Writing Meme

I was tagged by @loves-pie. Smooch!  ❤

Is there a snack you like to eat while writing?

is whiskey a snack?

What time of day do you usually write?

I usually only have time to write in the evening.  Often late enough that my brain is sorta fried, which explains why everything takes so long.  Sometimes I get to write on the weekends, and that happens in the afternoon.  Sometimes if I’m really on a roll I can write on my phone during my train commute, but that seems less and less frequent.

Where do you write?

On the comfy sofa or out on the patio if home, standing like a human sardine if on the train.

How often do you write a new story?

I tend to do better if I’m only working on one or two things at a time, so not very often.

Do you listen to music while you write?

Depends on the scene, and whether I’m using the music for the story.  I once wrote a…well basically a novel, where a character played piano, and I was always describing the music emotionally.  I listened to a lot of Chopin, Bach, Rach, Scriabin, etc. during those years.  The only music I’ve actively inserted into a Pinto fic is Nakhane Toure’s Just like Heaven in Revelations.  I listened to that album constantly for a few of those chapters. And I listened to some xmas music this summer to help me write the Cleaving scenes.  But generally no.

What’s your writing utensil? Paper or laptop?

Laptop.

Do you have a special pre-writing ritual?

Ask someone online to kick me in the ass and make me write, pretty much.

What do you do to get into the writing mood?

Sprinting helps.  I usually have to read the couple scenes before the one I’m writing to get everything in my head.  Lately, though, I need help to motivate.

What do you always have near the place you write?

Just a drink usually. And my phone.

Do you have a reward system for word counts?

No, though I’m thrilled if I can write 4-500 words in a sitting.

Is there anything else about your writing process your readers don’t know?

Well, I’m not sure this is process, but I’m insecure, like most writers here.  I assume that my fics are too fluffy or too light for the “serious” writers here to like.  But these are the stories the voices in my head want to write… Chris and Zach over the last few years, though that seems to be changing. 

And my stories are always really character driven.  I know the situation the characters are in the beginning, and generally where they end up, but the incremental changes to get from point A to point B, the situations that are going to force the decisions that will create the growth of the character to get from one side of an inflection point to the next… that usually comes from really letting the character take over a corner of my inner space and getting a sense of what has them worried, where their priorities are, what they are doing to themselves that the don’t even quite realize, etc.  If I try to do it from the top down…impose an outline on the character, they usually rebel, and I get nowhere.  But if I put them in a situation and ask them, “so what are you going to do about it?” they generally answer.  And when they do…that is the best feeling.

No idea who has already been tagged, but I’ll tag… @elisa-pie, @hopeforyouyet, @blushingkate​, @mightymads, @nostalgia-in-starlight, @psychoticpterodactyl16, @shards-of-divinity, @suedescripture.