Snowflake Challenge - Day 11

In your own space, talk about your creative process(es) — anything from the initial inspiration to how you feel after something’s done. Do you struggle with motivation or is it a smooth process? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to pull out when a fanwork isn’t cooperating? What is your level of planning to pantsing/winging it?

I often struggle to write without prompts and a deadlines to guide me, but occasionally an idea will just come seemingly out of nowhere, or I'll get inspiration from other TV shows, books, movies, articles, the news, or sometimes from conversations with fandom friends and other fanworks.

My not so secret tool when I'm struggling is to brainstorm with my friend and beta harrigan, and that will always result in something that I look forward to writing (I honestly don't think I'd be writing if it wasn't for her). I tend to write a rough outline and will sit for that for a while and usually a few sentences or speeches from characters will come and I'll jot those down. Then I'll jump in and start to write. I almost always try to hash out the opening first, and will usually have a few words for the ending too. I also find that a work environment at a desktop computer suits my writing style (which means that I do the majority of my writing in my lunch hour, or I'll stay late in the office and do a bit then). It isn't a perfect solution, as sometimes I have to stop when I've found a good flow, and picking it back up after stopping can be hard, but I find less distractions there than when I'm at home on my laptop where there's always something else I should be doing.

One thing that I always find hard is writing titles and summaries. If a title doesn't come to me early on, I'm doomed, and I just about always find summaries challenging. I don't think there's anything I can do to solve that, but hey, if anyone has any secrets up their sleeve I'm all ears!!!