the three things you need

[asakiyume]

On Twitter people were posting the three things they need to write. It was interesting because people were taking it in all sorts of different ways--very abstract or big-picture, or very particular and concrete. Some were external things and some were internal. So for instance, Virginia Molhere listed "A decent pen (non-traditional ink color helpful)" as one of her three, and Aliette de Bodard listed "A universe (basic idea of the thought system and where my MC is on the scale)."

Care to share your three? Not limited to writing--apply it to the creative endeavor of your choice.

Comments

[evelyn_b]

I'm pathetically dependent on decent pens. They don't have to be amazing pens, and I don't care about ink color at all, but hand me a crappy Bic ballpoint from the bank and I'm lost.

I'm not sure if I can think of two other things.

[asakiyume]

So when you write, you usually handwrite? I do handwrite sometimes, but more often I'm on a device.

[evelyn_b]

More or less! For my day job I sit and type emails all day long at a computer, and I do DW comments directly into the comment box (mostly) but the vast majority of recreational/personal writing I've done for the past ~10 years is handwritten with a pen. Sometimes I use a pencil or brush to mix things up, but that's more of a "do a weird thing to see if it knocks your inhibitions around" activity than regular writing practice.

I also have a manual typewriter for when I want to get really freaky. An aunt gave it to me as a gift & I've lugged it from town to town since I was a teenager.

Unfortunately my handwriting has not improved at all.

[asakiyume]

This is awesome--long live handwriting, no matter how it looks!

[sartorias]

Writing utensil, an idea, time!

[asakiyume]

TIME is such a big one!

[mount_oregano]

Those are my three, too. Just the bare necessities.

[asakiyume]

A very good set.

[sonia]

I need a long block of time. Not because it takes me so long to write, but because it takes a while to do all the puttering and other chores before I finally settle in.

I need a sense of the next step (a title, a structure, an example, an opening sentence) and time away from writing to let my subconscious work on that.

I need (internal) permission for what I'm writing to be shorter than usual, even though once I get started I find plenty to say.

[asakiyume]

When you say chores, do you mean things relating to setting up for writing? Or do you mean other, unrelated chores that need to get done before you can take the time for writing?

internal permission! Yes--I have to give myself permission to write crummy stuff or stuff I'm going to throw away later.

[sonia]

Unrelated chores that suddenly become very interesting when it's time to write. Related to what selidor said below, I think it's a way to manage anxiety and sidle up to the actual writing.

[lizziebelle]

A great pen, time, and motivation.

[asakiyume]

I was saying to Sartorias, the time thing is SO IMPORTANT. And motivation, definitely. For me the pen would be a bonus ;-)

[marycatelli]

1. Time

and then
2. Paper
3. Pen

or alternatively
2. Computer
3 Word processor

[asakiyume]

Would you say you do more first-draft writing using an electronic device, or writing by hand?

[marycatelli]

Don't keep track.

Longhand at the moment, but that's in part predicated on where I am when I have the time.

[asakiyume]

I hear you on the where-I-am-when-I-have-the-time part. A good portion of my writing these days is in pencil on lined paper, while my students are writing their essays.

[kore]

1 - a keyboard. Love fancy pens but handwriting has always been too slow for me. I got my first typewriter when I was about six as a Christmas present.
2 - Peace and quiet. Nobody interrupting me. It makes me sound like a snowflake but I can't write with someone else in the room.
3 - Coffee or tea, altho if I'm really racing it gets cold and neglected.

Music often motivates me, but I don't write _to_ music -- I wind up blocking it out. I used to play stuff on repeat until it drove other people in the house crazy, it put me in kind of a trance state. Classical or non-verbal music is best for that. But it's not required.

Non-materially --

1 - I need to hear the voice of the story, whether it's 3P or 1P. The viewpoint of the person narrating, or an image, or a line.
2 - If I can "hear" the characters talking it's really flowing. A lot of my first drafts are me sort of taking down dialog.
3 - It slows me wayyy down but I need an outline or some idea where the story's going -- even if 99% of the time I trash it. I need a map.

[asakiyume]

Fascinating! I know what you mean about taking down conversation; that's how my plots unfold for me these days, too. (Long ago I think it used to be more voice-over.)

Interesting about not being able to write when others are in the room. By habit, I'm 99 percent of the time writing alone, but ever since my first attempt at NaNoWriMo in 2006, I've liked writing with others from time to time.

[kore]

I think it might be fun with a writing group sometime, but I remember trying to write in a computer lab in college in about 1990 and it just felt SO EMBARRASSING. Also, people kept complaining about the speed of my typing (at best it used to be about 160 wpm, slowed wayyy down now, and I also wrecked my hands). I know people who can just sit next to someone watching TV and also write on their phone, or jot on a legal pad, and it makes me so jealous.

I dunno if it has much to do with the ADD but when I focus I drill WAY down and I HATE being interrupted.

[asakiyume]

That makes good sense!

I hate being interrupted when I'm in the middle of *anything*. I used to snarl... I've gotten better about not doing that, though.

