Fanfic Writers' Virtual Water Cooler

[Womble]

Hello, dear writers. I am Womble and I have a question: how does one pry oneself away from the damn computer games long enough to get some writing done?

[Falcon Horus]

Hello, dear writers. I am Womble and I have a question: how does one pry oneself away from the damn computer games long enough to get some writing done?

If I knew the answer to that I'd be happy to help... sadly, I do not.

[WraithRichard]

Hello, dear writers. I am Womble and I have a question: how does one pry oneself away from the damn computer games long enough to get some writing done?

I save games for rewards for finishing writing.

[fems]

I'm still trying to figure out how to stop myself from getting distracted by shinies...

[Choo1701]

Hello, dear writers. I am Womble and I have a question: how does one pry oneself away from the damn computer games long enough to get some writing done?

Have you tried the "off" button? *ducks*

And then de-install those silly internet browsers.

Oh, fems you want to know the easy way to stop being distracted by shinies?

Spoiler:

FIND. MORE. SHINIES!!!

[Cold Fuzz]

Hello, dear writers. I am Womble and I have a question: how does one pry oneself away from the damn computer games long enough to get some writing done?

I'm one of those rare people that doesn't play video games at all. Almost all video games provoke a vertigo reaction and I get horribly dizzy, even if I'm just watching someone else playing video games.

Also, I watch little or no TV, at least in comparison to most people. Including the Being Human UK premiere tonight, I will have watched a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes of TV this entire week. When I'm not working, I'm usually either on the web, writing, lot listening to music. These days it's been writing and listening to music.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I'm one of those rare people that doesn't play video games at all. Almost all video games provoke a vertigo reaction and I get horribly dizzy, even if I'm just watching someone else playing video games.

They don't do that to me, thankfully, but I'm simply not interested in them. Last time I played video games, it was the actual big, boxy, Eighties-style games like Tempest or Asteroids or Ms. Pac-man. Computer videogames or Playstation or what-have-you just don't grab me.

Also, I watch little or no TV, at least in comparison to most people. Including the Being Human UK premiere tonight, I will have watched a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes of TV this entire week. When I'm not working, I'm usually either on the web, writing, lot listening to music. These days it's been writing and listening to music.

I've got you beat. If I watch six hours of television a month, I'd be surprised.

[Princess Awinita]

I'm still trying to figure out how to stop myself from getting distracted by shinies...

Get off bookface ?

[Princess Awinita]

Hello, dear writers. I am Womble and I have a question: how does one pry oneself away from the damn computer games long enough to get some writing done?

See my advice for fems

[Cold Fuzz]

They don't do that to me, thankfully, but I'm simply not interested in them. Last time I played video games, it was the actual big, boxy, Eighties-style games like Tempest or Asteroids or Ms. Pac-man. Computer videogames or Playstation or what-have-you just don't grab me.

Ah, I once played those types of video games though I do remember enjoying Gauntlet when I was 7. I do remember that didn't cause me any vertigo issues. But the last time I actually tried to play a modern video game, it was Halo. The people who strong-armed me into it were so insistent I wanted to smack them. I wish I did because I played it for exactly 12 minutes and then had to very quickly run to the restroom and take anti nausea meds lest I completely lose my lunch and dinner. It pretty much ruined my evening. Ugh.

I've got you beat. If I watch six hours of television a month, I'd be surprised.

I randomly end up watching Doctor Who episodes from time to time, sometimes even squeezing in a marathon if I have the time, which I usually don't these days. I have to do this because if I don't analyze the source material, particularly the physical mannerisms for the Eleventh Doctor, Broken Silence won't nearly be as realistic. But for this week, it's been a total of about 4 hours of TV and that's it.

I've heard some stories of teenagers and kids watching 5-7 hours of TV per day.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I randomly end up watching Doctor Who episodes from time to time, sometimes even squeezing in a marathon if I have the time, which I usually don't these days. I have to do this because if I don't analyze the source material, particularly the physical mannerisms for the Eleventh Doctor, Broken Silence won't nearly be as realistic. But for this week, it's been a total of about 4 hours of TV and that's it.

I don't know whether you're watching these on DVD or on cable/satellite, but for the record I don't count watching DVDs as "watching TV", although even if I did, I'd still be under 6 hours most months.

I've heard some stories of teenagers and kids watching 5-7 hours of TV per day.

When I was a kid/young teen in the Seventies, it wasn't exactly uncommon for me to watch up to 5 hours of TV in an evening (or even 7 if you counted the local and national news, which my family watched each night after dinner). But I didn't watch 5 - 7 hours every evening. And my parents watched with me. Some of it would be sitcoms like Happy Days or M*A*S*H or maybe a crime drama like The Rockford Files. Sometimes it was scifi like the original Battlestar Galactica or maybe Doctor Who (the 4th Doctor was my first). Sometimes it was other British comedy (Monty Python, anyone?) or drama (All Creatures Great and Small, for example) or a nature or science documentary, such as Cosmos, the Jacques Cousteau specials, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, etc. I learned a lot from television, and also was entertained by it; sometimes both at the same time. And half the time I'd be reading a book or doing my homework while I watched it -- I wish I could multitask that efficiently now! (And yes, I did understand what I read while I watched TV, and my grades were decent too.)

