Finding time to write and creating an atmosphere

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Nicole_Gestalt

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So I've written horror in the past and have had a few pieces sold which is always awesome, however for the last few years my focus has been taken up with my more racy work due to one thing or another.

Now after a conversation with a friend who it turns out loves horror just as much as I do I find myself tingling to get back into it.

It occurs to me that finding time to write is always the bane of people's existence but when it comes to writing horror the literal time of day also seems (to me anyway) to make a big difference.

I find I write better when it's dark outside and I have some low creeping music on - how about everyone else?

When is your best time to write horror and do you have to have something around you to set the mood? Or is it just me?
 

Marlys

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No, I don't need mood music or atmosphere to write horror (or anything). I wrote my last horror short story a few weeks ago sitting on the couch with my laptop, while my son and husband were watching TV.

I generally prefer quiet when I write, but if I can't get it I'm pretty good at tuning things out. Including music. I used to try to put on mood background music, but very quickly learned that I just didn't hear it.
 

Other

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I prefer to write when the house is quiet. I sit on the couch with stack of lined paper and a pen or my tablet and put on headphones to listen to a mix of music that reminds me of the characters in my current WIP.

The music is really important to help me get started, but once I'm going you could ride an elephant through my livingroom window and I wouldn't notice. Well maybe, just a little.
 

Galumph_Triumph

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My first book, being published as we speak, is a psychological horror. Over the years of writing it, it was incredibly difficult to get in the zone sometimes, so I ended up doing several things that helped:
-Played horror video games, specifically the old Silent Hill and Resident Evil 1-4
-Listened to video game soundtracks for horror games. Not scary soundtracks, just really moody, atmospheric stuff.
-Watched slow-building horror films, especially ghost films.

The atmosphere is more important in Horror than any other genre, so these preparatory steps are really important in my opinion.
 

FOTSGreg

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Okay...

Do you have a day-job? Most writers do, but still manage to carve out time to write. I write on lunch breaks, go in early, stay late, writ at the bar while "relaxing" after work, etc., etc.

I sleep at night, but I'm often awake from 2-4am so I use that time constructively as well, outlining ideas, jotting or recoding notes, etc., etc., anything to keep the pen moving (or the electrons flowing). I study my maps and think about what needs to be added to or discarded from whatever I happen to be working on.

I _make_ time to write, day and night.

It's discipline and practice and practical use of time for someone who works 8 hrs a day at a writing job, but it seems to work for me.

I don't always work on the same thing every day or night, but when I'm working I'm always focused on the project at hand. Perhaps that is the thing - focus. For me, focus and concentration comes naturally.

The dead of night when all one can hear is the wind in the trees outside and the creak of the house settling or the upstairs neighbor creeping about, well, that's an exceptionally god time to gather thoughts and jot notes - for me anyway.
 

katci13

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It is easier for me to write at night. I do prefer to write creepy scenes at night because the sound of the house settling just really freaks me out. I find I also write really well early in the morning if I can get up. Both of those times are day are really quiet and that is the main thing that I need when I write. That or some kind of consistent, non-irritating noise that I can block out, like cars driving by.

I find it really hard to settle down and write in the middle of the day. I can do it, but I'm usually at work during the day so on the weekends, since I'm not used to it, it's just really hard. But I don't think it's a mood thing since I can do it without a problem if I can get myself to settle down, I think it's just a habit thing.

I can write to music sometimes, but creeping music creeps me out. Lol! Then I can't concentrate.
 

Alma Matters

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For me I find it best to write either first thing on a morning or late at night. Sometimes I can dive straight in, other times I really struggle. I try to let my imagination put the leg work on the boring commute to work and back; what happens next? Where are the characters headed etc... When I finally do sit down to write I at least have an idea.

Music can sometimes help get me started – anything instrumental I like. Sometimes I mentally link a song to what I’m writing – like an audible trigger to take me right to the place I want to be. There is a thread floating around the horror forum with tons of great recommendations – it might not all be to your taste, but you’ll find something.

Also, when I do stop writing I try to leave it at a point when I know what is going to happen next. I find I spend less time procrastinating when I haven’t written my characters into a corner... leave an exit when you stop writing – you can escape through it quickly when you next sit down to write!