[selidor]

For poems:
- a blank screen (generally preferable over a physical page, though page is doable)
- a line that needs to be written down. I "hear" that line or phrase first. Then either the rest unspools, or the line in its single page goes in the pile and maybe gets re-opened one day.

For science:
- a feeling of calm. I get nothing done on debugging or writing if anxious.
- a screen (unless drafting a new talk; then notes get made by hand with sketches, before making plots/slides).

Apparently I never get to three requirements, just two...

[asakiyume]

The screen is common to both, but whereas for your (more) imaginative endeavor you need a spark of inspiration, for your (more) analytical endeavor, you need a favorable mental state (how's that for three words to replace the marvelous simplicity of the single word "calm")

[queenoftheskies]

Time is my biggest need.

Peace of mind, so that there aren't emotional distractions.

Rest.

[asakiyume]

Time, yes! And rest, and a mental state capable of doing the writing. Totally understand.

[sovay]

Care to share your three? Not limited to writing--apply it to the creative endeavor of your choice.

Not just writing time, but surrounding time that is not otherwise structured; a keyboard; sleep.

[asakiyume]

I wish you more of all of them than you currently get--actually, I should leave that message for queenoftheskies, too.

[sovay]

I wish you more of all of them than you currently get

Thank you!

[mrissa]

I am method-agnostic; I can write longhand or on screen, and do. I not only don't need caffeine but can't have it. And so on. So the three that I posted--
1. relationship
2. voice
3. the sensation of weight and shape in my mouth like a stone
--are not just me being twee, I have worked really actively to be able to start writing under a variety of physical conditions. (loud, quiet, scratchy pen, unfamiliar keyboard, whatev)

But.

But for me starting is not the problem. And I have made notes to myself to start conversations about tricks for getting through the muddy middle. Because I know that for some people starting IS the problem, and it's interesting to talk about...but I think that CONTINUING and what it takes to CONTINUE is also interesting. So that's on my agenda for the week.

[asakiyume]

I would love to talk about continuing! Do you have a blog post? Or are you tweeting about it? I'll come check--I just got online now.

Or were you meaning that right now you're in the slog of the continuing? In which case, on the one hand I want to offer hearty encouragement, and on the other--let's talk about it anyway!

For me, I can make myself continue so long as I believe in the story, though sometimes I'm just inching along. It makes me ask myself what makes me lose faith in the story, but I think the answer to that is various. Sometimes I realize I don't have a storyline that engages me enough to keep going. Sometimes I end up not feeling like I have the chops to tell the story, either because it requires a level of research that I'm not willing or able to put in, or because somehow I just don't have the writing tools (storytelling techniques) at my disposal that let me write it the way I want to. Or sometimes I do think I'm just not the person to tell it. I'd love to see someone write either fiction or nonfiction about Africa Town, but it won't be me.

[mrissa]

I plan to tweet about it this week!

And I have just gotten to the point of continuing that is less slog and more fun again/smooth again--I hope--we'll find out!

[asakiyume]

Awesome on both counts! I'll look forward to the tweets and participating in the conversation.

[missroserose]

This is making me think a lot. I have a lot of heuristics and mental checklists I use for various activities—as an example, my checklist for yoga teaching is "towel, water bottle, journal, watch, music player, adapter"—which makes paring things down to three a little tricky. But at the same time, when I start to consider whether I really need those things, I realize how unnecessary they actually are. It's uncomfortable to get dry throat while teaching, but I won't die if I don't get a drink of water for an hour. I've taught classes without music before, when I forgot my adapter, so I don't really need it or my phone. My journal is mostly there to set next to the mat as a way of signaling it "my space"; I occasionally use it to read a quote at the end of class, but I've come up with things on the spur of the moment before. None of it is actually needed.

On reflection, I think my list for yoga teaching would be "my voice, a sense of centeredness, and a student." Which I find weirdly empowering, since two out of the three are easy. :)

[asakiyume]

That's brilliant!

I was going to say at the beginning of the post that three is a kind of arbitrary number--your original list of yoga needs seems fine just as it is and is interesting to me because it's your genuine mental list. ... But then too, it's interesting when an arbitrary constraint is put on us (like the number three) what we pare down to. I like your pared-down list too.

I'm guessing the sense of centeredness is the one that's hardest ;-)

[missroserose]

Yeah, I think the whole "art works better with a few constraints" concept is based in the same phenomenon. Even if the constraints are completely arbitrary, thinking about a concept with a little framing often sends us in entirely different directions and forces us to be more creative.

A sense of centeredness (at least, in any consistent fashion) is definitely the one that's taking the most practice. :) Although I feel like if I were teaching private classes, finding students would be somewhat trickier, haha.

[khiemtran]

1. A Woeful Start
2. Time to think about it
3. The next idea!

[asakiyume]

A woeful start, huh! I like that way of putting it.

... By the way, I saw your most recent set of sailing photos on Flickr--excellent! You're looking unchanged, and Liem just looks more and more confident and capable. You're not posting so much on DW, and I'm not visiting Facebook as much, so I wanted to say.

[khiemtran]

Thanks! Yes, I'm using DW really only for longer pieces now, and I've been a bit too busy lately to write them. I seem to have finally gravitated to Facebook as my social media.