Curious about your writing quirks

I generally write better on the laptop instead of on pen and paper, although I do bring a notebook around with me in case I get new ideas while I'm outside.

I almost always write in my bedroom while lying down, with the laptop on a pillow which sits on my lap. LOL, I'm really lazy that way.

Writing quirks...hm. I usually get my ideas in the weirdest places when I'm doing the most mundane things. Like when I'm taking a shower, or just walking. Recently I also find myself people watching...and I get some of my characters there. :D I write better with a computer since my brain is faster than my hand, but I like writing down my ideas when they hit me...so I always have scratch paper on hand. If there are no papers, then my cellphone's notes functions work like a charm. :)

cnuguid: Wohoo, you got my email. :D You can do it this year. :D Your plot will get to you soon. (i'm repeating your words to encourage you. haha). Some people work better when they write in longhand...and if your sister would say yes to transcribing, why not? :P Get her some treats though, for making her type. ;) My brother used to do that to me.

I only right at night at my bedroom, with my ipod plugged into my ears then, I wear my Naruto forehead protector. It gives me the idea that writing is my mission. haha. :)

I write in a filler because my laptop broke and the computer's on the sala. Then I would frequently roll under my bed just to think and when the lightbulb flashes on top of my head...DING! Time to write!

haha. some say I'm weird. I say I'm just different. :)

I used to be able to write through pen and paper only; NaNo taught me I could do it on my laptop. I still scribble away; there's nothing quite so thrilling to me as the sight of an empty, preferably unlined journal page just waiting to be filled (don't you find that sometimes you just have to draw things?). My sibs give me journals for presents as a result; I never have to buy my own. ;-) My favorite writing instrument is the uni-ball GEL IMPACT pen, with the 1.0 thickness. I like my ink very black! However, for NaNo I use an iBook G4, and I also put in ideas in a program called Journler that can let me send out what I write if I so choose. I can only write a couple of hours a night. I have to type in an Indian-sit and can altogether forget that my legs are numb.

I have a friend who can eat and write at the same time. I'm glad I can't do that; I'd weigh 500lbs by now if I could. :-D But I require cans and cans of ice-cold Coke Light.

I've never finished my novels within the required time either. I get them done during the year following. I've never wanted to publish any of them (just 2) so far, though. I guess I'm just really writing for myself, although I have sent chapters to Inez before (right before the juicy parts; sorry Inez! I owe you the rest of that, but I had to do a rewrite following my trip to Paris last April, for the sake of correctness!).

I dunno if I write better with a pc or paper. But I'm certain that I can't write well unless I'm in my room. LOLXD

i only jot down ideas with paper, since of course I can't bring my laptop with me wherever I go. But otherwise I'm much more accustomed to typing on Word, because sometimes the ideas come so fast I have to get them down right away. xD and I dunno, it feels much more efficient.

I find that I often come up with good ideas daydreaming in class (it's not very good for my grades) but I can pretty much write in any situation, since writing is one of the only things I can do being detached from distraction. I love bonding with my laptop at night, listening to great music. :D

I write my novel in my notebook (actually I have 4 writing notebooks that cost PhP 9.75) and I'm gonna pour all of my stuff for my novel. Once I'm true on my notebook drafts, I'll encode 'em to my computer to have my advanced versions. Of course, I also daydream everywhere I want to, even in school. I even draw some of my novel's (also an RM2K3 game in the making too!) scenes.

BTW, my novel would be my first RPG Maker 2003 game in the making *nyu!*

due to my superb penmanship, imma gonna say...a decent pc with a bunch of anime songs that i can listen to, although a quiet place beside the ocean would probably do...nah, ill take the anime songs instead.

hehe...