Finally... if you’re really struggling - My last short story I finished whilst drinking (not drunk – just had two or three!). I was a lot less self conscious about what I put on the page and didn’t feel as critical of every sentence.
 

Nicole_Gestalt

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Thanks all for your input! I have to admit I mostly asked to see how others write, I love finding out others writing styles and techniques.

I agree as a writer you do have to fit writing in where you can sometimes. For me at the moment my best time is the commute, I turn up at the train station a good twenty minutes early and write then get a few more words down on the train.

As for getting back to horror I find I'm looking forward to it more than I was expecting although it's been a while so I'm expecting a lot of words being cut from edits!
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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Other than obvious things like a relatively calm and quiet environment, the thing that I really need is an expectation of uninterrupted time. If I'm expecting to be interrupted every 30 seconds, I can't get into it. I'm all tensed up, waiting.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Cover the windows and you have all the darkness you need. Time isn't something you find, it's something you make. Mood and atmosphere are not things you need, they're things you use as an excuse not to write.
 

The Scip

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Cover the windows and you have all the darkness you need. Time isn't something you find, it's something you make. Mood and atmosphere are not things you need, they're things you use as an excuse not to write.

This is great. In the past few months I have gone from someone who wrote occasionally because I enjoyed it, to someone who wrote everyday because I made time for it. There are lots a reasons people find to not write. We don't need a reason to write, we just need to do it.
 

WriterDude

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I have to write when and where I can, but setting helps.


I used to write in a darkened meeting room on a trauma and orthopaedics ward, surrounded by medical images and model skeletons, the sounds of rain roaring and trees swaying outside, and frequent silent passing of eerie flashing blue lights. There was no want for inspiration
.
 

Galumph_Triumph

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Writing at night is always good for me. I will typically load up on horror books and movies, or play horror video games. Those will inspire me for a few days. It's sort of like filling a gas tank.

When I actually write, I do it at night, and I listen to dark music. Not necessarily scary music, but anything that's a bit dark works well for me. I've even found some dark fantasy stuff on YouTube that helped.
 

Galumph_Triumph

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Oh, and how could I forget - I live in a redwood forest, so a good night walk always fills me with the chills to write.
 

gypsyscarlett

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I usually get up about 2am, make some tea, put on a stormy rainstorm from youtube, and I'm good to go. :)
 

BriMaresh

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I write a minimum of 2k a day and edit for an hour a day, every day, and more on weekends.

I edit earlier and write later in the night - 8:00 is about when I start getting productive, 10:00 about when writing starts, with headphones on so I can't use distractions as an excuse to not write. Lately I've been listening to children's show soundtracks - Phineas and Ferb, Adventure Time. It's about as far from scary and spooky as you can get, but it's what works for me. It makes me feel like I can accomplish things - which is sort of the point. When I'm really going, I don't notice the music. It sort of fades out - the whole world fades out, really. That's how my family knows I'm on a roll and not to bother me - I'm listening to the same song on repeat and don't notice.
 

gypsyscarlett

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Shara

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Finding time that works best for you is the important thing for writing anything.

For most of us with day jobs, we find time when we can. For me, I find I'm too tired when I get home from work to write, and that my best time is early in the morning. This means I have to get up stupidly early (ie. 5:30am) to take the early train into London, and I sit in Starbucks for an hour with the NetBook before going into work.

It means I have to switch off everything else and try to get into the story. The current WIP is a supernatural horror novel about a group of live-action roleplayers who unwittingly release an evil undead entity. I have scenes where people are violently ripped apart by this entity. Scenes in which the characters have to attend the funeral of loved ones and close friends, and get overwhelmed by grief. Even one scene where a girl is raped by her boyfriend, while he's possessed by the evil entity and becoming violent.

And then I have to switch all this fear and emotion off and go to work and deal with the office job. But I've made it work, because it's the only time I get any writing done.

If you find you have to write late at night and set up a creepy atmosphere, and you are able to make that happen, then good on you. Me, I find if I play Silent Hill or Resident Evil late at night right before bed, I give myself nightmares! And I say this as someone who loves playing both these games.

My writing time is limited by necessity, so over the last few years I have become a lot better at being able to switch the atmosphere off and on in my own head when needed. Maybe it just takes practice.
 
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