Writing Rituals or Habits?
Rituals, we all have them, if it's before a big event or after there is something everyone does..Maybe a dance...Wearing your fave t-shirt for good luck, eating certain foods....
I never considered it when I first started to write. Or maybe I should say that I never saw what I did as a ritual. Well I was wrong. Ever since I started to write I always made sure to have music on in the background. I am one of those people that can't have silence around while I work. I don't mean that I want chaos, I don't/ I just mean that I like to have the noise in the form of music. I find it relaxing and it inspires me.
I sometimes listen to specific music that will fit the mood of the book that I am writing or the specific scene. All I know is that I need to have music playing while I work...I need music like people need coffee....LOL
Some authors I have talked to have said that they like to eat while they write or have the TV on. Isn't it interesting to hear all the little things people do. Sometimes we do things and don't even think about it. It's something we have done over and over and it's a part of who you are.
What are your rituals when you write or read or even are doing something important?
What are some of the strangest ones you have heard about?
11 comments:
Writing rituals...hmmm well I wear a hooded robe and put on chanting music. j/k lol.
Actually I like to get hyped up about what I'm going to write as well. So I'll make a soundtrack for the book and characters. Since by the time I'm ready to write I have the book plotted and set in stone, it helps to have a little music to really push it forward. Its just neat when your writing and you can even hear the character doing the action with the music thumping in the background. Its almost movie-like.
I have been known to play Tetris or Super Mario Brothers before writing and even sometimes getting a few movies on the genre relating to my book and just have those in the background as a constant reminder to keep going.
As for my strangest habit. It has to be when I'm setting in to read a VERY good book. I set up my night stand and area around me with water bottles, my book light and bring out the really comfy pillows. I have been known to sit for a good 8 hours straight just reading a book and not moving until I am finished with it. Its strange, I know, but its what I've always done. A sort of book camping trip. lol
Good topic!
book camping trip, good one..Oh I have not played Tetris or MArio in years....You have some interesting things that you do. As long as they help it's all good....
Even if they don't, it's still a break...
Gosh, for writing, I always seem to be writing, so I guess there isn't a lot of ritual involved, beyond me toting my laptop from room to room.
But if I'm really on fire, and I know I'm on fire, I'll settle in the ugly little recliner in my room, bring in an iced drink and kick back. Make sure the dogs are fed so I don't get distracted.
When the weather allows, I take a chair and my book to the park and read for an hour or so, just to clear my head.
Belinda
It seems as if each set of characters choose the background noise while I write. One book was Disney musicals. The one I'm working on now demands MacGyver. I love starting something new just to find out what the trigger will be.
You people make me sound so booring.
The only thing I do is sit my butt down at my desk and write.
I do have a drink handy something cold, either a can of coke of a bottle of water.
Oh, I guess this is wierd I set my drink on a heart shaped doiley.
A heart shaped doily? See, you do have a ritual!
Part of my writing ritual is to do it at the same time every day. I write from 9PM to 11PM whether I feel like it or not...lol. I also take all of Monday just for writing.
To get in the mood, I put on music that is evocative of the emotional situation I am writing about. For sadness and longing I listen to Sarah MacLachlan or Tori Amos. For sweetness and romance, I listen to Marc Anthony or James Blunt. And for hot monkey love it's Lenny Kravitz or Pitbull.
Anyone else get munchies when they write? My favorite writing snack is cheese and crackers.
Get cold drink or coffee. If at home (I write at work) must have TV on in the background, prefer Murder She Wrote. I love Jessica Fletcher. When I'm in the zone, I don't even hear the poor woman, but she must be there solving a case while I write, write, write.
I need time alone and the rest doesn't really matter. I often have the television on or music playing on my ipod but it tunes out as soon as I get in the zone. I love being in the zone- going there now!
Kissa Starling
If I'm writing sex I have to have music on that suits me and I can't have distractions. Anything else, and I usually just have to get myself into the mode of wanting to write. So I go back and read what I wrote previously, what led up to where I left off. And I look at pics of hot guys. LOL Marcus Schenkenberg, Victor Webster, Ian Somerhalder, Raffaelo Balzo, the Verga brothers, Andre Coelho, Rafael Lazzini... among others. Heh.
Hey Savannah,
I drink beer or liquor when I write, listen to music. I keep to myself :)
Great post. Btw, get your ass in my workshop and post something damnit!
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