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kateIn your own space, talk about your creative process - from what inspires you to what motivates you to how you manage to break through blocks. Does your process change depending on the type of creating you're doing?
Well, the only creative thing I do at the moment is write, so I guess that's what I'll talk about. (Good timing - this is the same thingmelannen asked about on the December meme, so I can use it for that, too!)
When I fall hard for a canon that I can write in (and this is very different than falling for source material, just so we're clear), it usually takes me a while to start writing. Who knows why; there are a few things at work, I think. One is that it takes me a while to get used to the characters' voices, and since that is key to me - being in character is extremely important to how I write - I hang out for a while and write little things here and there. So far, for both of my TV canons, it's been episode caps that really pushed me into the land of writing for the fandom. I hate to miss deadlines, so it forces me to write in canon, which then forces me to get comfortable with the characters, which then gives me confidence to write other things.
Most often, once I've caught up with canon, I have a few story ideas, and they're usually epic. Right now I have three epic Supernatural stories on my plate and a bunch of shorts. I work on the epics every day, slowly, until they're done. They're almost constantly on my mind, and I do shift from one to the next as the mood takes me. Shorts may distract me for a few days or even a few weeks (if the short is more medium-length rather than short), but the epics are always there, stewing in the background.
Writing is very nuts and bolts for me, though. I do have bouts of inspiration where I will just sit down and write a fic (the fake boyfriends party was like this, and Dean crossdressing), but mostly I just try to write every day (especially in the morning, before work) and keep plugging away. I don't mind inspiration, but I don't want to be held hostage to its whims. And I find my writing is better for it. The more consistent I am with daily writing, the more inspiration strikes, too - if I'm doing my writing in the morning before work, it sticks with me, and I will often end up writing over lunch, too, and in the evenings. So that daily writing habit tends to open up all kinds of creativity.
I usually have something of a slump after I post, and the bigger the piece I wrote, the longer the slump. I check obsessively to see how it's doing, I live for comments, and I watch the kudos/bookmarks/hits counters with intense interest. I re-read the piece obsessively, still editing, even after it's been posted. I'm usually still writing, but I'm distracted. I tend to write shorts because they aren't affected by my mood so much (so if a story tanks, it doesn't make the rest of my output suddenly annoyed and pissy).
Eventually I'll get over the obsessiveness and buckle down to writing. I use a word count spreadsheet, and often I struggle to keep up with daily wordcounts in the wake of posting; I get to a point where I have to sit down and write a couple thousand words to catch up, and that's the thing that will drag me back on course for one of my epics.
And then I just continue on until I finish the epic and get it ready for posting, and the whole cycle starts over again. I've never finished all my epics in a fandom; I'd love to do that in Supernatural and see what happens. My guess is that it will never happen because I have epic story ideas all the time, I just don't start writing them usually, because I already have three epics in my closet and I don't want to keep starting new things and not finishing them. Occasionally I can't help it, though, the idea is too good, so I write some and make notes, and then I have another epic in my folder. I haven't had a new one in SPN for a while, but I have easily over a year's worth of writing to finish the epics I have already, so who knows what my writing folder will look like this time next year. :)
And huh, motivation... writing itself motivates me, I suppose? It's one of the things about daily writing. The writing is an end in and of itself, so I'm motivated to do it every day (the spreadsheet is seriously a whipcracker like none I've ever had, without a single word - I hate getting behind on daily wordcount). I'm usually motivated to write about my fandom just because I love my fandom. Once I'm in a fandom, I have no shortage of plot bunnies or fic ideas.
And blocks... well. Since I always have a few things going on at any given time, I just switch to something that's speaking to me if the current epic I'm on gets stuck. Though usually I try to get back to it quickly, and talking it through with my wife or fandom friends is the way to go for that.
In case you want to play along!
Here is my December meme topics post, if you have something you desperately want to ask me.
Well, the only creative thing I do at the moment is write, so I guess that's what I'll talk about. (Good timing - this is the same thing
melannen asked about on the December meme, so I can use it for that, too!)When I fall hard for a canon that I can write in (and this is very different than falling for source material, just so we're clear), it usually takes me a while to start writing. Who knows why; there are a few things at work, I think. One is that it takes me a while to get used to the characters' voices, and since that is key to me - being in character is extremely important to how I write - I hang out for a while and write little things here and there. So far, for both of my TV canons, it's been episode caps that really pushed me into the land of writing for the fandom. I hate to miss deadlines, so it forces me to write in canon, which then forces me to get comfortable with the characters, which then gives me confidence to write other things.
Most often, once I've caught up with canon, I have a few story ideas, and they're usually epic. Right now I have three epic Supernatural stories on my plate and a bunch of shorts. I work on the epics every day, slowly, until they're done. They're almost constantly on my mind, and I do shift from one to the next as the mood takes me. Shorts may distract me for a few days or even a few weeks (if the short is more medium-length rather than short), but the epics are always there, stewing in the background.
Writing is very nuts and bolts for me, though. I do have bouts of inspiration where I will just sit down and write a fic (the fake boyfriends party was like this, and Dean crossdressing), but mostly I just try to write every day (especially in the morning, before work) and keep plugging away. I don't mind inspiration, but I don't want to be held hostage to its whims. And I find my writing is better for it. The more consistent I am with daily writing, the more inspiration strikes, too - if I'm doing my writing in the morning before work, it sticks with me, and I will often end up writing over lunch, too, and in the evenings. So that daily writing habit tends to open up all kinds of creativity.
I usually have something of a slump after I post, and the bigger the piece I wrote, the longer the slump. I check obsessively to see how it's doing, I live for comments, and I watch the kudos/bookmarks/hits counters with intense interest. I re-read the piece obsessively, still editing, even after it's been posted. I'm usually still writing, but I'm distracted. I tend to write shorts because they aren't affected by my mood so much (so if a story tanks, it doesn't make the rest of my output suddenly annoyed and pissy).
Eventually I'll get over the obsessiveness and buckle down to writing. I use a word count spreadsheet, and often I struggle to keep up with daily wordcounts in the wake of posting; I get to a point where I have to sit down and write a couple thousand words to catch up, and that's the thing that will drag me back on course for one of my epics.
And then I just continue on until I finish the epic and get it ready for posting, and the whole cycle starts over again. I've never finished all my epics in a fandom; I'd love to do that in Supernatural and see what happens. My guess is that it will never happen because I have epic story ideas all the time, I just don't start writing them usually, because I already have three epics in my closet and I don't want to keep starting new things and not finishing them. Occasionally I can't help it, though, the idea is too good, so I write some and make notes, and then I have another epic in my folder. I haven't had a new one in SPN for a while, but I have easily over a year's worth of writing to finish the epics I have already, so who knows what my writing folder will look like this time next year. :)
And huh, motivation... writing itself motivates me, I suppose? It's one of the things about daily writing. The writing is an end in and of itself, so I'm motivated to do it every day (the spreadsheet is seriously a whipcracker like none I've ever had, without a single word - I hate getting behind on daily wordcount). I'm usually motivated to write about my fandom just because I love my fandom. Once I'm in a fandom, I have no shortage of plot bunnies or fic ideas.
And blocks... well. Since I always have a few things going on at any given time, I just switch to something that's speaking to me if the current epic I'm on gets stuck. Though usually I try to get back to it quickly, and talking it through with my wife or fandom friends is the way to go for that.
In case you want to play along!
Here is my December meme topics post, if you have something you desperately want to ask me.
For easy organization later:
