Your Atmosphere for Inspiration

[clifford]

When you're in the process of writing, do you like to have things a certain way? Do you find certain surroundings/aspects more inspiring than others?

Do you like walls of Baroque (is that a proper adjective? hmmm..) classical filling your ears, or relative silence?
Is there a certain writing utensil you favor? (Someone HAS to use a quill.. please say you do!)
A certain form of parchment?
Do you have a dictionary, thesaurus, rhyming dictionary close by?
While writing parts, do you play plugged in? Acoustic? Electric unplugged?
Do you prefer to be in a certain mood?
Under the influence of a certain substance?
In a certain location?
Does it help being in the nude?

Give me the whole atmosphere, this is very interesting to me.

I usually write in my room, on my bed, in 'silence.' I use spiral notebooks (wide ruled).. I cant imagine writing songs in anything besides a notebook. I like to use this really sweet pen I bought for like 10 bucks at Office Depot.. that thing is where it's at! Ill write parts usually on my electric unplugged.. its more inspiring than my acoustic, and has better intonation, and just feels better (thats MY electric vs. MY acoustic.. Ive played acoustics that are amazing).

I really cant write well while feeling indifferent (well for ME, that is.. which isnt very well); I typically need to be having a really strong feeling of some sort to come up with anything halfway decent. Im not obessive or anything about my surroundings, but this is usually the way it just happens to be.

Perhaps switching things up a bit will usher in inspiration?

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by clifford
Do you like walls of Baroque (is that a proper adjective? hmmm..) classical filling your ears, or relative silence?
the buzz of people... like a coffee shop.


Is there a certain writing utensil you favor? (Someone HAS to use a quill.. please say you do!)
pen, pencil... whatever i happen to take with me.


A certain form of parchment?
A Moleskin Notebook...
http://www.moleskine.co.uk/notebook.html


Do you have a dictionary, thesaurus, rhyming dictionary close by?
nope.


While writing parts, do you play plugged in? Acoustic? Electric unplugged?
often start with the acoustic, refine with the electric...

but either way.


Do you prefer to be in a certain mood?
any mood. angry, sad, depressed, happy, in love, etc.


Under the influence of a certain substance?
sure. but that's not required... i don't think i've ever used something i wrote while under the influence. but it's a good release.


In a certain location?
small, local coffee shops... no starbucks.


Does it help being in the nude?
sometimes, but not usually.

[Cornutt]

I get alot of good rymes and whole songs done in the shower but by the time i get to my room most of it is lost. So i just carry around a little tiny book thing and if a verse or anykind of ryme comes to my head i write it down. Does it help being in the nude? well, i don't think it matters. I am in the shower so i might. I don't really know. I write in all kinds of moods. That way you can make all kinds of songs. I like to sit on my bed and write with just loose paper with a pencil. But we are all diffrent. And sometimes it will come to me in the middle of class, so i just pull out my book and write. I don't have a set writing environment, when it comes it comes, i guess.

[The User]

Do you like walls of Baroque (is that a proper adjective? hmmm..) classical filling your ears, or relative silence?

not music, but noises...bugs, people, dogs



Is there a certain writing utensil you favor? (Someone HAS to use a quill.. please say you do!)

pen, guitar



A certain form of parchment?

scrap paper, my notebook, my hand, whatever


Do you have a dictionary, thesaurus, rhyming dictionary close by?

no



While writing parts, do you play plugged in? Acoustic? Electric unplugged?

depends


Do you prefer to be in a certain mood?

whatever



Under the influence of a certain substance?

i want to try to write while drowning in absynth

In a certain location?

in bed



Does it help being in the nude?

no, but i usually am.

[Clayton38]

I usually just thinkabout something and then play with it in my head until I find something to write it down with.

[DRIVELIKEJEHU]

i keep an acoustic guitar in the bathroom.. so while i take care of some biz. i can come up with some tunes...


not really.. but its a good idea!

[skip tracer]

I usually write late at night or early in the morning, when I'm by myself and have time to think about things. I've got a blue light in my "music room" (its just a spare bedroom, really) and that helps get me in the mood. I usually play plugged in, unless I'm working on melody and harmony, then I strum my acoustic and sing. A lot of times I have to be plugged in because I'm more concerned with texture than with melody. I record and re-record everything, until I have about 5 versions of the song. Then I take it all apart and put it back together again. Its not a very effecient method, it takes me months to write a song.

When actually writing lyrics, I tend to type them, because I seriously can hardly read my handwriting, especially when I'm trying to get some words down before I forget them. I'm either under the influence of extreme sadness or extreme happiness. Not so much drink or drug anymore, but you can't get anything but really crappy weed around here.

Playing in the nude? err...the guitar is too cold against my skin and stepping on footswitches barefoot hurts like hell!

[gottajibboo]

sitting up in bed, right before going to sleep. listening to something relaxing. but i'm in a rut and the bad (or maybe good) thing is i'm not really to upset about it. my juices will flow again, i'm sure.

[crazy_geetarist]

in my bedroom, with my guitar, playing with riffs, thinking about the day that had passed

[commuter]

nick cave keeps an office around the corner from his house for songwriting. he goes in like 9-5 five days a week and treats it like a job. i kind of like that approach. unless i sit down and work on stuff i'll end up just messing around with my guitar. i think that a "professional" environment would help with that.

[methanol]

for guitar parts usualy just sittin around with my bc rich electric unplugged, tab it in a notebook with a pencil.

for lyrics i usually lock myself in the cedar closet and sit there writiing till its done. liqeur and pot help enourmously with creativity here.

but if i randomly get inspiration, the lyrics are usually on my hands/ buisness cards/ arms/ grls breasts(if im lucky)

[nickname]

I get pretty sudden inspiration so usually whatever paper around me gets written on by whatever utensil I have to write with. I'm most inspired/abstract right before bed (or while I'm going to sleep, actually), so that's when I prefer to write. But I have been known to write songs during class.

[apocalypsecow]

Originally posted by commuter
nick cave keeps an office around the corner from his house for songwriting. he goes in like 9-5 five days a week and treats it like a job. i kind of like that approach. unless i sit down and work on stuff i'll end up just messing around with my guitar. i think that a "professional" environment would help with that.


I've heard this as well, and many published authors maintain offices where they go in and work from 9 to 5. I find that in my writing (of books) it's best if, at the very least, I sit down to work at it for a certain amount of time a day.

Most of my "songs" are the result of sitting down at the computer (gasp!) and typing into notepad, guitar in lap, exploring whatever ideas i have at the moment, so there's not a lot of romance there.

I'd be interested to know, though, just how many more musicians maintain that job-like approach to their writing.

[nickname]

If I need to finish a song (or even write one--this also goes for guitar pieces) I sometimes have to make myself dedicate some time to it, instead of just playing around, consciously think about what I need done and how to do it.

[Persona]

Originally posted by nickname
If I need to finish a song (or even write one--this also goes for guitar pieces) I sometimes have to make myself dedicate some time to it, instead of just playing around, consciously think about what I need done and how to do it.

That´s pretty much what i do to finish a song.

To start out a song.... That´s a completly diferent history!

It comes to me when I´m not after it. Is like Like a thelos or something.

It´s Usually after I just had absorved as much information as possible to do a project (I´m a architech by the way), after a party or some kind of intense experience. I usually write my stuff just before I sleep, often jumpping out of bed - very wierd!

So 80% of my stuff is played in a acustic (nylon). The stuff i write on guitar are usually based in riffs, mostly with wha, that i actually find by acident while jamming.