Developing habits for creative writing

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

As some of you may be aware, I have creative writing pretensions. Nova Mundi (http://omniverseone.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=30) is the most significant corpus of my work so far, check it out and sign up for the game if you're interested.

Anyway, I'm told that when it comes to writing, practice makes perfect. But my creative urges come far too infrequently for my liking, and I would appreciate some tips and hints any of you may have, in order to develop the habits needed to improve my art.

I'm open-minded (or desperate, your choice!) so feel free to suggest anything that has a chance of being useful.

[coda]

one of the things I keep hearing is that anyone pursuing writing should write every day-- without exception (and a certain amount-- 1500 words, 5 pages, etc. ) at a same designated time to establish and maintain discipline. Write even when you have don't have the creative urge. Write anything that comes to mind, edit later, and keep anything that's good. I also hear first thing is best before doing other distractive and time consuming activities.

[OHumanista]

As some of you may be aware, I have creative writing pretensions. Nova Mundi (http://omniverseone.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=30) is the most significant corpus of my work so far, check it out and sign up for the game if you're interested.

Anyway, I'm told that when it comes to writing, practice makes perfect. But my creative urges come far too infrequently for my liking, and I would appreciate some tips and hints any of you may have, in order to develop the habits needed to improve my art.

I'm open-minded (or desperate, your choice!) so feel free to suggest anything that has a chance of being useful.

I found myself on a very similar situation. (bursting creativity, lazy writing habits)
And what I did was adopt solidarity forever's suggestion(about a month ago). I got into a strict MINIMUM 2000 words per day regime. With flexible times of the day but never letting myself write less than that and if in the right mood I even write more than that (5400 words is my record :p ). I don't know about you but at first I struggled a bit, but I insisted and got incredibly surprised by how easy it has become now.

Sure there are some bleak days where I still struggle to do that, but I do it anyway and they have become by far a minority.
The results are pretty obvious, I have already written more than I had ever before in my life. (not that long but whatever :D ) Futhermore am typing faster and writing better. :thumbup1:

I hope it works for you too

[Hermes]

To add on to both, another thing you can do is carry around a notebook, and describe things around you, or conversations you hear, or whatever sounds good and pops into your head. You start to notice more, write more, and be more creative, especially in descriptions. A good example of this, if you want to look, are the notebooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald:

http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/notes/notebooks.html

You could even focus on a particular color or sound or taste each day, if you wanted to.

[The Jay]

They say that next to writing, the best way to improve one's skill is to read authors of varying styles. I'd start reading more if you don't already.

[Red Rabbit]

Read as much fiction as you possibly can, even if you don't think you'll like the story as it will give you a better insight into other writers' styles.

Also, try to write some every. single. day. Even if it's just a little. When I first started writing I would try to write a quick short story every day, and it helped me a lot.

You may also wish to show your writing to others to get some helpful criticism, as that can also be very beneficial.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Stephen King wrote a pretty interesting book about writing, called appropriately enough "On Writing".

King kind of writes pulpy fiction novels, and it's far from a writing handbook, but I still thought some of the advice was interesting. I read the whole thing and I have no desire to ever be a writer. One of his tips that I do remember mirrors SF's suggestion, which is to discipline yourself by forcing yourself to write for a certain amount of time a day, preferably in a setting with little to no distractions.

[Ele'ill]

Stephen King wrote a pretty interesting book about writing, called appropriately enough "On Writing".

King kind of writes pulpy fiction novels, and it's far from a writing handbook, but I still thought some of the advice was interesting. I read the whole thing and I have no desire to ever be a writer. One of his tips that I do remember mirrors SF's suggestion, which is to discipline yourself by forcing yourself to write for a certain amount of time a day, preferably in a setting with little to no distractions.

I really enjoyed that book and I second it as a useful resource as well as simply an interesting read. As for the OP, I think it's different for everyone. Regarding the frequency of your urges to write I would sit down and write something every day just to get used to having time dedicated and don't expect anything super productive from this time spent just yet. Read every day. Write and read. I've found that going for walks in different settings helps. One day it will be walks around a big lake kind of embracing solitude and the next will be through the city.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

Robert McKee's 'Story: Substance, structure, style and the principles of screenwriting' is book praised by many professional writers, mostly for TV and Film, but it also states novelists, playwrights and journalists in it's synopsis. I have the book but never got a chance to read it all the way through, might start again tonight actually as I've always had a deep interest in creative writing.

[Franz Fanonipants]

read a lot

read strunk and white

write

most importantly, NEVER be precious with what you create. destroy, mutilate, fold, and revise your work weekly or monthly.

e: a good way to learn how to write is to become an editor

[Art Vandelay]

I would echo what others have posted here and will offer a small tidbit which seems to help me on those days that I struggle with my writing. I generally find that when suffering from writers block I cannot seem to form complete sentences, so I began to work with it. Generally I will have a thought or not even a thought but the kernel of a thought. Jot it down. Keep jotting down every little detail which pops in your head. Eventually you will have the beginnings of a paragraph and now all that is left to do is go back and chop it up into sentences, add some punctuation and floral language. Not sure if that will work for anyone but me, but I thought I would put it out there.

I did not realize there were so many other writers on the site. We should set something up where writers can come together and help one another with their work. I do not know about anyone else, but I would love that.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

If you are trying to write and Writer's Block interrupts than never stay at it for more than five minutes; go do literally anything else to get your mind to doing other things.While doing other activities your mind will be working on how to proceed, so no worries.

[black magick hustla]

i think i am p. ok writer. i write a bit everyday and when i read i read really carefully. i also really pay attention to things i like about tv series or history and i incorporate it to my stuff. for example, i am writing a short now that involves a dude waging a war against big time heroin dealers in the ghetto, which is something that happened irl in detroit in the 70s, where some black revolutionaries were waging a private war against the heroin gangs.

[MotherCossack]

thanks... this thread could have been made for me.... very useful
trouble with me is i keep going all vernacular......
big time...i just feel the urge to tell it like it bloody is said.....literally.
maybe that is dloun te me wee sensa humour....
cos i know how bloody annoying it is for the reader.....
i suppose it is just self-indulgence on my part.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions everyone.

With regards to writing every day, I'm not too comfortable using a pen to write; I feel much more at ease using a keyboard, especially if I'm writing a lot.

Based on the above, here's something I've thought of doing, at least to begin with; to write a small piece on any subject every day for a week. I was thinking of also posting the results on this forum, either sequentially or at the end of the week, in order to get feedback.

What do you think?

[Jimmie Higgins]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions everyone.

With regards to writing every day, I'm not too comfortable using a pen to write; I feel much more at ease using a keyboard, especially if I'm writing a lot.

Based on the above, here's something I've thought of doing, at least to begin with; to write a small piece on any subject every day for a week. I was thinking of also posting the results on this forum, either sequentially or at the end of the week, in order to get feedback.

What do you think?
It's a good idea. Having a writing circle is probably the best motivator once you've committed to actually going. I find it hard to write without any deadlines or other external pressure because if you totally ignore audience and just write only for yourself you can loose focus.

I think these things work best in person since there's more social pressure to actually continue and do the work and read the work of others. However, maybe a small revleft circle could be done online. Find out who has stuff they want people to look at - or have everyone write a freewrite on the same topic - and set a schedule for which writers will be read and critiqued each week. I'd be interested.

I also self-publish zines and an all-revleft zine of micro or just (very) short fiction on a particular topic would be interesting IMO: a little zine of radical-tinged short fiction. I also have a topic in mind if anyone is interested in doing something like this. You'll get paid nothing - just like a real writer!

[Jimmie Higgins]

P.S. Revleft is probably my #1 procrastination tool when it comes to writing fiction or political articles. It would be nice if it helped motivate me in these areas from time to too.:lol:

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Well for a start I've joined the Aspiring Writers group, but to be honest I wanted to actually do the daily writing thing in a more public fashion; like for instance, starting a thread in the Lit & Films forum.

I was also thinking of inviting others in a similar situation to join me in this exercise, so that we can mutually inspire one another.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Well for a start I've joined the Aspiring Writers group, but to be honest I wanted to actually do the daily writing thing in a more public fashion; like for instance, starting a thread in the Lit & Films forum.

I was also thinking of inviting others in a similar situation to join me in this exercise, so that we can mutually inspire one another.

Sounds like a good idea. I actually have a story thread but I have since gotten preoccupied with other events and will update it at a later time. I find that writing novellas is a decent way to slowly rise up to novels.

[OHumanista]

Well for a start I've joined the Aspiring Writers group, but to be honest I wanted to actually do the daily writing thing in a more public fashion; like for instance, starting a thread in the Lit & Films forum.

I was also thinking of inviting others in a similar situation to join me in this exercise, so that we can mutually inspire one another.

I will be doing something similar pretty soon. I feel that need as well and will probably set up a lil forum and post links and copies on some others. (here possibly).

[Franz Fanonipants]

also fucking blaze it 24/7

[black magick hustla]

weed doesnt do shit to me for my creative writing, just makes me dumb and unfocused

[00001]

speed

[x359594]

Belief and Technique for Modern Prose
by Jack Kerouac

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house
4. Be in love with yr life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time

15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Dont think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

[Jimmie Higgins]

weed doesnt do shit to me for my creative writing, just makes me dumb and unfocusedYeah I'd say for me it doesn't help my writing in practice at all. If anything I want coffee and cigs (the only time I still crave them*, but maybe that's just a desire to procrastinate and distract myself when I'm stuck).

However, I can see how it could work for some people in their free-writing or in brainstorming because I can't say that there haven't been interesting things I've written while writing high, but it's just not consistant enough and I really need focus if I'm working on something, rather than just brainstorming or playing around.

Also while being high while not trying to write I have had epiphanies and answers to problems in my writing come to me. It's sort of the same experience as getting an idea in the middle of the night. I write it down and maybe 2/3rds of the time I look back at it later and think "WTF, why did I think that was so brilliant" but the other times it actually is a useful idea gained by looking at it in a different way. Driving, taking walks, or doing other activities can also help this process just as much though, so I don't really believe in "weed-created creativity".




*oops, other than when drunk:lol:

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

In my case, I tend to feel most creative (meaning in this case being able and willing to actually write shit down) either when I'm a little deprived of sleep and propped up with caffeine and cigarettes, or after a major intoxicant bender. I'm usually too distracted during, and even when I can focus some judicious editing is often necessary.

[Robespierres Neck]

speed

Steroids is to athletes as amphetamine is to writers.
I don't do drugs anymore though. At least not for a long time. :tt2:

What I usually do is go on spurts of these two: constant writing or constant reading. Explore styles and contexts that feel best for you; experiment. Let life, as awful as it can get (which is usually what gets me going), inspire your work. Ideas branch from others, so let people (from the perspective from a book, historical figure, or a friend/enemy/lover you know) influence.. yet stick to your roots. I hope I was helpful. Keep on writing, even if you don't pick up the pen (or however else you write) for months - don't stop.

[blake 3:17]

Everyday!