But these days, I'm just not all that into television. I honestly think some of that is my attention span being even shorter than it was when I was a kid... yet for some reason the printed word as in a book or an online article will hold my attention longer, not to mention that I can at least read at my own pace, which is usually pretty fast.

[Cold Fuzz]

I don't know whether you're watching these on DVD or on cable/satellite, but for the record I don't count watching DVDs as "watching TV", although even if I did, I'd still be under 6 hours most months.


When I was a kid/young teen in the Seventies, it wasn't exactly uncommon for me to watch up to 5 hours of TV in an evening (or even 7 if you counted the local and national news, which my family watched each night after dinner). But I didn't watch 5 - 7 hours every evening. And my parents watched with me. Some of it would be sitcoms like Happy Days or M*A*S*H or maybe a crime drama like The Rockford Files. Sometimes it was scifi like the original Battlestar Galactica or maybe Doctor Who (the 4th Doctor was my first). Sometimes it was other British comedy (Monty Python, anyone?) or drama (All Creatures Great and Small, for example) or a nature or science documentary, such as Cosmos, the Jacques Cousteau specials, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, etc. I learned a lot from television, and also was entertained by it; sometimes both at the same time. And half the time I'd be reading a book or doing my homework while I watched it -- I wish I could multitask that efficiently now! (And yes, I did understand what I read while I watched TV, and my grades were decent too.)

But these days, I'm just not all that into television. I honestly think some of that is my attention span being even shorter than it was when I was a kid... yet for some reason the printed word as in a book or an online article will hold my attention longer, not to mention that I can at least read at my own pace, which is usually pretty fast.

I usually watch Doctor Who, especially series 5 and 6, on DVD. There are certain key episodes from previous seasons I actually took the time to buy on iTunes and I watch those on my computer from time to time as well as they have elements of those episode that are used in Broken Silence.

When a lot of the Star Trek spinoffs went off the area, my viewing habits changed quite a bit. I started looking backwards toward shows I watched from a long time ago and I was in that mindset for a long time. I started looking at things like Night Court, Dear John, Head of the Class, and other shows that were around almost 20 years ago. I watched the Battlestar Galactica remake but that really left a bad taste in my mouth near the end of the series. That and I watched it only because some ex-friends of mine were watching it at the time.

After a while, I realized that rewatching all those older shows was mirroring something that was happening in my real life: I was stuck reliving the "good old days" and then quickly learned the truth about those days in my personal life: They weren't that good. I had gotten tired of reruns and wanted something completely outside of my experience. That opened the door for Doctor Who and both versions of Being Human. Since then, Doctor Who has become a powerful landscape to express ideas and stories I have never had the freedom to express before.

[SaraBahama]

When I was a kid/young teen in the Seventies, it wasn't exactly uncommon for me to watch up to 5 hours of TV in an evening (or even 7 if you counted the local and national news, which my family watched each night after dinner). But I didn't watch 5 - 7 hours every evening. And my parents watched with me. Some of it would be sitcoms like Happy Days or M*A*S*H or maybe a crime drama like The Rockford Files. Sometimes it was scifi like the original Battlestar Galactica or maybe Doctor Who (the 4th Doctor was my first). Sometimes it was other British comedy (Monty Python, anyone?) or drama (All Creatures Great and Small, for example) or a nature or science documentary, such as Cosmos, the Jacques Cousteau specials, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, etc. I learned a lot from television, and also was entertained by it; sometimes both at the same time. And half the time I'd be reading a book or doing my homework while I watched it -- I wish I could multitask that efficiently now! (And yes, I did understand what I read while I watched TV, and my grades were decent too.)

Sounds like my childhood TV time!

But these days, I'm just not all that into television. I honestly think some of that is my attention span being even shorter than it was when I was a kid... yet for some reason the printed word as in a book or an online article will hold my attention longer, not to mention that I can at least read at my own pace, which is usually pretty fast.

There are times when I feel like what is being produced (and accepted by the general public) has become irrelavant and brainless. Not all of it, but quite a lot. Perhaps that partially explains your impatience with current TV trends (other than the fact that you are writing an epic...and that consumes just a little of your time )

[SF_and_Coffee]

There are times when I feel like what is being produced (and accepted by the general public) has become irrelavant and brainless. Not all of it, but quite a lot. Perhaps that partially explains your impatience with current TV trends (other than the fact that you are writing an epic...and that consumes just a little of your time )

Oh, I agree -- on both counts!

[Cold Fuzz]

Very scary, because if you don't obey, your Muse can EAT you!!

Nah, my muse is many things but it's never been keen on eating me. It does get annoyed with me if I don't feed it, however. Consequently, I always make sure I'm on time for its (my) dinner.

Gah! Me, too! Usually I'm at work, and she dangles the carrot before my eyes, but I'm with a client and there is NO WAY I can break free to go jot something down. The usual punishment is complete amnesia when I can finally get to a pen and paper or a word document...

If something like this happens, I usually try and remember the scene as I enacted it in my mind. I usually have a good enough memory and emotional recall that I can do something like that. It's when I'm asleep or nearly asleep and I have an idea when it's really bad. That's when I say, "Oh not now. I need my sleep and you're keeping me awake."

That actually happened earlier today when I woke up after only 3 hours of sleep. The result? I had a very vivid dream about one of the characters I'm writing about (in this case Amy Pond).

Yes, the Muse plays around in the dreamscape too.