Finding Your Story’s Defining Moment.

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choosing your story moment, W.D. Wetherell, writing quotes, writing tips

Have you ever wondered why some stories are great and others just mediocre? It’s not just the way the author tells the story, her use of voice, fantastic prose or the book’s deep characterization or realist setting. All those things are important to story, and definitely add to the joy of reading. But are they what lies at the core of making your story great?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Henrykus

 

W.D. Wetherell says… “A story isn’t about a moment in time, a story is about the moment in time.”

 

 

 

 

When we craft our books it’s important to choose the right moment in our characters’ lives to create a story for our readers. We must choose the moment in time, not a moment in time, to not only to start our stories, but to begin our character and story arcs.

So what makes the moment in a story? The moment is a defining moment in the character’s life. A moment when everything is about to change for our hero or heroine. It’s the moment when life, or love, or existence as they know it will never be the same.

Let’s consider the story of Cinderella. Cinderella, in most of its forms, begins something like this:

Once upon a time… there lived a beautiful, happy young girl. Then her mother died, and her father married a widow with two daughters, and everything changed. The girl’s stepmother didn’t like her and showered her daughters with everything money could buy. But, for her stepdaughter there was nothing at all. She had to work hard all day. In the evening, when all her work was finished, she was allowed to sit for a while by the fire, near the cinders. That is how she got her nickname … Cinderella.

For Cinderella the defining moment was the death of her mother and her father’s subsequent marriage to another woman. If the story of Cinderella began with pages and pages of her happy existence with her mother and father and never went any further, would readers want to know more? True, all those things could add up to a sweet, happy story about a lovely girl who had a wonderful life. But they weren’t the defining moment around which Cinderella’s story was formed. Without the wicked step-family, a father who didn’t care about how Cinderella was treated (or who died in some versions), and all her adversity, there isn’t anything to make readers empathize with Cinderella in the same way they do when she’s a motherless girl placed under the thumb of a cruel stepmother.

So how can you find your story’s defining moment? The moment that W.D. Wetherell’s quote references?

When thinking about your story ask yourself:

• Am I starting in the place where the trouble starts? Cinderella’s trouble starts the minute mom dies. Sure she has back story. All characters do, but we only need a line or two at the story’s beginning to show our characters’ former lives.
• Are the moments that make up the story powerful enough to carry the reader through the book? For Cinderella, life might have gone along okay if dad hadn’t remarried, or if the new wife had been nice, or if she hadn’t had children. Instead, she got a double whammy with an entire wicked step-family. If your character’s defining moment problems don’t set her back on her fanny, create some that will.
• Once you have the moment, amp it up and keep the trouble coming. Create dilemmas related to the moment that will propel the story forward. It’s not bad enough that Cinderella has to work all the time. But when she gets a chance to escape for a night at the prince’s ball, she gets hit from all sides to keep her downtrodden. Her family keeps her too busy to go to the ball. She has no ball gown. When Cinderella has completed all the tasks asked of her, she still doesn’t get permission. Even when the fairy godmother comes to the rescue there are conditions, which Cinderella nearly doesn’t fulfill.
• When you think the reward for dealing with the defining moment is in your character’s hands, snatch it away before you let her really have it. The prince is in love with Cinderella, but her family denies there is another daughter in the house when he comes searching for the foot that fits the shoe. Believing them, he starts to leave without her. All seems to be lost at that moment for Cinderella.
• Finally, make the reward for all the suffering your character has had to endure fit the punishments. Cinderella spent years in the cinders, cleaning and scrubbing, and being at the beck and call of her wicked family, and then she must hide her identity from her true love, the prince. It’s only fitting that her reward is a happily-ever-after. She gets her prince and the palace and a bevy of servants to do her bidding. The only additional reward for Cinderella (or just punishment for Cinderella’s wicked family), in my opinion, would have been to banish the wicked step-mother to the Tower and make the wicked step-sisters serve as ladies maids to the queen … forever.
• But we know that Cinderella was pure of heart and would never do such a thing. Besides, those sisters would probably have been more trouble than help.

