As the author of a grand total of one story so far on Lush, I have a couple of questions for the great writers that exist here......
1) What motivates you to write?
2) How do you find the time to write?
I thoroughly enjoyed writing my first story, but between having a job and a life once I get home from that job, I find it very difficult to carve out the time to work on my next story.
Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.....
Reese
Not sure I qualify as an expert, but the motivation to write often comes from a random thought while my mind is freewheeling. Usually during some mindless household chore I'll have a thought: "what if..." or a cool line will pop into my head and I jot it down. Maybe make some rough notes alongside. Who goes where, what might happen.
From there, maybe I'll write an intro or the outline of a single scene and see if the story inspires me to write more. If it does, there's a chance it'll inspire others to read it: then the motivation to create something kicks in. If the idea isn't as great as I thought it might be, I'll leave it parked. Maybe come back to it one day, maybe not. My hard drive's littered with crappy openings and half-finished ideas that occasionally get recycled into other stories. But mostly they just sit there gathering digital dust.
If I find the words come tumbling out and I can't stop writing, then I know I'm onto something. That's when I find time in the day - usually late at night/into the wee hours - to add to it, bit by bit, paragraph by paragraph, week by week. The act of being motivated makes me more dedicated to finishing it, like some self-fulfilling end game.
Then I'll usually sit on it for a while until I've forgotten most of what I wrote. Maybe a few days/a week later, I'll give it a read with fresh eyes and edit the hell out of it. Tighten things. Embellish where necessary, but mostly cut, cut, cut.
Repeat over a few days until I don't find myself making edits and I start to question if it's even any good any more. Then publish it and hope.
As you can gather, my stuff is usually a long-haul project. Months to finish a piece, chipping away at it. Sometimes I'll get bogged down in detail and walk away. Come back next month and try again. So finding 15-30 mins every day or two to re-read or hack/add to a story isn't usually much of a hassle. Very occasionally (mostly for Flash fiction) I'll get a sudden rush of inspiration and the piece will practically write itself in an afternoon, but that's the exception.
Doubt that helps you at all, but, well, you did ask!
EDIT: Oh, and one thing almost guaranteed to inspire me is to read any story by browncoffee, fuzzyblue, saucymh, Jen, Liz, ... basically any of the kick-ass writers we have on the site that regularly attract RR/EP awards. They're the platinum standard writers to which I aspire.
Please browse my digital bookshelf. In this collection, you can find 104 full stories, 10 micro-stories, and 2 poems with the following features:
* 29 Editor's Picks, 70 Recommended Reads.
* 15 competition podium places, 9 other times in the top ten.
* 21 collaborations.
* A whole heap of often filthy, tense, hot sex.
1) Vanity. I am a very good writer and I love praise. I also enjoy writing for the sake of it. I write every day in many fields, especially humour and music. Erotica is a new genre.
2) By not pushing. If I have an idea I will start writing. When the words stop flowing I put it down. Some people have targets, I've heard between 300 and 600 words a day. I can't do that. Either it's there and I write up to 2,000 words or it's not and I do something else.
More important and often more time consuming is editing and proofreading. Make sure if he is holding her waste that you really meant that he is holding her waste.
(1) In the short term, it's a combination of having an interesting or striking image or story come to mind and wanting to practice some technique in writing. In the long term, it's the satisfaction of having another story go up. It's good to hear from people that they like the latest, but it's as important to me just to actually have it out there in the world instead of in my head. A year later after it's up I'll go back, reread it, suddenly remember I wrote it, and wince in serious pain at the typos I catch. I also give thanks the damn thing's finally out of my head and not bedeviling me any more.
(2) I write when I'm inspired, often 2,000 to 10,000 words at a time, then put the file away in a folder on my computer. Later I go back to it, add more, hack out even more than that, revise what I wrote and what I let stand, and let it set some more. Recently I had a lot of long-term work that had a lot of spare time in between stages, so I finished off [counts on fingers and other sticky-outy parts] lots of stories I had had sitting in my folder for as much as a year and a half.
I love writing. I'm lucky enough to be able to work part time and have a lot of spare time on my hands.
Danielle
I write mostly at night when the world is sleeping. The only sounds I hear are the frogs choiring or an occasional whisper from my mind's muse. I get my ideas from idle thoughts
or something I read from books. I have a tendency to write in streaks. I love humor, sensuality and the dark in writing. One can learn a lot from what a person reads or writes and I tend to be a voyeur of those I follow.
I'm not an expert or even gifted. I write because I get off on words. I like the way they sound when used in poems. I like the way I use words in sentences when writing stories. I at times get too wordy, but that's on me. I do find "the dark" sensual and often revert to a Poe style of scribbling.
1 - It's fun and I enjoy playing with words to create the images in my head.
2 - I just sort of do it when I have a little free time. Don't really spend more than 30 or 40 minutes at a time, max.
I know I do not class as a "great writer", but I have had several stories published.
I write because it is enjoyable for me to share some of my personal experiences with the readers here, and it brings back lots of memories for me. I also enjoy the comments I receive from the readers.
With fictional tales, it gives me something to think about on the long boring daily commute to and from work, so by the time I actually start writing. I have most of the story already played out in my mind, and from then on it is just like describing a film or a book, with me adding the feelings and emotions, as well as dialogue.
Most of my writing is done late evening or at night, when I am waiting for friends to come online, and there is little on tv.
I like writing, not so good about spelling and such but I work at it. I like knowing that a story of mine can make a person smile, remember a old friend, be happy if they're down. Erotica is new for me. I se the movie of my story during my writing. I read the same way.
"Illegitimis non carborundum." Vinger Joe Stllwell
What you learn in life is important; those you help learn are more.
I write as I feel, at that moment. Sometimes I have a direction...mostly dark. I find the dusk sensual and most erotic. I actually prefer writing stories but usually hit a roadblock in the middle.
