Talismans and Rituals
One of my best friends used to play football. And he told me a lot of wildly amusing (to me) stories of rituals of ballplayers. The quarterback who touched his lucky rabbit's foot precisely three times before every game. The guys who never washed their game socks or their underwear (a gross-out quotient I do not care to discuss), and the one who chewed the exact same kind of gum and number of sticks each quarter. Frankly, I thought these tales were funny . . . and nuts.
Ahh, but now that I am pals with a bunch of writers, I see a lot of people have their rituals. Their talismans. I might even make a case that my more obsessive friends who HAVE to write a set number of pages or words per day have a bit of a quirk there.
I will settle in to write after lighting candles to set the mood. I have some set music that I pretty much always or often listen to. I have a TON of little talismans around (having nothing to do with writing, but just funky art and so on that I collect). But I don't have any rituals per se. However, if I have to say I have one quirk as a writer that drives ME nuts, it's my inability--complete and total--to move on unless I resolve every detail first. For example, I have friends who will write, "Joe walked into ________ and ordered a beer." Then they will decide on the name of the bar later. They will do the same thing for characters' last names, places, all sorts of stuff.
I can't do that.
I have this total and pathetic inability to insert blanks and fill in later. I have been known to sit for an HOUR just trying to be sure I have a character's name "right." Somehow, if it's not the right name . . . I can't write.
However, don't go sending me to a shrink just yet. I am sure plenty of my fellow writers have their own quirks and oddities, talismans and rituals. Anyone care to share?
Ahh, but now that I am pals with a bunch of writers, I see a lot of people have their rituals. Their talismans. I might even make a case that my more obsessive friends who HAVE to write a set number of pages or words per day have a bit of a quirk there.
I will settle in to write after lighting candles to set the mood. I have some set music that I pretty much always or often listen to. I have a TON of little talismans around (having nothing to do with writing, but just funky art and so on that I collect). But I don't have any rituals per se. However, if I have to say I have one quirk as a writer that drives ME nuts, it's my inability--complete and total--to move on unless I resolve every detail first. For example, I have friends who will write, "Joe walked into ________ and ordered a beer." Then they will decide on the name of the bar later. They will do the same thing for characters' last names, places, all sorts of stuff.
I can't do that.
I have this total and pathetic inability to insert blanks and fill in later. I have been known to sit for an HOUR just trying to be sure I have a character's name "right." Somehow, if it's not the right name . . . I can't write.
However, don't go sending me to a shrink just yet. I am sure plenty of my fellow writers have their own quirks and oddities, talismans and rituals. Anyone care to share?
posted by Erica Orloff at 3:20 PM
10 Comments:
Oh dear... this is where my various voices shout out to me "stop! don't make any confessions!" but what can ya do.... sharing is only right.
I swear I go thru more rituals before I actually sit down to write, than it takes the time to write... never mind the list of things to do and the clean house that must be in order for me to feel ready (prob because it gets to be such a mess by the time I finish a chapter or two!); those are just the weekly time management items.
And of course we have the weekend-writing-rush where I settle in for a marathon accompanied by homemade cookies. I am not a "sweets" person, except for when I am doing a 72 hour crunch, for some reason. Editing is related to pizza. Coffee is served at all points of the wip. =)
But as for superstitions... oy... I have the fear that when I renovate my apartment, and thus move from my corner office and take on my OCD challenge of a laptop, I will completely throw myself off. The idea that anything I have ever written with success has been written in this corner, at this desk, on this computer nearly paralyzes me from the notion of redecorating. Thus, my new floor plan has collected dust over the past two years. Let alone, when I think of moving to a larger home, I cringe thinking... "but this apartment is where I sold my first book!"
So, yeah, we all have them. Admitting to them is a whole other issue.
Oh, and the fill in the blank later trick... I can't do it either. No matter if it's a name, place, or random object, I can avoid writing everything under the sun for pure "thinking" time as a _______ will not do for me either.
L. (currently in a fill-in-the-blank crisis!)
Hi Lori:
See . . . confession is good for the soul.
:-)
I think a lot of us have that "lightning might not strike twice" fear. I know when my agent (whom we share) sold Spanish Disco, I couldn't sleep that night. Not because I was so thrilled with the sale, or that it seemed to be a dream (though of course that was a little of it) but because I was terrified I'd never, ever have another good idea. Ever.
There. I feel better. :-)
How's this for a ritual? When I finish a book, I have to smudge my office with sage and then sprinkle water into the corners to cleanse the space from the last book. I have this irrational fear that the spirit of the last story will haunt the new one.
Cheers!
Mary
Hi Mary . . .
NOW we're getting confessions as to superstitions!
Ok . . . my daughter is sitting here and she says I "always knock on wood" and cross myself if speaking of the dead or something bad. As for my books . . . I rarely start writing without playing solitaire and winning . . . and I KNOW I have chatted with you about deleting solitaire off the computer. But it's so damn addicting.
E
Hear, hear.
However, I've made myself content by putting a name in, using it straight through... and then have a better idea and just do a find-replace to make the ms that much better.
JR
Justin:
A brilliant solution for my neurotic inability to leave a blank . . . but see there I get even MORE neurotic . . . because the name has to "feel right." Thus I end up sitting around with the reference section of thick physics and astonomy texts looking for cool last names. It's a sickness, really. :-)
E
Okay, I'll fess up. I have a difficult time writing until I have the perfect name too. And I usually end up going with my first instinct because it "feels" right...even after I spend a lot of time trying to find something better.
I also knock on wood.
But as far as writing rituals go
I just need quiet. That's one of the reasons I like writing in the middle of the night.
Great topic!
:) d
PS I dated a football player. It's spooky how intense they are about their rituals.
Dana:
Actually, I have found professional boxers worse. But yes . . . those superstitions. I find the ones who don't change their "game day" underwear and socks the worst. I know one guy who was on something like a 5-year streak with a pair of game day boxers. They were just threads.
E
Ewwwww!
But I was talking about their secret society and/or military-like rituals. It's heavy stuff. But hey, as long as it's not hurting anyone, whatever makes them want to take one for the team is okay by me.
:) d
Dana:
Ahhhh, that secret societ stuff. Yeah. Kind of creepy. BUT, I say that as a "non-joiner"--the idea of ritual in some sort of "team-think" sense just doesn't appeal to me. I don't WANT to be bonded to a group. But I guess I understand the appeal if I were a team player.
E
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