Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related What are your Writuals?

I was reading this Interesting article on the BBC news website:

I thought it might be fun to see what FoLC 'Writuals' are. To recap the questions are:

Where are you?
What are you writing with?
What's the oddest object in front of you?
What are you listening to?
Is there anyone else in the room?
What time of day is it?
What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration?
What is guaranteed to remove your concentration?

As an aside on Writuals, I remember reading that when Stephen King wrote his novels as Richard Bachman he found he could only write using a particular brand of graphite pencil. When he wasn't writing as RB he didn't use them at all.

Strange how these little things get into our head, isn't it?

LabRat

Ooh a Rat poll! I am going to answer this like I would if I were writing fic, not here editing letters to the editor.

Where are you? My couch.

What are you writing with? My pink Dell laptop.

What's the oddest object in front of you? Usually a cat, sometimes a large stack of newspapers.

What are you listening to? I usually watch TV while I am writing; L&C or DH most of the time.

Is there anyone else in the room? Sometimes my husband is around, but he's usually on his own computer.

What time of day is it? Usually night ... I do my best work between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? I usually read my favorite authors' fics to get inspired, especially if I am writing nfic. All it takes is a dose of Sheila or Sue or Kathy and I'm good to go. After a cold shower, that is.

What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? Breaking news -- or my cat throwing up. I swear he does it to spite me. Oh yeah, and my husband screaming at the TV when he's watching football. "Kick the damn ball!" isn't usually want you want to hear when you're writing about the caressing of ... uh, never mind.

Where are you? In my oversized chair
What are you writing with? Microsoft Word on my laptop
What's the oddest object in front of you? Not really sure... Probably the picture my 4yo drew - not sure what it is
What are you listening to? I have the Foundling on right now, but rarely anything in particular
Is there anyone else in the room?DS8mo, sometimes other kids, rarely DH, occasionally alone
What time of day is it?afternoon right now, but I write anytime of day, depending on when I have time
What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration?Usually I hit the random fic finder if I need a break. For inspiration... DVDs I guess... Sheer determination pulling it out word by word sometimes... Actually I've been writing some tough scenes for LtL and have been reading FDK for the other segments already posted to help
What is guaranteed to remove your concentration?Screaming children or DH at home

I don't have anything specific that I do except try to find some quiet time - often naptime or late at night. Sometimes in the mornings if things are done and kids are playing.

It'll be interesting to see what everyone else says...

Carol

Where are you? Usually sat on my bed, sometimes on my settee downstairs if I want to watch something on Sky
What are you writing with? My laptop
What's the oddest object in front of you? Um, probably a model spaceship from another TV show
What are you listening to? Normally the radio or a CD, sometimes I'm watching the TV or a DVD.
Is there anyone else in the room? Sometimes my cat.
What time of day is it? Night
What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? Nothing, I can't force inspiration, which is extremely annoying!
What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? Watching Lois & Clark while writing it. Seriously, I have been known to listen to a CD, watch the TV and read a book at the same time, but I cannot cope with writing about something I'm actually watching. Smallville poses no problem, however. I wonder why...

Where are you? Kitchen table.

What are you writing with? Laptop.

What's the oddest object in front of you? Bag of rice.

What are you listening to? My station in Pandora or Rhapsody--they both have make-your-own-radio-stations.

Is there anyone else in the room? No.

What time of day is it? Afternoon.

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? Read meta . Nothing like reading *about* writing to fire me up. I'm a nerd like that.

What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? My husband. Having to write non-ficcy things.

alcyone

I've been bullie....er encouraged to answer my own poll by a FoLC who shall remain nameless. (It was Jenn though).

I figured I'd get away with it, since I'm not currently writing. But I guess I could answer the questions based on my writuals when I was writing, couldn't I? (I'm sure that will be Jenn's theory anyway... )

Where are you?
I've been writing since I was about 9, for a few decades now, so my writuals there have changed over the years. I've always had a private space to write in though. My own bedroom when I was a kid and teen and after getting married, no matter which house we moved to, I always had one room I could convert into my own office space. Which is where I write now.

