The Man in Room eighteen is proving to be a challenge. My short first draft of chapters one and two just do not want three and upwards to join them on the laptop. No matter what I do the darn thing will not allow my fingers to do the work on the keyboard. It appears the stubborn character of Elle Buchanan only comes alive if I am writing by hand.
This is extremely time consuming and frustrating. Plus my wrists hurt. However, if I want this book to come alive, then I must persevere. Elle appears to prefer the sunny days to the dull ones. The dull days are rare but this time of year more frequent. The distractions of outdoors are less for me and I can hammer out several words a day under normal circumstances. But no, Elle will only work on sunny days. This book is going to take me a lot longer to pull together.
I enjoy writing by hand but have found the ease of the laptop for keeping things moving is so much better. Perhaps my character has decided I need to go back to basics and appreciate the craft of writing again. My ink pen and roller ball pens make the pressure on my wrists a little easier, but they do need a bit of resting up in the evening. Elle does enjoy it when I relax with a glass of wine. She insists my pad is close by and I jot down ideas. Even then my wrists are not allowed to rest.
She is the toughest character I have created so far. She has no friends. Well that is not true, I think she has a gentleman friend and his son in her life, but she won't tell me their names just yet. Again, this is unusual. I normally have a list of characters to play with and end up having to bump them off one by one. I am heading down an unknown road with Elle.
Superstition might play a part in my writing. I once has a clairvoyant friend tell me my writer's block is created when I do not wear my cross and chain. She said those who send me their words cannot communicate with me. Now I do not go down her road of thinking, but always ensure I wear my necklace while writing. The chain broke a few weeks ago and I never gave it any thought. I put it away before leaving for the UK. This morning I wondered if I should invest in a new chain and see if Elle is happy to use the computer again.
What superstitions or ritual do you follow when you write? Does your coffee mug have to face a certain way? Do you only use a certain font? Tell me your creative foibles.
15 Comments:
Hi Glynis. I don't have any specific ritual but this happens to me most of the time - I am more in the mood to write by hand. Most times, the ideas keep flowing when I'm writing by hand, sitting in the livingroom. I don't know why but it just happens. The quickest to write them down is by hand! :) And I have the same problem when I write - my wrists!
Have a nice weekend!
That's hard work Glynis, writing by hand. I hope you can get back on the computer soon.
My thing is to either write at my desk, which was new this year or in bed. I can't listen to music or have noise around. Peace and quiet are the things I most need.
Len, I know you are suffering with your wrists rather badly. What we suffer for our art, eh?
Rebecca, I have music or quiet depending on what I am writing. I tend to like romantic songs when trying to write a romantic scene.
Thanks both for visiting me today. Enjoy your weekend. x
I need quiet, total quiet, and I prefer sitting by the fire late at night. But I need to get past all that and force myself to write anywhere, anytime. Good luck with your typing!
I used to think I could only write with a pen and paper, but I was surprised to discover that they keyboard worked fine for me.
Karen,thanks. If I sat by a fire at night I would nod off to sleep. I am a daytime writer.
Joan, I started out writing with pen and worked up to keyboard. Now I am back with pen again. Fickle character!
Hmmm... as one who believes writing is hard work -- writer's block or not -- I think the most important thing is just sitting in chair and forcing words from yourself, rituals or not. If you give yourself permission to make mistakes and write rubbish, it's a lot easier. Over-thinking it is dangerous sometimes.
I do have my lucky coffee cup from Disneyland that always sits to my right. So I guess I do have a writing superstion. Never realized it until now.
Talli, hard work indeed!!
Stephen, see it is the little things that we do not realise.
Thanks for visiting today.
I wish I had some writing superstitions,dear Glynis, but I do not do much writing apart from my blogs anymore. I do not think that the time is right yet. But you are tight, it seems like some things just need to be written by hand. That happens to me sometimes. I think it makes them so much more personal.
I used to handwriting my ideas and stories, but like you, my wrist hurt, and I found computer is the best way for me to go now.
Good luck with your writing , Glynis.
Ha! No real superstitions here. Although sometimes when I'm having a hard time with a story, I do wonder if it's where I'm writing that's a factor, so I try to may go back to places in the house where I tend to be more prolific. LOL
I've got no suggestions for you - I can only write in a notebook myself! I've been drafting in the notebook and typing up the words later, all through NaNo.
But I must use a specific pen - I can't write unless I have my Pilot G-Tec C4. Though the colour doesn't matter. My notebook's a rainbow of red, pink, black, brown, blue, green and purple :-)
It is great to read your little quirks. Thank you all so much for visiting me and leaving a comment. x
Isn't it frustrating when our characters won't behave the way we expect them to, and they want things just so?
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