The next time you think about your story, ask yourself if it’s about a moment in time, or the moment in time that will change your character’s life forever.

What’s the defining moment in your WIP character’s life that spawned your story?

 

 

 

 

Novel Writing — Let Me Count The Ways

Tags

james Scott Bell, Save the Cat beat structure, the Snowflake Writing method, Thomas Berger, Writing from the middle, writing methods, writing quotes

Beginners sometimes ask me how a novel is written, the answer to which is: Any way at all. One knows only when it is finished, and then if one is serious, he will never do it the same way again.”— Thomas Berger, author of Little Big Man

This quote got me to thinking about how many ways I’ve written books. As a solo author, my writing methods jump around like water droplets on a hot skillet, because I want to know how it fits, want try new things, and do everything at once. Even when I’m writing with the hubby, I’m jumping all over the place while he’s trying to reign me in. He calls my methods circular. He’s very linear. You can guess how that must work out. Thankfully, what’s said in the office stays in the office. Consequently, we are still happily married.

I blame mixing it up on my childhood where we moved every five years, minimum, and Mom changed the furniture placement bi-monthly. Walking around in the house in the dark could be hazardous to one’s shins and toes. When I married, the hubby hated rearranging rooms, so I didn’t. I think my frustrated lack of furniture moving has bled over into my disordered writing habits.

Just because my methods vary doesn’t mean I’m not using some sort of structure to help me write. I have the story idea in my head, usually know the beginning and ending; the black moments; and goal, motivation, and conflict for the characters. So I have a pretty good idea of the story and where it’s headed. I just don’t always know the stuff in between. However, the one thing I always know before starting a book is my blurb. I write the blurb, then I write the book.

I have a total of six completed fiction books under my writing belt, seven if we count that first horrible teenage angst book, and a devotional. My first book was written with an out-of-order, scene-by-scene method. It took me seven years to write. Trust me, I won’t ever use that method again. Getting all those scenes in the right place was a nightmare. Nowadays, I might write down a scene out of order when it comes to me while writing, but not the whole book.

The second book came to me in a dream. I hastily wrote the dream down and embellished it as I went along, letting my characters lead the way. This book was total panster, except for what I’d dreamt. One morning, the heroine awoke and ran to the bathroom vomiting. She’d become pregnant. A surprise to both her and me. But the plot twist worked, so I let her keep the baby and changed the story.

The third completed book, The Nun and the Narc, began as a call to a contest entry. No major plotting on this one, either. But I got myself into lots of trouble because the heroine’s vocation didn’t work, and the book wasn’t long enough. So I turned to The Hero’s Journey to shore it up. Eventually, this book sold.

My devotional was a whole other matter. I stared with the premise that it would be comprised of seasonal, story-based devotions with pictures and gardening hints. I gathered ideas with the lofty goal of a devotion for every day, which soon got pared down. I discovered three-hundred and sixty-five devotions are hard to write without repeating yourself.

When I write with the hubby, we plot heavily, yet allow ourselves the freedom to panster within the plotting. As coauthors this works well, since we have to agree on plot, characterization and such at the beginning, yet allows my free-spirited panstering within reason. He still has to sign off on my changes. After finishing the books, we often check for plot twists, black moments, and other plot techniques using the three-act structure. Amazingly enough, the books usually fit the plotting structure.

Although my methods vary, technically, you’d probably call me a plantster, a mix of panster and plotter, since I know plotting keeps me on track and mostly free of the dreaded sagging middle. Been there, know the drill, had to rescue the book.

Having flown by the seat of my pants, used The Hero’s Journey, and the three act scene structure, I’m feeling the urge to try something new. I recently discovered the Save the Cat beats structure, and I’m considering crafting the next book using that method. After that I might give the snowflake method

a whirl or try one of these methods.