What are you writing with?
I started out writing on a typewriter for kids - can't remember the name of it, but it was a little plastic thing that my mum bought me for Christmas one year, complete with a typing course. Over the years, manual typewriters gave way to electric ones, then the first very simple WPs when they came out and finally the PC. Isn't modern technology wonderful? When I think of struggling with carbon paper and tippex....<shudder>

What's the oddest object in front of you?
Hmmmmm. Well, I'm positively obsessive about my desk being neat and empty. It freaks me out if there's anything on it other than what's absolutely necessary. (In complete contrast to Stuart's desk downstairs - it usually looks as though a small thermo-nuclear device detonated on top of it. He cleans it once a year, grumbling all the while.) Having said that, the shelves on the wall behind the desk are full of items pinned up there, little mementoes - old Christmas cards I liked, postcards, a Superman keyring...the oddest thing though...hmmmmm...Oh! Has to be the little plastic, grinning, bug-eyed "Millennium Bug" which has "Y2K Alert!" written on his chest.

What are you listening to?
Nothing. I have mixed feelings about music when I'm writing. There are times when it's a boon and other times when I get to the stage that I just can't concentrate with it on and end up snapping it off in disgust. Then there are the times when I obsessively play one CD over and over to get me in the mood. Eternal's Greatest Hits was a regular when I was writing my nfic romps, years ago.

Is there anyone else in the room?
There'd better not be! Homer learned early on as a pup not to interrupt mum when she's clacking away at that keyboard and Stuart has long since gotten used to having long conversations with me in the office that I later claim not to have taken part in. When I'm deep in the 'zone', I'm oblivious to anything and everything going on around me. I have a sign on the office door that says, "Writer At Work - Sod Off!" Most people take heed. Homer just sighs when he realises we're heading for the office, curls up between my feet and goes to sleep.

What time of day is it?
I've never really had a time of day that was most productive for writing. Back when I was working during the day I'd usually write after dinner until midnight or so, then spend my breaks the next day going over the printed out text of the previous night's work and tweaking and editing. Since I gave up work I'd pretty much write whenever I felt like it or when the Muse struck with a bit of scene or dialogue.

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration?
Not sure I really do anything. I usually wrote when the Muse hit me with something, as I say, other than that I'd be in the zone and just write, write, write. If I started to falter, or ran out of steam then I'd just stop and go do something else. I definitely wouldn't be any good at having to stick to a deadline. I wrote in spurts and starts, without any real structure to my working day.

What is guaranteed to remove your concentration?
Someone coming into the office and trying to engage me in conversation... Or email ping. Over the years, I've learned to keep the speakers on my pc firmly off. I'm one of those people who is genetically unable to not go look at what new email has come in if someone tells me it's there.

Was that it? Hey, that was fun!

LabRat

Well, gee, for someone who didn't even want to answer, you sure had a lot to say ... not that I'm the one who gently suggested you answer your own poll or anything.

Is there an emoticon for a pink creature running away from a rat?

LabRat said:
So you are still writing? What are you writing these days, then? Enquiring minds need to know!


Wendy

Sure! Email...rambling answers to polls...

LabRat

For me the writing process is probably different than it is for most other FOLCs since I tend to mentally write sections long before I ever officially write them. Most of my mental writing is either done in the shower (on the days the kids haven't run me out of hot water) in the morning or in bed as I drift off to sleep. What I hate most is when I get the scene written just perfectly at bedtime and I can't remember the wording in the morning. I get pretty snippy at the world in general.

With that in mind, I'll answer the following questions as if I'm in the part of the writing process where I record my mental dictation.

Where are you? This varies from my rocking chair to the kitchen table to the mother's hang-out at homeschool coop to the family room.

What are you writing with? Sometimes a notebook, but nowadays it's my laptop.

What's the oddest object in front of you? The piece of fruit someone hid under the couch cushion because they were too lazy to find the trash can? I'm just guessing since my dictation zone varies so widely.

What are you listening to? I'm a musician so I can't write if there is music to listen to, analyze or sing along with. James oftentimes watches TV while I sit beside him and write, but I can't say that I listen to it.

Is there anyone else in the room? I rarely get moments alone. (Only in the shower or when, like every night, James has fallen asleep before I have.) Usually I dictate next to James or one of my three kids (code-named Winken, Blinken and Nod). Sometimes I dictate next to another homeschool mom.

What time of day is it? Most days I'm good and wait until after 3PM when the school day is finished.

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? I have 3000 stories that are unwritten because they amuse only me. I get inspiration from whatever I'm doing at the time. I flesh the idea out for five minutes, giggle like mad, sometimes share the idea with James and then the idea passes like bad gas after soy taco night.

Err... on second thought, it might be better to say that RL amuses me. I find trivial things inspirational.

What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? Listening to my little girls play. They say the most bizarre things. My 2-yr-old awakened me yesterday. She crawled into my bed and whispered excitedly, "Hide! Scooby Doo is coming."

