It’s Blog Circle Time again!

This month’s topic: Zombies are a July tradition here at Wriye. Do you have a writing tradition of your own? How did it come about?

At first, I wasn’t really sure how to answer this question.  I mean, yeah… the only time I write about zombies is in July.  Just like the only time I think about trying to write a novel in a single month is November.  However, does that make them my own personal writing traditions?  I’m not sure.  Some people would probably say that doing something at the same time each year makes that thing a tradition.

Being the writer I am, I did a bit of research into writing traditions.  It was tougher than you’d think!  Most of the stuff I found was more related to writing about traditions than traditions I have in writing.  One article, though, was just what I needed to get me thinking.

Writing traditions have just as much about the process of writing as they do the topic or the timing of the writing.  One of my biggest writing traditions relates to my personal process.  I turn on music before I start writing.  Sometimes, the music relates to the story.  Other times, it’s just music that I like.  However, music and writing are linked in my mind.  I can’t have one without the other.  It started as a way to help me concentrate on my story.  I could shut out the distractions around me and focus on the music.  Now, often, a particular piece of music will become forever linked to a specific story.  I’ll hear a song and think, “Oh, that’s Illya’s theme!”

Another of my writing traditions is to find artwork to go with my story.  Sometimes, it’s character art.  Sometimes, it’s inspiration for a scene in the story or a location or even some object that appears in the story.  However, all of my stories have pictures associated with them – sometimes files and files of pictures.  It started as a way to help me describe things better.  Now, I can’t seem to write unless I’ve got at least one image handy to look at while I’m writing.

 

Bonus:

Tell us about your favorite non-writing traditions!

I have a lot of traditions that have nothing to do with writing.  Most of them relate, in one way or another to a holiday or special occasion (going out to dinner with my folks on Thanksgiving, getting to pick whatever I want for my birthday, eating munchies all day on Christmas, etc.)  However, one of my favorite traditions has nothing to do with a holiday or special occasion.

Each summer, with the start of barbecue season, my mother would stop cooking all the normal frozen veggies we lived on the rest of the year.  Suddenly, we went from corn, green beans, broccoli and carrots to… cucumbers and tomatoes.  Sometimes, she’d make zucchini and summer squash.  Other times we’d have some kind of salad (garden or cole slaw).  However, living in the Winter Belt, I loved to see the emergence of fresh vegetables that went along with summer.  That’s one tradition that I kept when I moved out on my own.  I’m not great about eating vegetables the rest of the year, but once summer rolls around, I have fresh veggies with each meal.