• sticky notes
• outlining
• nanowrimo
• character sketches
• chapter summaries
• synopsis first, then write the book
• James Scott Bell’s Writing From the Middle

Aside from the fact that there are many ways to write a book, there’s an additional point to this blog, and I think to the quote. Writing methods are not ironclad structures writers must religiously adhere to in order to make our books wonderful. They are tools in our writing boxes that help us learn structure and plot. Tools that serve us, not the other way around. If we stray from them a bit, and most writers will, we shouldn’t worry about it. After all, surprises have a place in books as well as good structure.

What’s your favorite novel-writing method? Do you do any of those I’ve mentioned or something completely different? I’d love to know.

Ten Quotable Tips On The Craft Of Writing

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blog about writing, Catherine Castle author, Mark Twain, the craft of writing, writing quotes, writing tips

 I love quotes. The ability to pack so much into a few words fascinates me.  Here are ten of the many writing quotes I have collected over the years. I have to admit, Mark Twain’s quotes are probably my favorites in this group.

• I try to leave out the parts that people skip—Elmore Leonard
• A good title should be like a metaphor; it should intrigue without being too baffling or too obvious—Walker Percy
• When you catch a adjective, kill it—Mark Twain
• Cut out all those exclamation marks. And exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke—F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightening and the lightening bug—Mark Twain
• In conversation you can use timing, a look, inflection, pauses. But on the page all you have is commas, dashes, the amount of syllables in a word. When I write I read everything out loud to get the right rhythm—Fran Lebowiz
• There is only one trait that marks the writer. He is always watching. It’s a kind of trick of the mind he is born with—Morley Callaghan
• Often you must turn your stylus to erase, if you hope to write anything worth a second reading—Horace
• The greatest thing in style is to have command of metaphor—Aristotle

Do you have a favorite writing quote?

Chasing—and Catching—Your Muse: Part 3

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blog about writing, chasing and catching your Muse, finding your Muse, writing craft article, writing inspiration, writing quotes, writing tips

Chasing—and Catching—Your Muse: Part 3

© Catherine Castle

Today’s blog is the final installment of a three-part series on Chasing and Catching Your Muse. The original article, presented as a workshop for a Ohio Valley RWA retreat, was way too long for the blog, so I broke it into three sections for your reading enjoyment, and as a sneaky way to hopefully bring you back for the remaining parts of the series. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series.  For those of you who missed parts one and two, I’m including the original introduction to the series. Please check the archives for the first two articles. For those returning, new stuff follows, I promise!

The Muse of Poesie

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story.”

 

This classic invocation to the Muse, nine Greek mythology sister goddesses who preside over the arts and sciences, is the first line in Homer’s Odyssey and appears in many ancient writings. Apparently, ancient writers prayed for inspiration. Today, many modern writers also pray for inspiration.  I know I have on numerous occasions.

Although I believe in inspiration, I tend to agree with Stephen King’s take on the Muse. King believes the muse is a guy who lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy that you have to set up housekeeping for. King says, “You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you.”

Chasing and catching the Muse is a different procedure for every writer. Maybe you find the music  – in Beethoven’s Fifth or Puff Daddy –  or while sitting in your garden. Some writers, like Frank Yerby, don’t even believe in the muse. He stops writing if he feels inspired.

I can’t begin to tell you where, when, or how to find your muse. I can only tell you how I chase mine down. Although my muse doesn’t live in the ground somewhere, like Stephen King’s does, I do find her all around.

I believe inspiration is hanging around …

• In your idea file

“I put things down on sheets of paper and stuff them into my pockets. When I have enough, I have a book.”–John Lennon

When I’m pressed for an idea I have a ton of them waiting for me in my idea file and in my blog idea notebook. Every writer should have an idea file, or two, or three. Ideas are everywhere. A scrap of conversation. An article in a magazine or newspaper. An interesting, exotic, or historical place you read about or visit. The way the trees look like black lace on a red winter sky. A sound. An off-hand comment someone makes.

As writers we should see stories everywhere. Nothing I see, hear, or read is exempt from becoming fodder for my idea file. The words “There’s a story somewhere in that!” should be ones you, as a writer, find yourself saying often. My minister probably thinks he’s the greatest orator that ever hit the pulpit because when he’s preaching I’m always reaching for my purse, pulling out a notebook and scribbling in it. I’m not writing down great religious platitudes, but story and skit ideas, bits and pieces of description, something I heard the teenager in the row behind me whisper. All fodder for a story or book.

• In the Think Method

“I type in one place but I write all over the house.” –Toni Morrison

Thinking about what you’re going to write can be a lifesaver. It makes things flow much better at the keyboard. A few years ago I really need a fast shot from the Muse. I had an assignment from the Community Press to write a story about a local entrepreneur. I had notes, lots of them. I had the photos taken, and I had been thinking about the story, which was due in a little over a week ¾ or so I thought. On a Wednesday afternoon, about 2:30 I was working on some things that were due the next day and I got a call from the editor for whom I was writing the Jungle Jim story. She wanted to know where the story was. It was due today, and since I always got things to her early, she wanted to know what had happened.

“Today!” I said. “My notes say it’s next Wednesday.”

“Oh, no,” she assured me. “It’s today. I need it by 5 p.m. at the latest.”

Imagine my panic when she asked for a 1000 word article to be finished and on her desk in less than three hours! Fortunately for me, and her, I had been thinking a lot about this story. I was able to sit down and pound it out in the allotted time. Granted, it didn’t get my usual one-day-first-draft-wait for reviewing, but I got it done. Had I left thinking about the story until I actually sat down to write it, I would have never made that ungodly, and unexpected, deadline.

• In the magic of writing

“It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page.” –Joan Baez

In this article series I’ve talked about the ordinary places and ways to catch the Muse. Although I’ve emphasized the practical, I still believe in the magical aspect of writing. Sometimes there’s no explanation for where, or how, you get your ideas, keep the plot going, or create unforgettable character. Sometimes stories jump into our heads, nearly full-blown. Other times it’s just plain hard work.

To keep that magic flowing you need to work hard, daydream often and love your work, because if you don’t love what you’re writing you’ll avoid the keyboard. You must use whatever means you need to make the trip from the living room to your office one that you can’t wait to start.

Take a minute to finish this sentence. A day without writing is like a day without ______________ .

I believe that when you get to the point that writing is important to you as breathing or some other essential thing in your life, and when your fingers itch and long for the keyboard, you’ll finally catch and capture the Muse. In fact, you’ll probably have to chase her out of your office chair.

 

“Writing is magic, as much as the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink up and be filled.”–Stephen King

Is there anything you do that I haven’t mentioned to catch your Muse?

This is it for this series. If you have anything you’d like to see featured on the blog, drop me a comment and I’ll see what I can come up with. And thanks for sticking with me during this writing craft series. Catherine

Chasing—and Catching—Your Muse: Part 2

Tags

finding inspiration, Finding the Muse, writing blog, writing craft article, writing quotes, writing tips

Chasing—and Catching—Your Muse: Part 2

 © By Catherine Castle

Dance of the Muses

Today’s blog is the second of a three-part series on Chasing and Catching Your Muse. The original article, presented as a workshop for a Ohio Valley RWA retreat, was way too long for the blog, so I broke it into three sections for your reading enjoyment. So, please check back in a few days for part 3! For those of you who missed part one, I’m including the original introduction to the series. Please check the archives for the first article. For those returning, new stuff follows, I promise!

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story.”