I could hear that her sisters were awake (unlike myself) even if they weren't out of bed, so I told her, "Scooby Doo is in your sister's bedroom."

She peaked out from under the covers and said, "I was mistaken. It wasn't Scooby Doo; it was Daphne."

I think conversations like that would distract anybody, not that I was writing at the time. Fortunately for me, those types of things happen every day.


Elisabeth

That's my world too. I've had ideas come to me in the middle of the night that I know were GOOD but then can't remember them. But I write in my head in the car driving kids around, making lunch, shower, trying to go back to sleep after being up with DS, etc. I've lost more than one perfect scene to sleep *sigh*. I've also lost more than one perfect scene to exhaustion - where I simply can't remember it 15 minutes later because I can barely remember my name by that point - does that make sense?

I guess I didn't really think about it this way... but often times a sentence or something in another fic will spawn something. Something Lois thought in my Nano fic the other day spawned two plot bunnies - one of which has several pages written already.

Carol

Like my wife, I compose in my head first. Unlike my wife, by the time it get's out of my head and into the computer, it rarely survives in it's original form.

So, like Elisabeth, I will do the part where I actually am entering it in.

Where are you?Kitchen Table or Blue Chair in the Front/Living/School room, here forthwith to be known as the MPR or Multi-Purpose Room.
What are you writing with?Computer, what else is there?
What's the oddest object in front of you?In the Kitchen, nothing. In the MPR(see above) the conglomeration of clay sitting in the Art Section of the School bookshelf waiting to be made into something.
What are you listening to? I prefer instrumental/Techno/Show tunes. Nothing with words, or as little as possible.
Is there anyone else in the room? Often Elisabeth.
What time of day is it? Night.
What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? DVDs
What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? I am ADHD...EVERYTHING IS A DISTRACTION!!!!!! It is SOOOOO frustrating to have to deal with all the constant input that I can't ignore. Even Elisabeth's rapid typing can be a distraction.

James

I also plan out scenes in my head. I have a very boring part time job that basically leaves me alone with my thoughts for four hours at a time, so that give me lots of opportunity to think of story ideas.

Guilty confession:

Sometimes, I get so caught up in the story going on in my head, I tend to stop and think to myself "Was I just whispering the lines of my characters aloud? Please tell me it was just my imagination."

But on with the poll:

Where are you? My room. At my desk. Sitting in my obscenely large desk chair that is sandwiched between my desk and bed.

What are you writing with? My old, second-hand computer lovingly dubbed Oscar.

What's the oddest object in front of you? Well, it's my desk, so really everything is odd. Perhaps it would be Penelope, my slightly creepy plant that sits on my desk by the window. Despite being mine, I still don't entirely trust her.

What are you listening to? Nothing. Although I sometimes listen to classical or jazz or something when working on school related stuff, music just seems to be a distraction when I'm trying to write creatively.

Is there anyone else in the room? Nope. As I stated in another thread, I'm a closeted writer. It would kind of spoil the surprise if other people watched me write.

What time of day is it? I like writing at night best. In fact, I find that Friday night is a great writing night because I don't have to worry about waking up early, but I still need to do something low key (ie, not going "out") to decompress after a busy week.

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? Unlike what some people have said (maybe it was Jenn?) reading other fanfic tends to put me off writing. I just find it kind of depressing to read all this great stuff and then to try to come up with my own. I find that if I reread a section of something I wrote, it helps me out better. I say to myself "See, Beth? This was okay, you can do it again!" And as I mentioned above, my boring job forces my brain to come up with new ideas to entertain myself.

What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? Well, a lot of things. A real biggy is if I can hear other people talking when I'm trying to write. I've gotten better at tuning out voices, but I'm still not very good.

Where are you? In bed, in the covers
What are you writing with? my laptop on top of me
What's the oddest object in front of you? nothing unusual in my bedroom really...but it's usually messy heh.
What are you listening to? tv, usually the lifetime channel at night <g>
Is there anyone else in the room? nope, i live alone
What time of day is it? 2 or 3 am.
What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? nothing really, i tend to write until i get stuck...if i can't write my way out of it, i'll put it down till another night
What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? eventually, i have to send myself to bed!

basically for reasons unknown to me, i've written all of my fanfic in bed in the middle of the night. and it has to be on my old laptop. i've actually stopped writing in one sitting, which is kind of a phenomenon. i'll stretch it out to two or three nights. although the downside of writing in the middle of the night is, i can never remember what my latest WIP is until i open it back up again, ROFL.

jd

This is so interesting!

