What's Your Writing Groove?

[Blank]

Hey everyone!

Just a random thought popped up in my head and thought I'd share. When I'm writing, I've got my headphones on, blasting anime OSTs (Especially Haikyuu's). Somehow, they get my creative juices flowing and before I know it, I'm cranking out chapter after chapter. Anyone else got a quirky habit like that when they're writing?

And here's something else I've been mulling over. What if I told my readers what music I was listening to when I wrote each chapter? Like a add the link of the soundtrack at the top of each update, so that they read and listen at the same time. Could be cool, right? Or maybe a bit too weird?

What do you guys think? And also feel free to share what gets you into your writing zone.

Cheers!

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[Lensing]

I´m writing every day, stories and songs.
I´m really slow and I never listen to music when I write because it´s too distracting.

I sometimes listen to instrumental music when I color, ink or pencil but never with vocals.
I love music, but it distracts me and it makes me stand up and grab an instrument,
I think about the riffs or the key the song is in or I hear an interesting chord change.

I sometimes write songs very fast but stories take a long time. I´m working on 12 panel
cartoons right now and it takes some time to get the right timing for this but that´s the interesting
part of doing comics with limited panels. I have the feeling that I learn a lot about storytelling

[TheLemmaLlama]

I am usually most in the writing zone when I'm about to fall asleep or wake up before/after bedtime XD

[thepenmonster]

I script when I have the physical and mental energy to do. But between cascading health issues and trying to hold down a full time job, that energy has been thin for the last few years.

When I do sit down and work: Music collection on shuffle or utter silence. If I'm aware of the world around me, I wander.

[DanielRKM]

It depends. I love writing in the morning to keep the dream brain alive (it's terrible for grammar but great for unforeseen connections). Cleaning all that grammar up is more of an afternoon thing on a weekends. I've gotten away from music because it can either distract me or emotionally manipulate me into thinking my writing was better than it was 🤣. Leaving me to realize- it's not my comic that's making me cry, it was the horn section!!!

If I do some music now, it's a very faint low fi underscoring a summer breeze (which... sounds pretentious as heck). But fresh air is giving me the kick music used to and helps me work.

[Emalie]

Sometimes in my free time I spend hours and hours thinking and I can't write, nothing comes to my mind. But when I'm at work or in class, my mind races and I have to write those ideas down in my head.

It is a kind of "trigger" that I have and I suppose many of you do too, moments in which we are more active.

[powerplantanimations]

I get a headache if I don't write.

[vapidink]

I do the same thing, just pop in my earbuds, listen to some OSTs and write. Music drowning out all the other noise around me helps me focus and get some writing done.

And that could be fun! Maybe your readers could kind of connect the vibe of the music you listened to with the writing and that might be a fun little inside look for them. I think some people do that on Wattpad, because you can add media, so they'd post a music video along with a chapter sometimes.

[Five]

Mine comes when I’m about to sleep, or weirdly, when I’m watching anime or movie edits and stuffs. I note them down and work those points later on

[DestinWonderland]

Music for sure! I love instrumentals (Jazzhop especially), and I find they put me in a creative mood. Sometimes, if I listen to music with words, i tend to get distracted. And sitting somewhere comfortably helps me too

[ThunderChicken]

I work a full time job, 45 hours per week, fixing cars. The whole time I'm doing that I'm thinking about writing. Then I get home, whip out the ol' laptop, and... think about cars.

But seriously. When I write I have to get into a groove. I've got ADHD, so I need to be alone or I'll... SQUIRREL!

Ok, where was I? Oh yes. I need to be alone, TV off, but 80's rock and metal playing in the background. If anybody (including my husband) is around I will not focus on writing. Sometimes when that is the case instead of writing new stuff I'll go back and read stuff I recently wrote, looking for spelling and syntax errors, grammatical train wrecks, repetitive sentences (which reminds me, I've got to go back and change a sentence that I noticed while re-reading earlier today... SQUIRREL!)

Ok, back on topic... My point is that my groove is simple, but I absolutely must get into that groove, and my own writing must pique my interest. One of my ADHD symptoms is that if something does not interest me there is no force in the universe that can make me pay attention to it, and that includes my own writing. My first book was easy. It was a true story, and it's easy to write the truth. My second book is fantasy/fiction, however, and writing fiction is much harder because although my mother, who has heard excuses out of me for many years might disagree, making stuff up ain't easy. Another problem I have with the fiction is that even as I'm writing it I have ideas in my mind for the next story with the same characters (kind of an AU thing), and, again with the ADHD, I have to force myself to be patient and finish what I'm working on before starting the next one.