Ask the Author: Kelly Sedinger
Answered Questions (8)
Kelly Sedinger
Ack, sorry to keep this unanswered for so long! GR isn't great about notifications. But anyway: I don't tend to listen to *specific* music when I write. Sometimes I do try to match mood to what I'm writing, but not always. When I do, I look for film music from the same genre as my WIP, so I'll listen to STAR WARS and other space opera music more frequently when I'm writing a space opera. Likewise, a fantasy might call for adventure or fantasy film music, and a similar thing for horror. However, I often listen to whatever I'm in the mood to listen to, regardless of genre or mood of what I'm writing at any given time. As I write this answer I'm listening to a Tchaikovsky symphony! I love music as I write, but I don't treat it as aural wallpaper or mood generator for my own work.
Likewise, I don't like to rely on music too hard for inspiration, but sometimes it's unavoidable. As a writer I can't always count that a reader will have the same emotional reaction that I'm having or trying to create, so trying too hard to rely on my listening as an emotional template for writing can be a mistake. But it can also be unavoidable, and it's not uncommon for me to listen to a piece of music (film, classical, celtic, anything) and think, "I want my writing to make the reader feel what THAT piece of music makes me feel." And that is always a BIG challenge!
Thanks for the question!
Likewise, I don't like to rely on music too hard for inspiration, but sometimes it's unavoidable. As a writer I can't always count that a reader will have the same emotional reaction that I'm having or trying to create, so trying too hard to rely on my listening as an emotional template for writing can be a mistake. But it can also be unavoidable, and it's not uncommon for me to listen to a piece of music (film, classical, celtic, anything) and think, "I want my writing to make the reader feel what THAT piece of music makes me feel." And that is always a BIG challenge!
Thanks for the question!
Kelly Sedinger
Huh. Dunno. Maybe I need to make this happen....
Kelly Sedinger
Geez, sorry it took me so long! I never saw a notification that this question existed, until just now when (after seven months) there it is. Ugh!!!
Anyway, I do have routines. They're not carved in stone, but I do certain things certain ways. I get up at roughly 5:45 am each weekday morning that I'm working; after making coffee I'm sitting down at the computer by 6:00 until about 6:50, when I have to resume getting ready for the Dreaded Day Job. I also have started using my 30-minute lunch period at work as a writing session. Other than that, I try to cram in writing sessions as much as I can, whenever I can.
Saturdays I like to go sit in the cafe at the local grocery store for a couple hours and write, and Sunday afternoons I'm in my library at home. When I sit down, I generally noodle about online for a little while before writing, just to get juices flowing. I also like to have music playing, often in the genre in which I'm working (but this isn't carved in stone). In my library I have nice headphones AND a nice little speaker system if I don't want to use the headphones. Generally I'll listen to any music that fits my mood while I write; I'm pretty good at not falling into active listening while I write.
When I'm revising a manuscript, the timing is roughly the same, although then I'm using a hard copy of the manuscript.
I hope that covers everything!!!
Anyway, I do have routines. They're not carved in stone, but I do certain things certain ways. I get up at roughly 5:45 am each weekday morning that I'm working; after making coffee I'm sitting down at the computer by 6:00 until about 6:50, when I have to resume getting ready for the Dreaded Day Job. I also have started using my 30-minute lunch period at work as a writing session. Other than that, I try to cram in writing sessions as much as I can, whenever I can.
Saturdays I like to go sit in the cafe at the local grocery store for a couple hours and write, and Sunday afternoons I'm in my library at home. When I sit down, I generally noodle about online for a little while before writing, just to get juices flowing. I also like to have music playing, often in the genre in which I'm working (but this isn't carved in stone). In my library I have nice headphones AND a nice little speaker system if I don't want to use the headphones. Generally I'll listen to any music that fits my mood while I write; I'm pretty good at not falling into active listening while I write.
When I'm revising a manuscript, the timing is roughly the same, although then I'm using a hard copy of the manuscript.
I hope that covers everything!!!
Kelly Sedinger
It's not really about "inspiration" for me. I want to write, and I want to be a writer, so that's all the inspiration I need. It's not so much a matter of inspiration as compulsion by this point. I write because I HAVE to.
Kelly Sedinger
Right now I am working on the third book in "The Song of Forgotten Stars", or the second sequel to STARDANCER. After I get this draft done, I have to start working on editing the second book in the series for publication next November. And somewhere in there I have to work on a supernatural thriller I wrote, for publication in 2016. So much time! So little to do! (Wait, strike that. Reverse it.)
Kelly Sedinger
Write a lot, read a lot! Take walks or bike rides and listen to music. Watch people and listen to them. And then write a lot more and read a lot more. Oh, and read poetry. That's how you learn what to do with language.
Kelly Sedinger
I always have stories, and I can see stories everywhere.
Kelly Sedinger
When I'm actively writing a new manuscript (as opposed to editing an existing one), I keep plowing ahead, even if what I'm writing is crap. It's possible that it's NOT crap and that I'm not seeing it right, or that it IS crap but I'm on the right track and need to work things through. Anyway, I always keep working. My strong belief is that the only way out is THROUGH!
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