"Go away, stupid plot bunny, this is a BAD TIME." "Nope."

[author_by_night]

You’re at work, doing something fairly low key, depending on your job. It might be putting material into folders, it might be waiting to take your next order, or you might be a student, and you’re listening to a lecture.

Suddenly, a plot bunny nibbles on the carrot that is your muse.

You know you’re supposed to be doing work, and you don’t feel like getting caught. You also know that in the past, when you’ve waited on ideas for longer than five minutes, they’ve vanished into thin air.

 

Writers have a very unique problem, because we tend to have two worlds: the world around us and the world inside our heads.

 

A non-writer cannot understand it. When I tried to explain the predicament to my mother, she simply stared at me and said, “isn’t it like wanting to daydream about the baseball game?”

 

If only, if only.

 

So my question is, how are we, as writers, to deal in a world that does not allow for time to just stop and write? How have writers before us dealt?

 

 One thing I’ve tried doing is making notes. Nothing that requires wasting anyone elses’s time, and nothing that will get me into trouble – just quick, simple notes.

 

Problem? Well, for instance, let’s say this happens while I’m in class, and I go to take quick notes. If I do so, I usually end up with more notes on my story than on the lecture. Whoops! And taking notes at work – unless you have your own office that nobody else ever uses for anything, and a place to put the notes with faith nobody will ever see them? That doesn’t work either.

 

Another thing I’ve tried is letting the thoughts flow while I work. However, this tends to be even worse than taking notes, because next thing I know ten minutes have passed and I’m staring at the same line on the same piece of paper. Yeah.

 

It’s also hard in social situations. Let's say you decide to cope by telling the person you are with:

 

You: Oh, I JUST got a great story idea!

 

Friend: Huh, cool, what about?

 

You: Well, it takes place in Italy–

 

Friend: Oh, that reminds me, ever seen the movie Under the Tuscan Sun?

 

You: No. So anyway, this girl, Barb –

 

Friend: And I forgot to tell you! Derek and I are looking for a new car!

 

You: Oh. Great. *Sigh*

 

You also can’t very well write at random with friends. Unless, of course, they are writer friends. (In which case they will also let you dish your ideas, although it’s really never a good idea to monopolize the conversation. Mention it to a small extent – just remember that your friends are not human notepads. Granted, I forget this all the time… right, flisters?)

 

So, how do we compromise?

 

 

 

 

Comments

[simons-flower.livejournal.com]

Here via either daily_snitch or hogwarts_today ... I can't remember.

Excellent topic.

As for myself, I've taken to carrying around a notebook. Two notebooks, actually. A small one I can scribble in while I'm driving (I've learned to write legibly while not looking) since bunnies strike often in the car. Then I have a full-size one I carry printouts of my WIP in and add to over breakfast or lunch when the muse strikes.

I have an advantage in two ways: (1) I work second shift, so often have a lot of quiet time either during the day or after work in the middle of the night; and (2) because I work second shift, work lately has tended to slow down during the latter half of my shift and I write at work sometimes.

I can't tell you how many in-progress things I have on my hard drive and littered about, but it has to be in the dozens. And I enjoy it.

You're right on with this statement: Writers have a very unique problem, because we tend to have two worlds: the world around us and the world inside our heads. I tend to write best in restaurants -- diners, Denny's and IHOP are best -- and for the places I frequent, the waitresses know me. Those who've never seen me before inevitably try to get into a conversation with me about what I'm writing (asking if it's for work, usually), and I don't want a conversation when I'm on a roll. I want background noise and to be able to write in peace only disturbed by being asked if I want more coffee.

Interesting discussion :)

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I should try the small notebook.

And YES. I can't stand any sort of disturbance whatsoever when I'm writing, which can make me quite scary. And I hate when people ask me what I'm writng.

[okelay.livejournal.com]

it makes me nervous, distracts me. i'm kinda jumpy and i can be happy on my own world when someone pulls me out.
i hate it.