Where are you? Mostly, I write on my computer, in my bedroom. Sometimes I bring a journal with me to university and write there if I have a spare minute, although I am very bad about actually typing it up later. <g> If I bring my laptop to school, there is no chance of any writing getting done unless I'm on a deadline.
What are you writing with? My laptop, or in my journal. It's a very specific journal; a spirally notebook with hard front and back covers, and a picture of a ship on the front. I wrote "Titanic" and "Anything Goes" on the ship/above it with a typpex pen; I'm a dork, yes. <g>
What's the oddest object in front of you? I wouldn't say there's anything odd, per se. Not anything related to writing, anyway. Sometimes I have various websites open if what I'm writing requires research, and God knows that when you start clicking Wikipedia links, you end up looking at an article about the history of frying pans, three hours later, with no recollection of how you got there.
What are you listening to? Usually nothing. I can't concentrate with music on, because I start singing along with the lyrics, and that confuses me when I'm trying to think of words. <g>
Is there anyone else in the room? When I'm writing on my laptop in my room, no. If I'm writing in my journal, it usually means inspiration has struck and I can happily ignore the cacophony around me; however, if I'm actually sitting with friends, then I wouldn't.
What time of day is it? Totally not a factor. I sleep at mysterious intervals sometimes, anyway. Life of a university student.
What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? If I'm trying to continue a WIP, I reread it (or the last few pages of it) to help me flow with it. Otherwise, sometimes I glance at one of my fics, someone else's fic, or rewatch an episode of the show (for fanfic, anyway).
What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? Music with lyrics. I'm terrible. I start singing along and ignoring the document. Also, if I have essays/assignments hanging over my head, I find it difficult to concentrate until they're done.

Julie

Beth had said: That's true for me too, but for radically different reasons.

I have a limited amount of down time in my day. I can either read or write, but I don't have the time or the mental fortitude to do both.

So if you see a lot of comments from me on the fanfic forums, you can be assured that I'm not writing anything at the moment. (Except for today. I have a vignette almost finished.)


Elisabeth

ditto what my beloved said.
James

Where are you? In my black leather chair in the living room, or on the floor, or sprawled out on my bed.

What are you writing with? A combination of notebook paper and my laptop. It's weird, but I always have to do my notes by hand, despite me doing all my actual writing on my laptop.

What's the oddest object in front of you? No comment.

What are you listening to? It depends on the mood of the scene I'm trying to write. Generically speaking, something electronic with minimally invasive lyrics, a good, repetitive beat, and generally not found on Pop Top 40.

Is there anyone else in the room? I can't write when there are other people around.

What time of day is it? Usually the evening.

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration? I don't look at anything in particular. I just stop writing and let my brain work through my muse failure. Shower time, bed time, and drive time = idea churn time.

What is guaranteed to remove your concentration? People doing stuff nearby. Particularly stuff I'd rather be doing than finding my way through a hairy plot point. Like doing dishes. Or sorting pocket lint. *sigh*

lol, I know what that feels like!!!

for me it can be anything from itunes, to playing with the split ends in my frizzy hair... to writing replies to surveys on discussion boards!

ok, so on with the quiz...

Where are you?
Lying in my bed...

What are you writing with?
My 3 yr old APPLE Powerbook G4 (pre-Pentium...)

What's the oddest object in front of you?
the baby dummy in my mouth... meant to stop me grinding my teeth!!

What are you listening to?
Nothing... I am a classical musician with ADD, if I switched on itunes I would spend the next three hours improving my musical classification/ cataloguing systems

Is there anyone else in the room?
no, never when I'm on L&C

What time of day is it?
1am... generally I only allow myself onto L&C after 11pm as otherwise I won't finish my other (more important) work...

What do you look at when you're looking for inspiration?
hmmmm....
a combination of real life and favourite stories from either TV/Movies or literature

I love to adapt favourite stories to L&C, but don't really publish them because I never really get the time to finish them...

at the moment, I guess I would say that I am taking a lot from Bob Newhart (hehehe, I love this show!!! almost as much as I love L&C, except a lot of the psychologist jokes are hard to adapt, but most of the normal everyday relationship type stuff is fun to do...)


What is guaranteed to remove your concentration?
As I said above, absolutely anything....

thought I should add that the translation for Baby dummy would probably best be described as a pacifier...


hahahahah
because my family has always been obsessed with linguistics, and especially differential meanings of words across cultures sharing "universal" languages...