{Miscellaneous Mondays} Behind the Scenes Writing Tag

This tag is called the Behind the Scenes Writing Tag, and it’s one of the coolest I have received. Thanks to the lovely Victoria NightSky  and Lalaithiel for tagging me—go check out their beautiful poetry, stories, and musings! Now let’s dive into the questions. *rubs hands together with glee*

Is there a certain snack you like to eat while writing?

No—I actually quite dislike eating while writing. It’s very distracting and slows me down (I unfortunately lack the power to type and pick up food at the same time). It’s also messy, and I don’t like messiness. Writing is hard enough without worrying about crumbs in the keyboard and dirty fingers.

When do you normally write? Night, afternoon, or morning?

Morning is the best time for me to do things, but school usually takes priority. The afternoon is the worst time for me to do things—my energy is at an utter low then. That means that I end up doing most of my writing at night, which actually isn’t as bad as I would have expected. I tend to get a second wind after dinner, and since I try to finish all my school by that time, I can simply relax and write.

Where do you write?

Either the dining room table or the one outside our school room. With the pain in my arms, I’ve found that lounging around in a chair doesn’t work anymore. I have to be a lot more careful about my posture while writing (which is a good thing anyhow).

How often do you write a new novel?

Hah! This question makes it sound like I’m doing so all the time. I’ve only written two, and considering that I’ve been writing in earnest for about five years … I guess I write a new novel about every two-and-a-half years? That sounds rather pathetic. However, to be fair, the two books I’ve written were lost and subsequently rewritten at least once each, so it looks longer than it normally should (I hope). I participated in NaNoWriMo last year for Paperless, but I don’t wait for NaNo to start a new novel. I usually start one soon after I finish another.  Also, I tend to work on only one novel at a time.

Do you listen to music while you write?

Ahh, this question. Tough indeed. To say I love music is an understatement—if I don’t listen to any one day, I feel lost and restless. However, I’m not sure what I think about listening to music while writing. Sometimes silence can be distracting, and background music helps get me into that writing zone and tone out what else is going on. However, sometimes the music itself is distracting, especially if it has lyrics. It can also slow me down, if I’m constantly searching YouTube for the next song, or if I can’t settle on one I like. So, the short answer is that it depends on my mood.

What do you write on? Laptop or paper?

Depends what I’m writing. I usually write poetry on paper, because paper feels more intimate, and poetry is often a vulnerable, close-to-the-heart thing. Paper also helps words flow better, and poetry is very much about words flowing smoothly. Novels I always write on laptop because it’s so much faster and less straining to my hand.

Is there a special ritual you have before or after you write?

None that I can think of … although now I kind of want to invent one.

What do you do to get into the mood to write?

Well, that is often my problem—getting into the mood. Usually I’ll poke around the internet to make sure I’ve caught up on everything and listen to my current favorite songs to get me inspired, but in the end, I just force myself to write, regardless of whether I’m “in the mood.” I’m not very good at that yet, but I’m trying to get past relying on inspiration to strike. As is my wont, I’ll give you a quote about that:

A professional author said to [Winston Churchill] that he couldn’t write unless the “mood” came upon on him. The great statesman replied: “No! Shut yourself in your study from mine to one and make yourself write. Prod yourself!—kick yourself!—it’s the only way.”

~ Richard Shelley Taylor

What is always near the place you write?

As in, on my computer? If so, the TPS forums, email, this blog, YouTube if I’m listening to music … although I do try to close some of those out if I really need to crack down on my writing.

Do you have a reward system for your word count?

I don’t, and I don’t think I ever will. I don’t really need rewards—the satisfaction of completing so many words or watching the pages pile up is enough for me. A reward system just feels too complicated, and I fear that I’d get so wrapped up in tweaking it that I’d slack off on writing.

Is there anything about your writing process that others might not know about?

Well, as Victoria mentioned her best and worst points, I’ll follow suit. I’m actually struggling to find something that I’m really good at in writing novels—does correct grammar count? I like to think that I can manage dialogue, description, and character’s movements fairly well, but I know I have massive room for improvement in all of those areas.

One aspect that I know I struggle particularly with is making the main character like me. The two books I’ve written both had female protagonists, and they both ended up with my personality. Going into Paperless, I tried to plan for the main character to be different than me in certain ways, but by the end, she was basically me. I’ve heard that this is a common problem, but it irks me all the same. I have some ideas of how to remedy this in my upcoming book, so we’ll see.

And now for my nominees! As always, this is completely voluntary, and if I don’t nominate you but you’d like to do it, by all means do so! Also, I apologize if you’ve already been nominated—I lose track of who has had this before. I nominate proverbs31teen, Sara Letourneau, the Epic Playwright, and the HeroSinger.

Here are the questions:

• Is there a certain snack you like to eat while writing?
• When do you normally write? Night, afternoon, or morning?
• Where do you write?
• How often do you write a new novel?
• Do you listen to music while you write?
• What do you write on? Laptop or paper?
• Is there a special ritual you have before or after you write?
• What do you do to get into the mood to write?
• What is always near the place you write?
• Do you have a reward system for your word count?
• Is there anything about your writing process that others might not know about?

Oh, and before you go: I’m trying out a new theme—I dislike clutter, and that’s how the sidebar was starting to feel, so I tried out this one. I like how that cluttery (is that a word?) ol’ sidebar has been put into a tidy, out-of-the-way place and how my posts have all the attention. But I want to know what you think. What do you like/dislike about this new theme? Do you have a different idea for what it should be?

Happy Monday, everyone!