So when do I write, you ask?
I've often woke up in the middle of the night and wrote throughout the night. I learned early on in my career not to ignore a thought. If I don't write it down immediately, it's gone. I woke up one night with a dialogue from a work in progress. Thinking I'd remember it the next day, I turned over and went back to sleep.The next morning I remembered little of it. A few words here and there. In fact, not only was most of the dialogue gone, so was the idea.
So now I get up and write it down immediately. That often leads to other ideas and hence, the reason I ended up writing all night. Fortunately, my children are grown, my husband was on the road and I didn't have to answer to anyone. If I wrote all night and slept all day no one was the wiser.
Although seldom did I sleep all day. Sleep, in my opinion, is a waste of time. I hate naps, always have. Well, as long as I remember anyway. So I'd sleep for a couple of hours and if an idea hit, I'd write all day also.
So, what is my typical writing day?
Truthfully, I don't have a typical writing day. Sometimes I write first thing in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. Sometimes, I don't write at all. Lately, I've not written much because my characters refuse to speak to me. They can be stubborn that way.
I must have made them angry or they don't like the way the story is going. I'm sure they'll lead me in the right direction eventually. In the mean time, I'm reading what I've already written and revising/editing as I go along. I'm hoping by time I get to the point where I left off, I'll figure out which direction they want to go.
For now you can find my books at Amazon
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ReplyDeleteYou and I have so much in common except the nap thing. I'm big on naps...take one whenever I can...you know the "to sleep, perchance to dream," thing? In fact I think I need one now...I just hit the delete button for whatever reason????
ReplyDeleteOne of the endings of my book came to me in a dream. First time that ever happened because I wasn't even at the end yet. It's the one and only time I'll pay attention to a dream...truth is, I just like napping. Anyhow, the ending made a grown woman cry because the book didn't turn out the way she wanted. Oh well...you can't please everyone, but I never had a reviewer admit to crying over an emotion I didn't create in a novel. May I say in my defense....she just didn't get the story. *lol*
Interesting blog. As to my writing technique, I usually ruminate about the story and the characters before I begin to write. At some point I make a brief outline of the story. I don't always follow the outline, but it seems to keep me on track. And I write a detailed backgound/back story of the main characters. I know exactly what they look like before I begin the writing process. I'd rather write impulsively, but I've found that if I go through this often boring planning stage, the book moves faster and seems more alive. I love being in the writing zone. It's the best high. When I reach the end, I edit and edit and edit and edit. Please take me out of my editing misery, I cry. I loved what you said about being inspired in the middle of the night. I too suffer from this fever.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you almost all the way Roseanne except the getting up in the middle of the night thing. Everything else you do is very familiar. I hope your characters stop sulking and start talking again soon.
ReplyDeleteI write every day but in bits and pieces. Never get up at night to write. I start around eight and do about 2000 words a day, bu I'm a re-writer and work with pen in hand. It's so interesting hearing how other people attack this wonderful world of writing
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