 

This classic invocation to the Muse, nine Greek mythology sister goddesses who preside over the arts and sciences, is the first line in Homer’s Odyssey and appears in many ancient writings. Apparently, ancient writers prayed for inspiration. Today, many modern writers also pray for inspiration.  I know I have on numerous occasions.

Although I believe in inspiration, I tend to agree with Stephen King’s take on the Muse. King believes the muse is a guy who lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy that you have to set up housekeeping for. King says, “You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you.”

Chasing and catching the Muse is a different procedure for every writer. Maybe you find the music  – in Beethoven’s Fifth or Puff Daddy –  or while sitting in your garden. Some writers, like Frank Yerby, don’t even believe in the muse. He stops writing if he feels inspired.

I can’t begin to tell you where, when, or how to find your muse. I can only tell you how I chase mine down. Although my muse doesn’t live in the ground somewhere, like Stephen King’s does, I do find her all around.

I believe inspiration is hanging around …

 

• In deadlines and the daily grind of writing.

“Writing every day is a way of keeping the engine running, and then something good may come out of it.”–T.S. Eliot

When I worked as a freelance writer, I didn’t always have the luxury of walking away from the keyboard when I was stumped. I had to keep pounding out the words. Sometimes they were  bad. Sometimes wonderful. But because I kept going, I could usually turn the bad stuff into fertilizer that made the piece bloom– at least a little.

Nothing gets inspiration going faster than a deadline. No editor wants a writer who can’t meet deadlines. One of the most frequent comments I get from my editors is “I know I can count on you to have it done in time.” In my years as a freelancer, I’ve only missed two deadlines out of over 600 published articles. One was due to computer screw-ups and the other I was sicker than a dog. But my reputation for getting the job done preceded me, and I got virtually no flack from the editors.

Don’t have an editor? Join a critique group who expects regular contributions from you, or make yourself accountable to someone for self-imposed deadlines. Contests are also a great way to commit to a deadline.

I personally believe half the work of chasing, and catching, the Muse is just showing up for the race.

• In the mutiny of your characters

“If you do your job, your characters will come to life and start doing stuff on their own…And it will solve a lot of your problems.”–Stephen King

Have you have ever experienced character takeover? I have and I rolled with it. Mutinous characters can be fun. Mutinous character can spark new inspiration and take your story in new directions and to new heights. However, if you don’t live with these characters on a daily basis, it’s hard for them to take over. Make sure you spend enough time visiting and thinking about their world.

• In the lives of others

“There is only one trait that marks a writer. He is always watching, it’s a kind of trick of the mind and he is born with it.” –Morely Callaghan

People watching nets a writer all kinds of things: character traits, story ideas, title ideas, emotions. Once on vacation my husband and some friends of ours stopped in at a McDonald’s for lunch. While we were dining a very strangely dressed young man and his date came in.  The boy wore ragged jeans, a long-tailed tux jacket, and a tee-shirt. Spiked hair covered his head, his ears held multiply pairs of earrings, and he carried a small Munster’s lunchbox. We had a difficult time eating without staring at him. After the boy left, my friend leaned over and said, “He certainly doesn’t have any trouble standing out in a crowd. With a penchant like he has for being his own person, he’ll probably end up as President one day.” That image and my friend’s comment stuck with me, and later I co-wrote a skit with my husband based on that young boy’s weird wardrobe and my friend’s comment about what he imagined the boy’s character to be. You don’t have to go far to find interesting characters, places, or ideas. Just look around and grab what the Muse dangles in front of you. Then run as fast as you can to your computer and get the story down.

• In books and in brainstorming. 