I get inspiration from everything. As in current events, people I encounter everyday, the experiences my friends have gone through, staring at pictures, etc.. Heck, even eating dinner or watching the rain fall down from the sky is enough to get ideas rolling into my mind. Which is kind of scary, if you think about it, because not only do I have an overactive imagination, it makes my brain work in a hurried frenzy, and I get confused as to what to write about first XD;

Pen and paper and computers are both helpful for me during the creative process. Usually I start off writing a rough draft or idea in notebooks, papers, at the back of my readings sometimes... and yes, admittedly, even tissue papers and receipts from restaurants/fast food chains/cafes are not spared when I'm really desperate XD; Then I type them in the computer and polish it along the way. But sometimes the ideas usually strike when I'm in front of the PC, so I store them in Notepad and go back to them later.

I find it really useful to have a small notebook with you wherever I go, just in case I come up with something. Usually I spend all of my writing hours/days at home, but I find it refreshing to write in cafes with great ambiance [and great food] and preferably sitting next to the window ^_^ I like my environments quiet when I write. A little noise is okay from time to time, though. But music is definitely a must when I write, it helps my imagination soar all the more =D

Oh, and I only write using Pilot pens. If not, I go restless and I can't get anything done ^^;; I hope that doesn't sound weird @_@

I also listen to anime music and also, I listen to game music preferably Xenosaga series, MegaMan Battle Network series and even some koreanovela soundtracks :-3

I daydream, too, which gives me a lot of ideas. But when I try jotting it down, I tend to forget it. D: I think I have retrograde amnesia or something. =[

Haha I remember jotting down my ideas on tissue paper/receipts too! :) Oh, and every year, my novels seem to have their own soundtrack. =)) Last year's was kind of vague but this year the soundtrack almost slapped me in the face. :D

Ayos, may sariling soundtrack ang novel... me, can't listen to music with words. It distracts me. If there's words it better be incomprehensible. Or in a foreign language. LOL

i only write in my english class and i always doodle on the side of the paper when i can't think of anything

You're allowed to do other things while in class? Just don't get caught, unless you're willing to have your work read out loud to everyone... ;-) (Advice from a thirtysomething former doodler in class)

no, it's the essays we have to do xD
that's why i get low grades for neatness

Uh...I'm the writer who hates writing. I mean my hands cramp and I get pasmado and stuff. So I'm comfortable using a laptop or PC, but I like the PC keyboard to make a noise when I type...like the typewriters before? I don't know why...ambient noise I guess.

I can write by hand though (I did it with my first novella.)...I do it best when listening to Eurobeat. If you watch Initial D you'll know what Eurobeat is. Sometimes I play the same song over and over again because it suits my mood. My favorite songs for sad scenes are 'Keep Holding On' by Avril Lavigne and 'Kiss From A Rose' by Angela Aki. 'Only Reminds Me Of You' works too.

I CANNOT write in coffeeshops. I can write in libraries, offices (surrounded by the hustle and bustle of people), and mall benches (never tried that thought)...but NOWHERE where there is food, or coffee. Also, I'm known to cry while writing...or almost cry anyway.

If I HAVE to write by hand I need black Pilot G-TEC-C4 pens (50 pesos a pop) that are either .3 or .4 in tip. Also, I HAVE to use the same pen for the same story. I CANNOT use a different pen...if I do it's a sign I'm getting uninspired.

Oh yeah, and I really operate on the 'write what you know' thing. Those are all my quirks!

Looks like everyone who composes by hand here have a particular pen that they just have to use. In my case, I used to regularly use my Waterman Hemisphere fountain pen. But recently I bought another fountain pen (Sheaffer Targa) so I now switch between the two when I write.

Ah! And I recently bought a Miquelrius notebook at Fully Booked. I guess I'm ready for NaNoWriMo now. :D

BTW...Miquelrius? How's the paper quality? I like hot-pressed paper (the really smoooth kind), and if I have to write by hand I need the notebook to be...dare I say it...pretty.

This is what I get for being a teenage girl. :D What's so special about the pen you use? This is an earnest question, not a sarcastic one.

