Full duplex

[canterro]

I have this strange feature:

- when I write my own story I hardly can read other ones. I just can't focus on them, I can't 'feel' characters, I don't get sucked by the plot.

It sucks. But it's still the fact.

- when I read interesting fictions I can't start my own story. I think only about things I've read and I can't get rid of them - such a stupid gravity.

Do you have it?

Or you can work in so called full duplex - reading and writing independently?

[Shinju]

No, never had that problem. Things like books, movies, museums, art galleries, mary jane, Disneyland, day trips, vacations, scenic drives, malls, pit stops, diners, airports and such just serve me as inspiration. I was the type of kid who invented soap operas for the numbers in my math problems, thus the reason my homework took me several hours and still never got finished. I also invented games for my skitttles/smarties/m&m's, which I organized and ate by color. I was glad to see in the OCD thread that I am not the only one in the world who eats candy weird. If I was an actual organized person I'd probably have enough material for a billion novels. But I'm not good at making myself do things so . . . yeah.

When you are reading books or watching movies, just stop every ten minutes and think "how would I have this continue if I were writing it?" It's just kind of like, brain exercise.

[Raphaella]

I tend to waver. Sometimes I can do both, other times I just cant. What is really difficult is if I am writing a story and then I have a complex idea for another one, in a completely different fandom!! It is hard to really focus on your own characters when you are deeply immersed in another story though and vice versa.

Do you ever dream about the story you are writing? I do, constantly. I even get ideas that way, some great dialogue too. Strange, or no?

[cu-kid9]

I find that if I'm not reading (or doing something else that keeps the creative gears cranking), I don't write.

I do dream about the characters from my stories sometimes - I don't find it strange, though, because I usually fall asleep thinking about whatever I'm writing.

[canterro]

I find that if I'm not reading (or doing something else that keeps the creative gears cranking), I don't write.

wow, lucky you

I also dream... sometimes even daydream

Oh, I love experiencing/imagining situations before I reveal them to readers

[cu-kid9]

wow, lucky you

I also dream... sometimes even daydream

I think what it is, is that I just always have to be doing something. Don't get me wrong, I can waste a whole day watching crappy television (Lifetime is EVIL). But one line in a movie/show or book can send my mind off in thousands of different (and sometimes completely unrelated) directions. I guess, for me, I just have to have constant input to have output.

I daydream constantly, especially when I'm in the middle of a story. Apparently, I have a certain "look" because my roommate now recognizes it and leaves me alone until I snap out of it

[Foerick]

I spend a day a week, talking stories with a friend. Discussing the plot, the moments of smut, going into detail. It's now gotten to the point that even though I am only working on "book 1" of the story which we have mapped out and occassionally revisit to refine as I get closer to each part. We are up to book 3 in the planning moments. It is very frustrating, because there is some juicy really events in book 2 that I really want to write but I have to finish book 1 first lol.

[cu-kid9]

It is very frustrating, because there is some juicy really events in book 2 that I really want to write but I have to finish book 1 first lol.

I wouldn't be able to not write them. If I get parts of a story stuck in my head that I really want to write, I just write them and get back to what I should be writing later. For me, I think, it's easier this way because then I'm not constantly distracted with thinking about those scenes that I want to write while I'm working on what I should be writing.