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”–Stephen King

Writers must be readers. Why? Because you need to know what’s being published. You need to know who your competition is. And you need to know how you compare to those writers getting published. By reading a variety of books you can learn styles and grammar. You can absorb the styles of other writers, and in doing so can help create and hone your own voice

Writers also need brainstorming times. Writing is solitary work, but we need the companionship and input of other writers sometimes. Some of you may already know the power of brainstorming for getting the creative juices flowing. When we take trips, my husband Donald and I often brainstorm skits, plays and book ideas. We throw out story ideas, plot ideas, character ideas, anything we can think of. We have a no-holds-barred rule. No idea is too crazy, too silly or too stupid to throw out on the table. It might not work for what we are doing now, but it could possibly used later. I’ve discarded scenes that I loved, but didn’t work for the WIP. Later I’ve come back, looked at the scene, and built another story around it. You know you have a great idea when the idea sparks and the story lines start to spill from somewhere inside you.

Well, that’s all for today. Please check back in a few days for the next installment.

Have you ever used any of these methods to catch your Muse?

Chasing–and Catching Your Muse

Tags

article about the writing craft, Catching the Muse, finding inspiration, writing quotes

Chasing—and Catching—Your Muse: Part 1

© Catherine Castle

Today’s blog is the first of a three-part series on Chasing and Catching Your Muse. The original article, presented as a workshop for a Ohio Valley RWA retreat, was way too long for the blog, so I broke it into three sections for your reading enjoyment. So, please check back in a few days for parts 2 and 3!

Pegasus and the Muses

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story.”

 

This classic invocation to the Muse, nine Greek mythology sister goddesses who preside over the arts and sciences, is the first line in Homer’s Odyssey and appears in many ancient writings. Apparently, ancient writers prayed for inspiration. Today, many modern writers also pray for inspiration.  I know I have on numerous occasions.

Although I believe in inspiration, I tend to agree with Stephen King’s take on the Muse. King believes the muse is a guy who lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy that you have to set up housekeeping for. King says, “You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you.”

Chasing and catching the Muse is a different procedure for every writer. Maybe you find the music  – in Beethoven’s Fifth or Puff Daddy –  or while sitting in your garden. Some writers, like Frank Yerby, don’t even believe in the muse. He stops writing if he feels inspired.

I can’t begin to tell you where, when, or how to find your muse. I can only tell you how I chase mine down. Although my muse doesn’t live in the ground somewhere, like Stephen King’s does, I do find her all around.

I believe inspiration is hanging around …

• In everyday life.

“The best time for planning a book is while you are doing the dishes.”–Agatha Christie

What do you think of when you clean the toilet? How gross it is? Why those scrubbing bubbles aren’t working? Use this time to envision your heroine surviving the sewers of London, or develop a funny scene. Humorist Erma Bombeck is a great example of using everyday life for inspiration. Use repetitive chores to space out and daydream.  It doesn’t take much brain power to fold towels, drop clothes in the washer, or run the sweeper. Just be careful when driving or using sharp tools. The goal is to daydream, not end up permanently asleep. Several years ago I  read Stephen King’s book on writing. In it he indicates that some of his best stories, Cujo,Salem’sLot, Desperation, Dolores Caliborne, came to him while taking a shower, while driving, while, taking his daily walk. He asked himself, “What if?” and while doing the mundane, everyday things of life, his stories formed.

 

• In insomnia.

“I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark” —Henry David Thoreau.

What better thing to do with insomnia than write? I suggest you keep an insomnia notebook. I have written poems, skits, fleshed out dramas, written dialogue and even plotted out novels in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes perched on the throne, other times hidden away in my office. Some of the best things I have written have been created when I should have been asleep. I would advise you go to the far side of the house if you plan on plotting out loud. When I was writing music for the first musical my husband I co-authored, I got up one night to record a song that kept running through my head. I took my mini recorder from the nightstand, went into the bathroom, and very softly sang the tune into the recorder. The next morning, my husband politely asked me not to sing at 2 a.m. Apparently I wasn’t as quiet as I thought I was.

• In sleep, or daydreams.

“What no wife (and I would add husband or children) of a writer can understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out the window.”–Burton Rascoe 

Have you ever dreamed a story, or some part of one? I have, and it’s really cool when it happens. Sleep releases the ideas that are floating in your subconscious. Can’t remember your dreams? Try cat naps, daydreaming, or self-hypnosis.

