Chit-Chat: Random Writing Nonsense

I always listen to music when I write! I always listen to music when I do anything, actually. Most often soundtracks, if I'm doing something where I just want some music to set the mood rather than actually listen to it.

I don't write much fiction at all these days, I guess I don't have the patience for it. RPing is more rewarding imo because even though you can't control the story completely, you get so much input from what the other players do and you never quite know what comes next. Plus, the interactions and relationship building is something you can't have in the same way when you write a fic on your own.

Just something I thought about xD

I find it harder and harder to continue with a huge writing project if it doesn't have a deadline. If it does have a deadline, then I normally get it done early, like my Current World Issues paper I turned in two weeks early. A good quote I got from one of my LA teachers is that writing is never done, it's due.

I like to listen to music when I write. Sometimes a certain artist or album puts me in a pretty good writing mood.

Deadlines... sometimes they work for me, sometimes they don't. I seem to be pretty mixed with them. Then again a bunch of deadlines that failed for me was in part due to other obligations I had. But I think if I need something done I worked better by setting x amount of time a day to do it rather than try and have it all done by some date.

You guys can listen to music whilst writing? I've always found that hugely distracting - it always makes me want to start including themes akin to the song's lyrics or to even implement the lyrics themselves, or use the music video etc. I'm not the most creative person so I guess when I'm writing and I hear an external story like song lyrics I instantly muddle it with my own thoughts, so silence for me haha.

When I'm writing anything I can't really listen to anything with words. However, non-lyrical music is fine and it helps me concentrate and, depending on what music I'm listening to at the time, helps me get into the feel of what I'm writing. I haven't written a story in the longest time but it helped me from time to time when I was roleplaying or writing an essay of some sort.

See, I fluctuate so much lol. Sometimes music is great for me (some Simon & Garfunkel yeahhh BD) and I find it very inspirational and motivating. Other times it just occupies my mind and I can't concentrate on the task at hand.

I'm excited about this next upcoming semester. Taking a class on Shakespeare. Super happy cause I already know what I want my midterm/final essay to be about and I'm really prepared for it. Gonna do the evolution of the roles of women in society~ etcetcetc.

AlexOzzyCake said:

You guys can listen to music whilst writing? I've always found that hugely distracting - it always makes me want to start including themes akin to the song's lyrics or to even implement the lyrics themselves, or use the music video etc. I'm not the most creative person so I guess when I'm writing and I hear an external story like song lyrics I instantly muddle it with my own thoughts, so silence for me haha.

Click to expand...

To be fair, I can't just listen to any kind of music, and often ones without lyrics (or lyrics I can't understand, alternatively =p) are what I resort to. But I don't often find lyrical songs to be too distracting. I avoid using youtube for that if only because the music video/s can be distracting as is having to change songs (or with playlists, not liking what is offered halfway through... and then internet dropping out pausing the song).

In a way, getting ideas from music is what I want too. A lyric or theme or tone of the song can help provide an idea or direction for me to take in the middle of a scene.

Taking a class on Shakespeare. Super happy cause I already know what I want my midterm/final essay to be about and I'm really prepared for it. Gonna do the evolution of the roles of women in society~ etcetcetc.

Click to expand...

I wasn't too much of a fan of Shakespeare, but part of that probably has to do with doing it every single year in high school, and trying to apply certain ideas or concepts to plays like As You Like It (a play I didn't, funnily enough, like =p) seemed like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Especially considering Shakespeare apparently said of that play it was more a simple humour for the audience (hence the title) and not a work he particularly liked himself...

Macbeth and the likes was fine, but not that. And I would have preferred studing some different authors more often.

I can be able to write a lot mostly in the evening as during the day I'm often away and busy with other things. Sometimes I can be able to write quickly late morning before I have to leave, but that usually depends if I have a fic idea I want to focus on for a bit.

I pretty much needed some background noise when writing as I don't like the silence, lol. Song with lyrics don't distract me too much.

Only read a few Shakespeare plays and kinda okay with his works I guess. I know my high school teacher sophomore year loves Julius Caesar, haha.

On second thought, I can listen to a few song that I have already picked apart and dissected to death. My brain is weird like that, I automatically start dissecting each and every decision I make, and those around me. Is that weird?

