Writing Routines

“If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.” ~ Edgar Rice Burroughs

The age-old writing advice: write as often as you can. Where you can. When you can.

I was talking to my local writing group friends the other day and it dawned on me that I write in snatches. At the time, I hadn’t thought much about how and when I write.

But it is important, I realize now, to be aware of this, because then it is possible to improve the routine for a better quantity and quality of writing.

I wake up first thing in the morning and write for ten minutes before I freshen up. Dream journal, whatever.

I write while waiting for a cab I have called. Write while waiting for the pasta to boil. Write a post based on writing prompts.

I do sit down and write an hour or so every once in a while, a few times a week, and usually get an average of 4000 words written a week. So, I have learned not to complain.

I know I haven’t yet made it to the stage of discipline where I sit down and write every single day at a particular place. My favourite writing days are those when I get a lot done in snatches, finish a story, for example, or do a series of writing exercises.

I’m getting a few short stories published in Antologies here and there, but I wonder if my sort of writing routine would be any good for longer stretches of work. Since most of the girls on this blog are novel-writers, prolific ones at that, I’m curious. Is it possible to write a novel in snatches?

How do you write? How often? What is your writing routine?

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Today, one of the word prompts was  Skin, and we had everything from an artist painting his masterpiece on a woman’s body, to a pregnant girl being massaged by her mother for relief. In my piece, suddenly the voice of a psychopathic sixteen-year-old boy took over, who has just skinned a cat, and would like to skin girls some day. Ouch.

But  the point is that I’ve discovered that group writing without exchanging critiques can be quite a pleasant experience, and very helpful. It is very stress-free and people give and receive advice or share problems. Exactly what I would look for in a group of writing friends. We plan to introduce critiquing, but gently, and only for those who want it.

Any of our readers have an experience with writing groups?

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I will come to you
In the still of the night
And I will crush you
With the burden of sight
And you will understand
The shadows in my heart
The fury of my conviction
Will cause your heart to quicken
And then, my dear
You will see you want me here
~~ Haunted — Jewel   ~~

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What would your character do (your current one, an old MC, or a brand new one you create today) if s/he knew a stalker was in the house?

I want to go dark for the end of the week. I’m in that kind of mood….

Try to keep it about half the length of Suzanne’s prompt from yesterday. We’ve had so much advice lately (which has been fabulous), but I’ve missed the writing part of this blog. So have at it!!

I’ll post mine in the comments, as well.

Image Source

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Since winning her first writing competition at a young age, Eden Tyler, has only fallen more in love with the written word. She uses her English, Psychology, and Sociology backgrounds to create depth to her own stories and novels while contributing to and running websites about writing. This is what fulfills her, along with working as Co-Editor for Fuel Your Writing, but she also enjoys the freelance work that puts food on the table (and that ever-essential roof overhead) for her family.

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*So, this song gets to me every time I hear it. And I doubt I’m the only one.

I’ll bet others on here have wanted a boyfriend, girlfriend, heck–even a close friend to stay. Just one more day. One more night.
To ‘lie’ a little bit longer.

How would a character of yours react/deal with this situation?
Write a short story depicting his/her pain and progress–or downfall. I’ll post mine in the comments, as well.
Have fun with this!

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Since winning her first writing competition at a young age, Eden Tyler, has only fallen more in love with the written word. She uses her English, Psychology, and Sociology backgrounds to create depth to her own stories and novels while contributing to and running websites about writing. This is what fulfills her, along with working as Co-Editor for Fuel Your Writing, but she also enjoys the freelance work that puts food on the table (and that ever-essential roof overhead) for her family.

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Here we go:

Picture found here.

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Write a long detailed passage in continuous time that includes opening car doors and turning the key in the ignition and putting the car in gear, or maybe someone getting up in the morning or going to work or putting on his socks and shoes. Write in super-detail.

Lay this aside and come back at least an hour later. What part do you definitely want to cut away? Does some of the detail actually seem interesting and worth saving? Can you revise it in a way that shows what is happening inside the character so that the boring detail is the merest scaffolding for the real interest. You might make it funny, or perhaps as the character cleans his teeth he has a flashback.

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I scrolled down and read Gunnisac’s post. I tried to comment, but the comments keep disappearing. So, I’ll leave my comment in this post.

Hi,

You sound just like me. Sarah will tell you that I’ve been in despair the last week, have not done much writing. Yesterday I tried speed-writing and that helped (this is the only way for me to un-block myself). Sometimes the strangest things will set you off.

So maybe you can take Sarah’s writing-prompt in the last post and let yourself into a burst of speed-writing and see what comes out? I’m hoping it will work for you just as it does for me, like magic

Hope you go great guns again soon!

Best,

Damyanti

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Cold arctic air slammed into my face….

And now, take it and run!

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