Friday, August 22, 2008

A Writers MeMe

I saw this on Oh! Books Paper Real Life's blog

1) Do you write fiction or non-fiction? Or both? Only Fiction for me.

2) Do you keep a journal or a writing notebook? I suppose my blog is a journal. My writing notebook is part sketch book part note writing book. But the entries are erratic.

3) If you write fiction, do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing? Do you find books on plotting useful or harmful? I haven't read much on plotting, my own writing varies. I have a couple a ideas that I have plotted completely from start to finish but have never written any further. Mostly I start with a germ of an idea and run with it. Since I am yet to be published I'm not sure which strategy is gonna work for me yet.

4) Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?
Once an idea bites me, it itches until I have is safely jotted down or on my Dictaphone. I worry dreadfully if an idea washes away. I once even took a phone photo of a man so I wouldn't forget his peculiarities. Of course he didn't know it. Is that a terribly wrong thing to do...?

5) Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time? That depends on whether I have an idea of a character that comes into me head, in which case a spurt of writing is plenty. But if I am continuing on with my novel I can write for a couple of hours before I need a snack :) Not that I get that long at a time to write these days.

6) Are you a morning or afternoon writer? Mid morning or very late at night. It depends on the weather.

7) Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate? I need to be without obligation or responsibility, I am happy to write with noise if it isn't noise that I have to watch or be aware of like my own children or husband. I prefer to be alone I suppose, I think I talk to myself a bit.

8) Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?) What's a typewriter?? LOL, I like both longhand and the computer, but is think I write better stuff when I write longhand...

9) Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One? Or do you let the story evolve as you write? No not generally - but what I am writing at the moment I do and it is really working for me!!

10) Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write? No I don't get much time to browse bookshops even if I wanted to see what was going on in the market.


11) Editing/Revision - love it or hate it? I really enjoy it, but at the same time I find it quite frustrating and it fills me with self doubt. Perhaps that is a pre-published problem, but I suspect not.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really enjoyed reading this! and am curious about the dictaphone idea. Seems like it might work well in the car where I get a lot of ideas - travel of any sort always sets my ideas in motion).

As for taking the picture of the man you wanted to remember - no, that is not wrong! In fact, it's rather clever. There are so many links between photos and writing. Oh, I could go on and on here - but just wanted to say hi!

The Scarlet Tree said...

Hi! Yes the Dictaphone is great. I use it in the car a lot. It is a digital one, I plug it into the computer to upload.
Although i felt a bit guilty taking the photo, i was glad that i did - i got a good piece of writing from it :)