I like to pace around while thinking about my story/characters. Sounds silly and I certainly don't do it in public but... well, it works for me haha. It has always helped me visualize my worlds for some reason.
So I uh...act out scenes from my novel. Like rehearsing a script shall we say, I find it works surprisingly well to help move the plot forward. XD
I'm not sure if this is really the type of quirk you meant, but in my writing I always use four periods in my dotdotdots because the spacing of less periods gives me anxiety. I also can't write well if the music I'm listening to has lyrics, but can't draw well if it doesn't have lyrics.
Are you typing the ellipses as a single character or manually inputting periods? Most typefaces auto-adjust the spacing if it's an ellipses glyph.
For example there's the manual input ...
and then as a glyph (opt/alt + ; ) …
Oh no, I don't mean the spaces between the periods, rather the spaces between the words before and after the periods. I'm very strange like that ^w^"
Actually since posting in here originally, I've discovered a quirk in my writing.
Forests.
I always write forests into my work. My comic started in a forest. In several separate settings I've created for an RP, there's always a forest section. In a DnD campaign I made, there was a forest setting.
I unconsciously go back to writing forests constantly.
In an ellipses, three periods would be the middle of a sentence, and four would be at the end of a sentence (hence, the last period being the one that ends the sentence.) Just a heads up when you go to edit, that if I read a sentence that had a 4-period ellipses, I'd read whatever comes after that ellipses as a new sentence.
I actually work best in dead silence, which is probably why I write best between 3-8am. Luckily I work from home so I can do that lol
I also make faces...like as I'm writing, if someone is asking a question I'll tilt my head like how I think they would or move my lips as if I'm asking.
Um...I also use google docs and sometimes make the background black and the words white. This is more recent, but it hurts my eyes less when I write in the mornings lol
I have some of the weirdest sentence structures, it drives my beta-reader insane! What's worse is now they're totally used to it and I think I broke them. I get my chapters back and they'll underline parts saying that normal people won't understand this or to confirm that one of my made up words is correct. I really need to start paying them.
I also write best when I'm either highly emotional or bored out of my mind. Some of my best work has been done while on mute during conference calls or on my low days. I try to write a little each day but every now and again inspiration kicks in my teeth and demands I write a little more.
I can't write dialog unless everything is completely quiet. I can't listen to music or YT, because it messes with my brain. I have Auditory Processing Disorder. I feel like listening takes a lot of brain power because it feels like everything is running through a verbal to nonverbal filter.
I also write everything by hand instead of in a word document. I usually write a short sentence that gives a general idea of what I want them to say. When brining the dialog into Photoshop, I will add onto it to make it sound more natural. Sort of like a dialog version of a sketch.
I would recommend listening to "Celestial white noise". I use this when I cannot focus at all, especially when people are being really loud. Plus it has a great comments section!
I pre-write everything in my head, sentences and all, then in two 15 minute sprints, I blurt out a 1000 word chapter into google docs that is fully formed in my head!
I also just started listening to my novel played back to me via a robot reader that was shared with me, and it helps me catch so many repeat words, crutch phrases, and awkward bits of prose...Though listening to it read dirty scenes makes me cringe so hard I might die.
No, I can't have any noise. Every time I hear something, my brain has to pair it with an image. When I write I have to turn something that is nonverbal into something verbal. But when there is noise, I am getting mixed signals and I get confused.
The best visual I can give is that abstract part from Fantasia but it's like all the time. I could have a mild form of synesthesia, I dunno.
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