Tuesday, April 21, 2009

When is the Best Time to Write?

Today's post comes from a recent posting over at my personal blog Frankie Writes, which also talks about writing but is a bit more rambling and sometimes includes other things, but not that often since writing is my life. But anyway I was woken up the other day at 2am by my characters who wanted me to write a scene for them.



So what happened at first was I thought I would be writing just a couple of sentences down, maybe a paragraph at most. But then the next thing I knew, I had written six pages out. Which was exhausting and miserable for me the next day, but wonderful over all for a few reasons!

1. I got some writing down! Yay! Always a plus!
2. I figured out the secret motivation behind a character whose motivation I was having trouble pinning down.
3. I think in a wierd way, even though I was half asleep I think I was writing better than usual because I was so tired I wasn't self editing myself and obsessing over every word I wrote-it just flowed out of me.
4. I think by being a bit more in tune with my sub conscious than usual all of these things were able to happen, loose flowing writing and learning secrets behind my characters as if I had delved into their own sub conscious.

And so now I kind of want to set my alarm for 2am every night and write something. Though I highly suspect that this was just a one time deal.

Anyway it made me think...when is the best time to write? I was thinking about for myself and I know that some writers have a very specific ritual of writing at this specific time for this specific allotment. That's not me! I write at all different times all different days. I'm not a morning or a night person, I'm a when the mood strikes person though I make a point to write everyday. The only thing I have is that I tend to write in chapters, like I will write a whole chapter in one sitting. I can't write half of one or more than one, but exactly one.

So what's your writing time look like? When? How long? Go on! Discuss!

2 comments:

  1. I often write scenes in my mind when I'm about to fall asleep, and they're fantastic. Sometimes I'm awake enough to force myself to the pen, paper, and mini flashlight I always keep beside my bed. Most of the time I'm so tired I convince myself I'll remember it. Yeah, that doesn't work so well the next day. But it definitely gets the creative juices flowing, and even if you don't remember it, I think it helps your subconscious flow the next time you sit down to write.

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  2. LOL, I was literally a zombie that night I was so tired!!! But it was worth it. If you are too tired to even make it to your pen and paper you could just Lorelai Gilmore it-call yourself and leave a message then when you check your voicemail the next day-bam! Awesome idea! See the digital age is fun:-)

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