The Word Cloud

6 Comments

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  by kd 2 years ago

  I think, for me, my writing is escapism pure and simple. It's the same driving force that makes me read everything I can get my hands on and obsessively pick apart this website. Except, when I write, I escape into my own head and go places where I feel like going. There's an element of control or power that comes into writing as well. You make the decisions. You say who lives and who dies. :) I live in France but sometimes I really miss Connecticut, where I grew up. Sometimes nostalgia comes over me so fiercely that I close my eyes and see my birthplace, feel it, smell it. And then I'm driven to write about it just so I can feel closer to it, and dwell in the environment of my youth. So I suppose you could say my writing is also driven by emotion. For me, its a therapy and a release and an escape all rolled into one.
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  by mockingbird 2 years ago

  My drive is the thrill of finding something new - at least to me - and then chasing connections to find details and links. The writing comes later, much later - it is the research that is important.
  
  My work is non fiction and I discovered many women writers in the 18 and early 19c did actually comment on how they felt about their lives as women, and put their feelings into their work - particularly their novels.....
  
  Like kd I read buckets - I have at least a thousand books in my library (the box room), joined the British Library four years ago and make good use of all the books-on-line facilities. So I pick up snippets of information, make a connection and chase the detail. Then I write.....
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  by Rebecca Holmes 2 years ago

  Almost anything can be inspiration. Childhood memories are a goldmine. Going away to different places provides loads of different material, especially if you can dig out as much info as possible about them. Even what you saw at the shops - were the shop assistants bored? Were they telling old ladies their life stories? What about that Big Issue seller?
  
  It's common advice to keep a notebook and write all these things down while they're fresh in your mind. That seems hard work at first, but it's surprising how quickly it becomes addictive - and how soon it becomes impossible to pass a shop that sells them. It's amazing how quickly scenes and thoughts build up and begin to snowball. Then they can start to form patterns and - gradually - plots, that won't leave you alone.
  
  That's how it works for me, and - like kd - there is some escapism involved. I bought a new notebook this morning and have already written something in it. Nothing profound, but it's there. One of my daughters bought me a really, really nice notebook a few weeks ago for my birthday. I'm planning to take it on holiday and write everything in it then.
  
  The more you write, the more you'll find to write about, and the more naturally the rest will follow. Then you can really start to write... Don't forget to enjoy it. And relax.
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  by Aiyla 2 years ago

  I usually just wait till it comes around and bashes me over the head with such force, that I'm stunned for the following days with the absurdity of it all. I stagger to my feet again and plonk myself down in reverence before the laptop and let it all pour out before I'm obliged to mop up the mess I created and start all over again.
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  by issur 2 years ago

  Well, Aiyla's experience seems more akin to my own. Wait until you're clouted by the hammer of vision! Awesome!
  Research is the bane of my life. Not that I resent it, you understand, rather that I get extremely carried away with it. It bears me away upon such a tide of information that I end up lost and adrift with no idea of what I was originally looking for.
  I guess that's just me though.
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  by Ancient Woodland 2 years ago

  I edit a hell of a lot until my muse decends from on-high. I then thrash the keyboard until it buggers off again and resume editing for the next 3 months :c(
  
  Yes, alcohol is definately a factor. No, I can rarely remember writing anything. I am consistently surprised it's even legible...