Anyway, back on topic. There are a few songs I could listen to as long as they're instrumental. They can't have a complicated, always moving, melody either. I just can't seem to focus on the task at hand and just start moving with the beat (I would call it dancing, but...). Before I know it, the idea that was in my head suddenly flew out of the window. In other words. I'm easily distracted. :P

I could never work under a deadline. That's one reason why I never did well in school. I'm perfectly fine doing something on my own time, but as soon as someone tells me I have to get it done by a certain time, I just stop doing it. Now, with my writing, I write without a deadline looming over me, and I feel much more free. Just a few months ago, I thought about working on one of my stories so I could get it done in a month. That never happened, and I just stopped writing for a few weeks.

I wasn't too much of a fan of Shakespeare, but part of that probably has to do with doing it every single year in high school

Click to expand...

I know my high school teacher sophomore year loves Julius Caesar, haha.

Click to expand...

I never studied Shakespeare in high school. Each year was a different book by a different author.

Freshman year: Of Mice and Men
Sophomore year: Nothing, since my grade went through four different teachers the entire year
Junior year: The Great Gatsby
Senior year: Don't remember

It wasn't until I was out of school that I read some Shakespeare. Last play I read was "The Taming of the Shrew" for a fanfic I was writing where the characters performed that play. I wanted to get some quotes from the play to use in the story. Also, I've read retellings or reimaginings of the plays written as young adult fantasy novels.

Oh, Shakespeare. The woe of students everywhere. My favorite play is Macbeth. We had to study it for my senior year and I feel like if we didn't spend three months dissecting EVERY line in there, I would have liked it a lot more. I was a part of a drama play my sophomore year where we did Much Ado About Nothing and another play my senior year where we did The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. The last play wasn't a play written by Shakespeare, but it was a parody of just about every one of his plays fit into an hour and a half. It got especially funny when we did Romeo and Juliet only using two people. Both of them were guys and one of them had to put on a fat suit.

It's not so much Shakespeare's works I like as much as his cultural significance and the impact his plays had on society. Of course, I adore many of his pieces (12th Night omg), but it's the history of it that I really enjoy. Haha, which is funny considering History is something I usually avoid like the plague.

Alexial said:

See, I fluctuate so much lol. Sometimes music is great for me (some Simon & Garfunkel yeahhh BD) and I find it very inspirational and motivating. Other times it just occupies my mind and I can't concentrate on the task at hand.

Click to expand...

I have the exact same thing :( normally, if I consciously play music whilst trying to write, then it ends up being a distraction.

If I just don't think about it and the radio/iTunes happens to be playing it helps loads though - normally means I end up writing for longer.

As to Shakespeare - Twelfth Night is probably the one I know the best (from school, and seen it performed a few times). Generally though, school-English really put me off certain classics. Being forced to read and dissect a book/play/poem in a specific way was really off putting.

When I will begin to write I try to get some of the general idea in my head first then write it down. Or look up info online if it involves some elements of real things. Always if getting stuck or tried I take breaks then come back to it. Or if taking a break write some side note to where I left off or what I was thinking next to put. Listening to music and actually watching movies help me get my imagination going.

I don't really write fanfics mostly my own short stories or poems.

Sounds like English was approached differently at my school than it was at you guys'; with us, we'd read a book and the class would analyse it among ourselves as we went along, taking it in whatever direction we wanted, and occasionally directed a bit by the teacher. I guess that's probably why I love taking literature apart and putting it back together again; I was taught to do it for fun, in the context of a lively debate among a group of people having a good time. There was never more than a little prod in terms of direction from the teacher, and by the end of the year we'd invented more than enough material to pass our exams by ourselves - we just had to sort through it all and see what fitted the themes we were supposed to be studying.

We read all sorts, too. I think in the course of four years I studied The Canterbury Tales (with particular emphasis on "The Pardoner's Tale"), Macbeth, Hamlet, Frankenstein, Dubliners, Things Fall Apart, Enduring Love, The Merchant of Venice, The Great Gatsby, a selection of poems by Tennyson, and more poems that I don't remember. The main point is, pretty much all of our material we developed ourselves, which I think is a pretty good way to study English and sharpen your critical skills, and probably why I'm about to head off to uni to study English Literature now.

