Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Sound of Writing

You know, writing is so much more than just a visual experience for me. I see the scenes play out in my head, I see the words I type and love to read them, of course. But there is so much more to the act of writing. The smell of the paper and ink as I shred my manuscript with my brilliant red pen. The feel of the paper beneath my fingers. The taste of my blood as I suck on yet another paper cut LOL (I toldya...I'm kinda klutzy sometimes) :D

But what, you may be wondering, are the "sounds" of writing that I love so much? Well, I tried to find a clip from You've Got Mail to help me illustrate, but apparently, I'm the only one who totally got what Frank was talking about when he went crazy over the sharp retort that sounded when he struck his typewriter keys :D Couldn't find a clip.

It's not the sound of a typewriter I love, or even the sound of a keyboard. It's the very specific sound of the keys on a laptop being struck. The sound they make when I type. I seriously wanted a laptop for that specific reason. For other reasons too, of course. But the first thing I did when I got my laptop was type like mad, just to hear the sound. I like the sound of my regular keyboard on the family's computer okay....but the sound of my fingers hitting the keys on my lovely laptop (or any fingers hitting the keys of any laptop for that matter) ahhhh, sweet dulcet tones!

The other sound I love...a quill scratching across paper. One of the reasons I loved writing my second book so much was that I wrote it by hand, using those gel pens. They make a very similar sound to a quill...that lovely scratching as they move across the paper. I LOVE that sound. I'll scribble nonsense for hours just to hear that sound.

(p.s. conversations like this are why my husband thinks I'm crazy) :D

Are there any sounds of writing you love? What other aspect of writing do you love, besides the visual part of reading your words?

NaNo stats: still behind...working to catch up. Did get 1366 words out yesterday, so a fair showing, though not enough to get me to where I need to be....here's hoping I do better today! :D How is everyone else doing?

Oh! And major book giveaways going on today!! And I mean MAJ.OR. Over 180 blogs are participating, each one doing their own giveaway. Here is a link for the list of those participating. Good luck everyone!

11 comments:

Stina said...

I'm sooooo far behind on my word count. Doing revisions on the first chapter of my other novel didn't help, nor did going away on vacation. I had planned to squeeze in 2000 words. I managed 100. While drunk on wine. Definitely not my best 100 words. ;)

Matthew MacNish said...

I love the sound of sentences in my head. The rhythm of the syllables is so cool to me. I can get a little uptight about it though ...

Christine Fonseca said...

My sound is that of my characters whispering. Right now it is still a whisper as I try to coax them into being a bit more. Soon, I hope it sweels to something much much louder.

C. N. Nevets said...

I have a strong auditory imagination, so I enjoy the sounds of my characters' voices.

Angela said...

I love silence. Though I don't hear it much. But I work best when everything is quiet.

Lindsay said...

I love the sound of the keys tapping as well. I also like the sound of my characters as I write and seeing the scenes in my head. :)

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RED~Scribe said...

I, too, love the sound of laptop keys clicking at ridiculously fast paces. Silence is my other favourite sound while writing.

Elana Johnson said...

I like Pandora, and to me that's the sound of writing. Or folding laundry, because I listen to it while I do that, too. LOL!

Katrina L. Lantz said...

Holy Book Giveaway, Batman! That's incredible! Thanks for the link, Michelle. Your post on the sounds of writing made me smile.

Sweet dulcet tones I like are the rhythm (when there is a rhythm) of my voice reading out loud. Maybe this doesn't count because it's reading, but reading aloud helps me to hear if it flows or not. I'd actually prefer it if somebody else's voice read them aloud, but nobody's volunteering for THAT job. ;)

Or lyric-less music. I canNOT write to music with words, and I don't understand how anybody can. Nor can I finish a sentence if somebody else starts talking next to me, so maybe that's why.

Vicki Rocho said...

I used to love the sound of the IBM typewriter when I really got going. Had a rhythm all its own.

Those days are gone, the laptop just doesn't make the same sound, darnit.

What I love most is finding an ink pen. Whenever I find a pen, I can't wait to use it to write with. It's like each pen comes with it's own words just dying to get out.