Anjelica: I wish I could say I'm partial to Moleskine notebooks but since they're a bit too expensive, I can't. Even if I have a Moleskine lying around here. But I love its paper quality. :D

Yami Neko Tenshi: I love using Pilot Gtec pens too, but only 0.4. And only black (unless I can get a purple one somewhere). Although I'm not much of a "stick to one pen when writing a story" person, I am very picky about my pens. The only pens I really like are Pilot and Tombow pens...ball point pens make me feel like I have dirty penmanship. ^^;

Same here. I'm beginning to like .4 point. For my novella I used .3 though...I still keep the spent pen for sentimental reasons (am I a freak or what?).

Picadilly Journals or Paper (is it Page?) Blanks from Powerbooks are okay notebooks too. Tombow pens? Never heard of them. I have a friend on an anime forum named Tombow though (ah yes, I display my naivete).

Me...I'm whack enough to enjoy good-old Corona notebooks, the Corona Classique ones with the pearl-white cover. Stradmore makes good paper though, as does Campus Mates. However, a really GOOD notebook is hard to find. Check Tickles. Excepting the bright colors their 'Idea at Work' notebooks are cute.

...Yes, I'm picky. VEERY picky. BTW, there are purple Pilot pens (tongue-twister). I know my classmate has one. And as to using ballpoint pens...yeah, I don't like them. They're too fat. I'm partial to fine-tip pens so I can really SEE my letters.

Question to everybody. If you type your novels, do you have quirks as to formatting? Mine was Verdana size nine with default margins at first, but I switched to Arial size 12 with 1 inch margin all around.

Just another weird question because I'm making my presence felt.

Same here. I'm beginning to like .4 point. For my novella I used .3 though...I still keep the spent pen for sentimental reasons (am I a freak or what?).

Picadilly Journals or Paper (is it Page?) Blanks from Powerbooks are okay notebooks too. Tombow pens? Never heard of them. I have a friend on an anime forum named Tombow though (ah yes, I display my naivete).

Me...I'm whack enough to enjoy good-old Corona notebooks, the Corona Classique ones with the pearl-white cover. Stradmore makes good paper though, as does Campus Mates. However, a really GOOD notebook is hard to find. Check Tickles. Excepting the bright colors their 'Idea at Work' notebooks are cute.

...Yes, I'm picky. VEERY picky. BTW, there are purple Pilot pens (tongue-twister). I know my classmate has one. And as to using ballpoint pens...yeah, I don't like them. They're too fat. I'm partial to fine-tip pens so I can really SEE my letters.

Question to everybody. If you type your novels, do you have quirks as to formatting? Mine was Verdana size nine with default margins at first, but I switched to Arial size 12 with 1 inch margin all around.

Just another weird question because I'm making my presence felt.

Ah we're both online how cool. :P

Good paper...yeah, Corona notebooks are good. Reen notebooks are good too (they're the ones with really funky covers). There's the cheap kind, with slightly less smooth paper but still nice, and the more expensive kind. The cheap kind can be found in National Bookstore while the expensive ones are in Powerbooks. :D I like Cattleya too, but only the filler kind. =)

Tombow pens are like cheap Pilot pens. :D I don't know if they're still available though, since the last time I used one was...five years ago. Then I converted to Gtec and never looked back :P

As for document formatting, I am quite picky too. :P I use Garamond size 12, single spaced, 1 inch margin around and 0.5 tab indent. :D Chapters must be at the center in boldface type. Chapter numbers are in words (because they count into the word count :D), and I type my novels in 80% zoom. :D

The paper quality is nice and smooth. I like it simply because it takes in fountain pen ink nicely. I've had my run with moleskines and unfortunately they're a hit-and-miss with me. Somehow quality control is missing with this notebook as there are times when the pages make my fountain pen ink bleed and there are times it doesn't. I've used Miquelrius for a long time now (specially for my journals) and they've never failed me.

Besides, they are SO MUCH cheaper than the moleskines. And yes... for the teenager in you, the covers are pretty. I was hard pressed to find a notebook where the design didn't make me look TOO young. Haha! Give them a look-see when you pass by a Fully Booked store.