As for music... I always listen to it while writing, if I can. Something weird but without too many words is good (Nox Arcana is an old standby, though it does tend to make me introduce Lovecraftian horror into my work, and hence can be credited with creating the entire plot of A Smell of Petroleum Pervades Throughout by accident) but if I can't think of anything I'd like to hear in particular, I put my music on shuffle and just use it as soothing background noise to think to.

That is, unless it's raining. If it's raining, then all the music is off and the house is as silent as I can make it. Rain is the best sound to write to ever.

Igloo here.

I love writing, and I'm wondering whether or not to write a wolf story on here. I'm all about wolves, and a nice story about them can help drive away misconceptions that most people have. Maybe I should put my main story on here. I think I might. I love to rp and I have a wolf character for myself with a really nice story. I think I will! Lol I feel bad for all you people, having to listen to my ranting.

If you have a story, post it! I'm sure you'll get some feedback and suggestions. It's always nice to improve after all. :)

Despite the fact I love to write, whenever I was assigned a writing project, I hated it. I would put it off and mumble and grumble whenever I was writing it. It wasn't until last year that I discovered I actually liked to write. It's just that something is fun, until it's forced. Being forced to do something sucks all the fun right out of just about any activity. The only writing project I seem to have completed early with a great deal of effort put into it was my Current World Issues paper, which I got to choose the topic of, so that's probably why I could finish it early.

Cutlerine said:

Sounds like English was approached differently at my school than it was at you guys'; with us, we'd read a book and the class would analyse it among ourselves as we went along, taking it in whatever direction we wanted, and occasionally directed a bit by the teacher. I guess that's probably why I love taking literature apart and putting it back together again; I was taught to do it for fun, in the context of a lively debate among a group of people having a good time. There was never more than a little prod in terms of direction from the teacher, and by the end of the year we'd invented more than enough material to pass our exams by ourselves - we just had to sort through it all and see what fitted the themes we were supposed to be studying.

Click to expand...

This actually reminded me of something that happened my junior year of high school. My class went through two teachers that year too, and the first one had us read Ethan Frome. At the end, the only time we discussed symbolism found in the book was when the teacher assigned us a project to find our own symbolism. She didn't tell us anything. My group did a project that focused on the mention of Orion in a scene in the book, and the teacher loved how we reached that conclusion on our own. It was way more fun discovering it on our own than being told what the symbolism was.

I can't believe I forgot that.

Slayr, that sounds like me. I like writing, but when forced to do it, I just loathe it. The only school papers I could finish easily were ones where I was more free in what to write about or how to write it.

Igloo (can I call you Igloo? I'll call you Igloo), post your story here! You can get some feedback on your writing all while clearing misconceptions about wolves. It's a win-win situation!

JNathan here. My first time stepping here actually. I've been wanting to post stories but something bugs me : I can't make chapters. Yes, I don't know when and where to end a chapter.

JNathan said:

JNathan here. My first time stepping here actually. I've been wanting to post stories but something bugs me : I can't make chapters. Yes, I don't know when and where to end a chapter.

Click to expand...

You don't have to post chaptered fics here. You can post one shots here too (basically a story not meant to be with chapters). Lately in other places I write one shots that range from 200 to over 5,000 words. If you still want to do a longer piece, I tend to end my chapters during a dramatic point (sometimes cliffhangers, mostly not) or after. I would also end a chapter if I know the next part will take place at a different time (hours, days, weeks. months later). Otherwise you can always still write your story and worry about how to break it into parts later. Wish you luck!

My high school English classes I read a range of books as I was in both honors and AP classes. I'm counting books I read during the summer too, lol.

9th grade

The Education of Little Tree, The Pearl, The Chocolate War, Romeo and Juliet, Separate Peace

10th grade

Great Expectations, Les Miserables, Julius Caesar (again, my teacher loves it ._. ), Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, The Good Earth,

11th grade

Great Gatbsy, Frankenstein, Brave New World, 1984, Catcher in the Rye. I think The Bell Jar also.

12th grade

Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, Native Son, Canterbury Tales, Old Man and the Sea

I also read Huck Finn (for summer reading) and Heart of Darkness, but can't remember when haha.