The best time to write...oncoming, during or after neural onslaught of emotions?

[artiecabrera]

My apologies...I did not see that there was already a thread on this topic.

[Lisa]

Unless I'm blind (and there's that whole age thing + the number of prescription changes my eyewear has experienced since 3rd grade), I don't think this *particular* (very specific) topic has been discussed.

What I write in the immediate aftermath of any significant emotional event (e.g., I'm still on the cusp of bursting into tears) is always nonfiction--even if it's a Word doc that will be read only by me, I tell "the truth" as my brain and heart understand it at the time that I'm writing.

I have much less experience with fiction writing (certainly none published), but I have begun trying my hand there. When it comes to fiction, I find myself trying to view past emotional events through someone else's eyes, and by someone whose experience before the event in question is different from what mine was. In other words, I always share something emotionally with my main characters, even if some of them are unlikable.

[artiecabrera]

I prefer writing when I'm in the eye of the storm. I know some authors prefer their chamomile tea, hand lotion and serenity. I can't have predetermined schedules for writing because then it feels like homework or faking an orgas...(yeah, you know what I'm saying). I also don't like to write when things are GREAT!...no, no,..to me it's like getting into the ring and duking it out with my head. Going 12 rounds, clawing your eyes out then having make-up s*x and the cigarette - (not condoning smoking here). It has to be raw emotion for me, an act of aggression or some weird trigger...even when it is lighthearted. I can't see any other way of attempting to capture a special moment when you're not in it deep. I know when I have written something because I had to write it, I end up hating it, because it doesn't feel genuine. Of course this is just MY method and what suits me best...I wouldn't recommend it for everyone because sometimes thoughts get fuzzy and the next thing you know you're on some strange tangent (like the one I'm now).
and you find yourself in a closet with a shotgun waiting for the little green men to show up......................and as far as you're concerned, that's never happened to me*

I know where you live,
Artie Cabrera

[ThomasCardin]

I have learned to write all the time. I have not faced writers block yet, just writers entanglement! Places where my writing gets so knotted up and cramped that I have to spend time unwravelling the wool and tracking down exactly what it was I was trying to say during the last hours of word splooge.

Watch a few episodes of "inside the actors studio"...you will see how the masters of tapping into their storms do it. A writer as to be able to act for each of their characters- as the director would say, "Make me believe you, darling!"

So keep that storm handy. Keep those happy thoughts available as well. NOTHING makes the storm darker than the juxtaposition of hope, love and happiness.

That said- write any way you can, keep writing and don't stop.

[Lisa]

I prefer writing when I'm in the eye of the storm. I know some authors prefer their chamomile tea, hand lotion and serenity.

Because I sort of know you and stuff, I feel okay with calling you an asshole.

[Deb R]

spend time unwravelling the wool

Whoa, look at you, Thomas! Your subconscious knows which forum you're writing in!

This fabric person is going to help you a bit. Raw wool cannot be unraveled. It's in it's natural state, which is smooth and silky to the touch. It has to be spun into fibers to produce a product that can tangle, most notably, yarn. Yarn is actually multiple fibers braided together, so it can be unraveled. The products made from yarn by knitting and crocheting can most definitely be unraveled. As a side note, the Wool Omnibus is titled for the raw product, but the subtitles for each book are knitting terms.

End of lecture I wrote this as soon as I read your post. If I had waited a while, I may have misplaced my thoughts. So, not entirely off topic. I prefer to write while a thought is fresh. Like Lisa, it's always non-fiction for me. I'm going to put some effort into trying a bit of fiction eventually. Maybe.

The thoughts are currently nebulous.

[ThomasCardin]

I am waking this thread back up to add a bit of what I have discovered since making my way through the "process" from start to finish.

While roughing out a story, let the emotions run free, write in any state of mind you can. For me, it ends there, all my revisions after the first draft was complete need a focused, methodical mind to piece the intricacies of everything together in a legible fashion. The closer I got toward final, the more precise and tuned in I had to be, even then I missed things. I have a tendancy to quickly go into right-brained thinking, no concept of time or logic, but photographic and spontaneously creative. To wrap things up you need the left brain, that rules lawyer guy that is literal about everything and, let's face it, obsessive/compulsive.

[tiver01]

I find that the best time to write is today. When you think of an idea write it down. Even if it's on a scrap of paper, even if it's one sentence to keep the idea fresh, write it down. You have to find time at least 6 days a week to write, if only for a half hour during a lunch break, in the morning before work, or evening. Some time! If your serious about the craft then you will set a goal and write. Simple as that. I know we are all busy but the best time to write is everyday, something, somehow, sometime... I have become a better and more disciplined writer because I learned and stuck to that ritual. Good luck to everyone out there!