Gladiator_008

What do you to get you motivated/going before writing? I usually have some of my favourite music playing and a Pepsi beside me to keep me sane as I just punch away at the keys and hope it makes sense. What exactly do all of you do before or while you write?

die_daily

Ritual self-flagellation.

Eiji Tunsinagi

Listen to music, watch a good movie, eat soemthing, get into a feel-semi-good mode and then write like hell---or until I stop.

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"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

MisterRaziel

Since I don't get paid for what I do, I just write when I feel like it. I'll often go for weeks without looking at a word processor, but once the fever hits me, I can write all night long without pause.

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Grizzled veteran of the console wars.

DawnMorningStar

I think the thing that motivates me most to write is simply having something to write about. My brain is always flooded with new ideas. I often daydream, especially on the long drive to and from work. Knowing what it is I want to write about, combined with the idea that I would some day really like to be published, and also just my love of writing is what motivates me to sit down and do it.

But if coming up with ideas is your problem, you might want to try listening to music. I find that it can be one of the most inspiring things. Also, reading other people's work can give you fresh insight.

Bluenoseuk

FILMS Inspire me. I think books and films are closely linked. In a way, a film is a book with moving images. Some people don't agree with me, but this is only my opinion. Thats why you see more books adapted to film then any other art form. you see more books adapted to films than musicals, paintings, etc...etc. Its seems a natural connection. I think you can pick up on many interesting characters from films and adapt them to your own writing. I'm not saying copy them, but learn from them, be inspired by them....and create. Films also help me with hammering out a structure to my writing projects...it works well for me, so that is my thoery.

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Imagination is our sixth sense...

DawnMorningStar

It's interesting that you speak about films like that, Bluenoseuk. Because most of the time when I'm writing, I envision the scenes in my head as if they were part of a movie. It's just the way my brain works. So yes, I think there is definite merit in what you're saying, and I'd have to agree with you, at least to an extent.

Eiji Tunsinagi

I love watching movies because I see my story as a movie (and sometimes I write them as screenplays), and when people tend to like visual writing more than---ehhh----NOT-visual writing, movies are the perfect thing.

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

DawnMorningStar

I think they also lend a certain air of realism into a story. Envisioning things like a movie helps you to imagine how the scene would look or play out in real life. I know movies aren't always the most realistic of things, but when they're done right, they're very convincing.

Eiji Tunsinagi

Movies also help me figureout what the next scene should be, or how the story will play out. When a character does something, I just imagine what would most likely occure next.

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

eleutheromaniac

I find it sadly ironic that no one seems to READ to get their inspiration for writing. JD Salinger, Leanord Cohen, Shakespeare, are my main go-to guys when I look for inspiration. But I can find it almost anywhere. Aphorisms are great for inspiration, as well, like La Rouchefoucauld's Maxims.

And making books into movies.... ugh, do'n ge' me stawteeeed.

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Augmented Reality

Eiji Tunsinagi

I dont read for inspiration really, because, well, there are very few writers that seem to write anything like I do. Not to say that inspirations should be writers similar to your own style, but...thats how it is, for me at least. I watch movies because the set moods (usually, if theyre good), and when that happens, I write stuff. Also, I think movies based on books are better than what they could've been: Movies based on nothing at all, nothing good at least. So basing movies on books is a good idea, because then you know "hey, this has to come out kind of sorta good---hell, the book did well."

But thats just my take.

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

eleutheromaniac

'There's a flip-side to that coin.'

This is off-topic, but my problem is with the writers who write their work with a hollywood tint. The people who write a book with the sole intention of optioning it into a movie (King, Grisham, etc.)

I wrote my book in such a way that it could never be made into a movie. That was intentional on my part, sort of a backlash against what has been happening in literature of late.

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Augmented Reality

Eiji Tunsinagi

I dont intend on MY books becoming movies, though if anyone out there would like to do it, I wouldnt object. I dont think a book should be made JUST to become a movie though----thats just dumb. Write the screenplay! Thats why they exist! ANYWAY, I just get inspired by visuals accompanied by music.

My book is GOING to most-likely be way too long to be a movie, though there are exceptions (ie, King's Dreamcatcher, which I thikn he DID write for the sole purpose of becoming a mediocre movie).

But you've got to say, movies based on books tend to have good stories (hence the BOOK part), like for example, I just watched Runaway Jury----I've never read the book. And wont. BUT, It had a really good story, which leads me to believe this is because it was based of a book. Yay.

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

gabriella

I watch Disney Cartoons.

Eh, by the morning there's always something I'm trying to piece together in my novel, and a movie helps me forget about my book. (Mulan, Tarzan, Tiny Toons: How I Spent My Summer Vacation, The Hunchback...) You know, the GOOD ones.

Plus it's a cool way to see how a festival would take place, a family hut way back when, army stuff... even though they're unaccurate cartoons, they can be pretty inspiring. I have a problem with watching real-life movies in the morning.... I only feel comfy watching them at night, so my movie collection is reserved almost entirely for cartoons.

This isn't necessarily to get me started, but it's something before I even THINK about getting started - it's just a ruse to clear my head of anything to do with novels.

Um, I do read though - after I write. Reading a book before I get anything done has proved almost depressing for me and I would seriously put it down after a paragraph and say, "Yeah? Well, I can write a book too!" So BEFORE I write I just sort of glance at all my books But I might read for some technical information, like how an army would do this, or how a peasant would work, etc.

But I could do without these things. I tend to just plunge right in.

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You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.