out on a piece of paper is if I had no laptop and my phone died. I find that whenever I write stuff on paper and I go to type it it comes out totally different. =_=

 

Best stuff ever. But I end up making a lot of mistakes because my brain doesn't work properly

 

My brain only seems to work properly at night.

 

Yeah I get in strange moods when I write. When I do HAVE to have music I get really anxious between songs because of the silence.

 

I have to have the right music. I literally have different playlist for different reasons. Like an all fantasy playlist. Or an all modern playlist. If my music doesn't fit the genre, watch out folks I can go bananas.

 

I have this exact problem! Also when I write a scene in my head I have so much trouble typing (or writing) it out because my analytical mind kicks in and ruins a perfectly good first draught. I'm also a complete perfectionist, and if the first draught doesn't conjure up the EXACT image that I'm trying to portray I get frustrated and usually stop writing as well.

And writing at night is the best! Unless you have to be up the next morning! lol xx

 

I almost always find myself listening to Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel. Something about them just breeds creativity.

 

I don't have a specific band. Just need a specific feel. I blame my synesthesia for that.

 

I agree actually. Usually I like a calm, or darker sound when I feel like I need music. Paul Simon has got the laid back folksy side of that down, and Peter Gabriel can be pretty dark sometimes. Plus all of their albums have a different feel from the next.

 

I need music whlie writing, and usually heavy metal of some kind. Motörhead, Alestorm, King Diamond, you name it. The annoying part is I'm a big fan of some country artists as well, like Tanya Tucker, Lynn Anderson, Johnny Cash (then again who isn't?) and so on. But if I put on country while writing, it usually ends up pretty darn disturbing. Really disturbing. No idea why.

 

Because subconsciously country is slowly torturing you.

 

I mostly write in the afternoon or at night before I go to sleep.

I don't like writing as much as typing because I can't write fast enough and I sometimes end up turning words into undecipherable scribbles because I'm writing too fast. However, I seem to get better ideas when I write vs type. So I start out writing to get ideas gonig then switch to typing so I can get it all down.

I neeeeeeed music playing constantly. I have several different playlists I use when writing different kinds of stories or scenes.

 

Listening to certain music. Hearing random voices in my head (not the singer). Sometimes i think my characters are actually real.

 

I write at night (12-3am) with music on, its nicer than during the day.

 

Same here.

 

I wonder, who talks to themselves when they write?

I have this habit of acting out entire scenes of dialogue or action. Sometimes.

 

I don't talk to myself, well i do but not in that context. I usually just hear voices of scene of my characters in my head, and sometimes i think i need mental help but then i turn up ok. ha.

 

I often read my prose aloud. I want to get the rhythm right, so I need to hear it. I've often thought that the proper way to "read" a story is really to listen to a storyteller tell it. I want to record myself reading my stories aloud accompanied by music I'd compose for them, and sound effects. The music would be very sparse - just simple chord progression played on acoustic guitar or perhaps an organ, along with a little percussion. Maybe some weather sounds - rain, thunder, the crashing of waves on a beach, wind in high trees.

I have multitrack recording equipment here, and I'm going to do this one day!

 

ooooh that is such a good idea

 

You know, I think it is. Maybe when I'm a little more established in this joint Cog will let me sticky some sort of thread in General Writing, and we can vote on the quote of the month/week. That'd be great. :redface:

 

Ditto for me!

A while ago, I looked over my iTune stats and saw that I had played "Begin the Beguine" about 400 times and realized that that must have been back when I was writing a story about a spy during WWII.

 

Writing a paragraph, getting up, sitting down and writing more.