• In solitude

“If you are a writer you locate yourself behind a wall of silence and no matter what you are doing, driving a car or walking or doing housework, which I love, you can still be writing, because you have that space.”– Joyce Carol Oates

Do you have the luxury of spending more than 3 hours a day alone? Or is yours a life that only slows down when you hit the mattress? No matter how little time you have alone, writers need solitude. We need time alone to create. We need time alone to chase the muse. We need time alone to rejuvenate. How you find that time is up to you and your schedule.

Sometimes I find my solitude and ideas in prayer. I’m not praying for an idea, but my mind tends to wander when I pray. I try not to beat myself up over it, but consider anything thing I come up with as divine inspiration, and thank God for it.

That’s all for today. Please check back in a few days for the next installment.

Do any of these methods work for you?

How Do Your Writing Habits Stack Up?

Tags

blog, Catherine Castle, romance author, writing habits, writing inspiration, writing quotes, writing tips

Writing habits—what are they really? If we are disciplined writers are we supposed to hit the computer every day for x number of hours or words? Does it mean letting the dishes rot in the sink until you have your daily pages done? Do the kids and hubby fend for themselves while you slave over your computer? Is it better to doggedly go at the process even if you don’t feel inspired or wait for the muse to hit you? These are questions writers have struggled with for as long as pen, pencil and paper have existed.  Take a look at what some other writers have said about this subject.

1.  I write whenever it suits me. During a creative period I write every day; a novel should not be interrupted. When I cease to be carried along, when I no longer feel as though I were taking down dictation, I stop.  Francois Mauriac

2.     I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every   morning.  Peter De Vries

3.     When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after the first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. Earnest Hemingway

4. I generally go to work right after breakfast. I sit right down to the machine. If I find I’m not able to write, I quit.  Henry Miller

5. I work every day from ten in the morning till I’m done with my pages. I try not to write beyond a certain point. It’s my experience that if I write too much in one day it kills a couple of days’ work for me after that. I like to keep myself to three or four pages a day.  Scott Spencer.

6.               I type in one place, but I write all over the house. Toni Morrison

7. You write by sitting down and writing. There’s no particular time or place—you suit yourself, your nature. How one works, assuming he’s disciplined, doesn’t matter.  Bernard Malamud

8. I’m not a big believer in disciplined writers. What does discipline mean? The writer who forces himself to sit down and write for seven hours every day might be wasting those even hours it he’s not in the mood and doesn’t feel the juice. I don’t think discipline equals creativity.  Bret Easton Ellis

9.     It sounds shameful, but on my best days I write only about three or four hours.  Anne Bernays

10. If I didn’t know the ending of a story, I wouldn’t begin. I always write my last line, my last paragraph, my last page first. Katherine Anne Porter

11. I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark. Henry David Thoreau

12.  I put things down on sheets of paper and stuff then in my pockets. When I have enough, I have a book.  John Lennon

13.               I just sit at a typewriter and curse it a bit.  P.G. Wodehouse

 Do any of these quotes sound like you? I have to admit to practicing numbers 1, 6, 11, 12 on a regular basis. But I probably live by number 7, as I suspect do many other writers.

“You write by sitting down and writing. There’s no particular time or place—you suit yourself, your nature. How one works, assuming he’s disciplined, doesn’t matter. “ Bernard Malamud

 Most of us have lives outside the publishing world, families to care for, and a laundry list of chores to do that gets bigger with each passing day. But no matter what your writing discipline or habits, one this is certain … if you are truly a writer you can’t help but write. Your love for the written word will catch hold of you no matter where you are or what your life circumstances. So, write on and don’t worry too much about how you go about it!

 Which of the quotes sound most like you and your writing habits? Or do you do something entirely different? If so, what ?