As for my pens, I've always liked fountain pens even when I was in high school. I don't get cramps when doing long hours of writing simply because I don't press hard on the pen to write. I could write for four hours straight before I decide to put the pen down to have lunch or dinner. Plus I like writing with the same pen for a specific purpose. Sometime ago I only had a Parker Frontier to write with. Nowadays I choose between a Waterman Hemisphere and a Sheaffer Targa, depending on my mood. My Parker Frontier is still with me (it's around 12 years old now) and I use that when I do software design. The purple ink helps. :D

The waterman and sheaffer are both filled with black ink right now. But I intend to fill the Sheaffer with brown ink soon. :D Oh! And ink! The ink colors help me think. :D

i never knew the world of pens runs this deep O.o

Ah. Me...it HAS to be black. If I switch to pencil it's a sign I'm uninspired. Sure, I'll check Fully Booked out. I'm a compulsive notebook buyer. It's a weird thing.

I've always found fountain pens unwieldy though...but that's just me. And I DON'T LIKE blue ink...weird. I use it to take exams at school, but when I write it has to be black. Even in my diary.

I like Pilot GTEC because you can get every last drop out of them, especially .4. I had half a centimeter of ink left in my pen and it still wrote as if it was brand new. The only problem is if you drop it without the cap on there's a chance the tip gets bent out of shape and won't write properly.

Purple ink is okay too though...but an entire novel in purple might make me dizzy.

Brown ink...never tried it. I might, this time around. I'm thinking maybe I should write drafts whenever they come to me, since my novel is more of a loosely stringed collection of essays that are character-driven.

Mont Blanc makes good fountain pens I think, but they're bloody expensive.

So I think we can class the writing quirks into types: Paper Quirks, Pen Quirks, PC Quirks, and Location Quirks. Any PC quirks, anyone else want to share?

Yep. For those who actually write by hand, pens are an integral part of the process. Some are humble, doing fine with the classic ballpen. Some are like me, with a preference for thinness of letters and shade of ink...so we veer towards elitist. Some are REALLY elitist (not in a bad way, seeing as I'm a Royai Elitist), with expensive taste. It all depends on the writing process...we must sacrifice much for our art.

Paper too, runs deep. Cold or hot pressed? Cream, ecru, yellow, or blinding white? Notebook or pad paper?

It's a given that writers have to be eccentric somewhere, right?

i normally write with anything that's lying around: pencil, pens, crayons, pasta.....

Pasta?

Yami Neko Tenshi: It's good to know that I'm not the only who's a compulsive notebook buyer and has to have at least fancy-looking notebooks to be motivated enough to write XD I'm slightly picky with the quality of the papers [I don't like notebook pages that look like they're soggy or about to crumble because they're so ancient]. But I'm more concerned with the cover. Yes, perhaps I'm shallow like that, haha.

I'll write in whatever type of notebook you give me, just not the spiral ones. While they are most convenient, especially when you're in a rush or you want to take up minimum space on a small table [because you can fold them], I can't stand the spiral spine. It makes my hand hurt when I write and I cannot have my hand hurting when I write. I get cranky that way >>;

And as I already stated a few posts back, I can only write using Pilot pens. If not, I get restless and I can't get anything done. The classic ballpoint pen and the G-TEC C3 are what I use, but I prefer the latter most of the time. I'd like to think that when I write with that pen, the overall outcome looks classier and my letters are thinner and finer ^_^ [Plus, I have better control of G-TEC pens, for some reason.] The ink of my pen has to be either black or blue, but I lean more towards black since it's a classic color and I can at least see my letters better with that color XD

As for formatting quirks, I usually go for Web Layout in MS Word since the writing space is wide [...please don't ask why, I can't explain it myself either] and I like putting background colors/images in my documents [not the blinding kind of colors/images, just so you know]. I only look at my work in Print Layout style when I'm ready to see how much I wrote at an insane amount of time, haha. My default font size is 10 [sometimes I go for an 8 or 9] default zoom is 100%. No default fonts, though. I switch from time to time, but my favorites are Arial Narrow, Trebuchet MS, Tahoma, and just recently Franklin Gothic Book and Calibri.