Writer Wednesday: The Best 'Writing Rituals' (PHOTOS)

Some authors write standing, while some write lying down. Some write early in the morning, while others stay up all night. Some write in a warm blanket, while others write in nothing at all!.

All told, writers are a quirky breed of people often deeply invested in a bevy of strange habits to get them in the mood to work. So, what are the best circumstances under which to write? What are the best #writingrituals?

Last #WriterWednesday we asked, "Classical music? Triple espresso? What are your #writingrituals? We're searching for the best answers to put in a slide show ..." And here is a roundup of the absolute best responses ...

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Handstands

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This Ritual

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Would Never Work A Great Tip

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Comments

[Marla Thurman]

05:13 PM on 10/06/2010

Except for the handstand breaks, which are at least energetic, most of these seem too lazy to be "rituals." I wonder how many of these folks actually produce any writing that sells. My rituals are much more detailed. And I produce.

[dptlibertine]

11:00 AM on 10/09/2010

give me some insight please? I need to write, but am always struggling.

[Marla Thurman]

02:41 PM on 10/09/2010

Okay, try this--but beware, I write creative nonfiction, so this is mosly geared toward that end: 1) Write out a brief timeline of your life (or your mother's, or your son's). You are going for emotional highlights. Note the most recuurrent themes or feelings. If you don't know certain details, like where your grandparents met, make them up. Be funny, unique, bold. 2) Take three minutes to write about the angriest you ever were. three minutes about the saddest you ever were, and three minutes about the most surprised you ever were. You can use any emotion, of course, these are just strong and usually produce multiple ideas. Write everything you can about what happened, but stay to the time limit. 3) Go to a coffee shop or bookstore where you can people watch. Make up one-paragraph scenarios about the folks you see. 4) Start marking passages in books that make you want to write. One of my favorites is the Christmas play in Rubyfruit Jungle, starting in chapter 5) Another is Stephen King's On Writing section about writing while he was addicted to cocaine. Or Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. You know what makes you want to write.

[Marla Thurman]

02:44 PM on 10/09/2010

Also, do not spend time online, especially in a forum like this, before you start to write. It will sap all your creative energy.

You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair--the sense that you can never completely put on the page what's in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.
--Stephen King

[jwb2013]

01:27 PM on 10/06/2010

None of the above. (;oD

[Jeffrey Garza Falcon]

12:20 PM on 10/06/2010

writers who describe the need for "getting comfy" are probably not producing anything worth reading. Beware of writers who need to have their pot of tea in a barn on a dew-dropped new england morning.

[anyaravitz]

01:29 PM on 10/06/2010

@jeffrey I agree. Comfy writing rarely yields readable results.

[RetributionNow]

05:02 AM on 10/08/2010

However, just the other day HuffPo had this great article (with old photos) about Roald Dahl, and one photo shows how he had to be situated any time he wanted to write: alone in a shed he built (looks more like a little gardener's cottage-type building), sitting in his mother's favorite, comfy old armchair with his feet propped up on an old trunk, with odd bits of memorabilia arranged just so on a table nearby -- and he certainly managed to produce a lot of writing that sold, and sold, and sold, and is still selling.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donald-sturrock/roald-dahl-storyteller-biography_b_747329.html

Then, if you examine Tolstoy's life, you discover that he had an entirely different way of disciplining himself to write. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for another! :-)

[wm1066]

11:21 AM on 10/06/2010

Okay, was it Proust that couldn't write without rotting fruit on the table? I know it was someone big. And didn't that author stare out the window at a tower across the street? Maybe it was Bacon, I can't remember, anybody know who I'm talking about?

[kelisawood]

11:04 AM on 10/06/2010

OOO-EEE! Slow down! Those are KAH-RAE-ZEEE!

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Dupe