The Monday Question: Writing!

Hope you all have had a great weekend filled with fun stuff. Mine was a nice and relaxing one and for this week’s Monday question I decided not to ask a question about movies, but about your creative process when it comes to writing about them:

What is your creative process like when creating new blog posts (and how do you make sure to remain inspired)?

Through the year I watch more movies than I write about. The reason for this is that not every movie I see inspires me to write about it. When it comes to writing I usually don’t have a lot of trouble putting into words what I think about and the whoel process comes fluidly to me. As for writing other type of posts I might see someone blogging about something I want to speak my mind about as well, other times I just get an idea I have to execute. If I would describe my writing style it probably be a very quick one. Kind of like fire and forget. I know if I would spend more time on writing them they could improve, but unfortunately my busy family life doesn’t allow for it.

What is your creative process like when creating new blog posts (and how do you make sure to remain inspired)?

18 thoughts on “The Monday Question: Writing!

  1. My posts are divided up into five sections, as are my notes. As I watch the films, I put the notes in their appropriate sections, and at the end, tweak them into what goes in the final posts. Usually, my posts are written out and scores are assigned about halfway through a film. I do always watch the films in their entirety, though.

    What keeps me inspired is loving writing more than anything, and the feedback I get from the genuinely nice movie reviewing community of WordPress. Finding a lot of interesting films I might have passed on otherwise doesn’t hurt either.

    • Interesting way of working. I personally would never want to write anything during my movie watching, it would distract me way too much. So you already know the score before the movie ends? Or do you sometimes still adjust it when the ending is extremely good?

  2. I think I’m pretty similar to you. Just fire them out whenever the need takes me. I’m much more likely to discuss marketing than to review a film as by the time I usually get to see a film, I’ve read too many reviews and can’t think of much original to day.

    But when I see a cool trailer or poster, I’m much more likely to want to write about it!

    • I sometimes will skip writing a review as well if I have seen a bunch of them in a short period of time, but often I will just wait a few weeks to write or publish.

      Personally I don’t spend much time looking at posters (none at looking at trailers, never watch them), so that’s the reason I don’t write about those 🙂

    • It does take quite some time indeed, but it’s nice to see what you get back for it.

      Luckily I never stare at blank pages, I just have a steady flow of words most of the time.

  3. Think I’m the same as you Nostra. When it comes to films it’s usually fairly easy for me to put into words what I thought of the film. Sometimes it’s a little trickier with certain films though and nothing helps!

    As a lot of my blog posts are a bit personal in nature, as they’re about my every day life, that’s where I draw my inspiration from. Whether it’s what other bloggers have been blogging about, photos, things I saw.

    However, I never have and never will consider myself a writer of any sorts. I blog, because I enjoy blogging. I never liked English at school as subject and never have aspired to be a writer. I just like to blog 🙂

    • Always enjoy reading your blog (even though I might not respond to every post I do read all of them)

      I don’t consider myself a writer either and just like you I just like blogging about movies and sharing my thoughts with others.

  4. I aim to always write a review of a film I see. That being said sometimes life gets in the way and I don’t have time.

    Typically what I do after watching a film is setup the review post. I make a draft with the poster image, link to the trailer, list of Director, Writers, and Cast and list all the applicable tags. Then I see what my schedule looks like for the week. If I know I will have the time to write the review then I set a publish date for it. If I know my week is going to be complicated then I mentally mark a date I want it published and aim for that date.

    As for the review, I usually start with a synopsis that covers the first act and sets up the story, but usually goes no further. After that I talk about the look and feel of the film, the acting, and my overall impressions. I try to keep my negative criticisms at the front of the review so I end on a positive, but that doesn’t always happen. And then I give my grade.

    I try and treat the blog as if I was a paid reviewer for a newspaper; in which case I need to cover a certain number of words (600-700), and review even films I do not like.

    • Wow, that’s a thorough way of approaching it. I usually write everything for the week in one evening. Also like what you describe about ending on a positive note 🙂

      Personally I don’t approach it as writing it for a newspaper, but I know my reviews would look a bit different if I did.

  5. Hi, Nostra and company:

    When I post a review of a Classic, I usually start with a descriptive paragraph to introduce the film and explain why I like or love it. Or in what ways the film is worth your time finding and enjoying.

    Then I lay out the characters, their actors and actions before picking a spot to end. Lest I go to far and reveal spoilers. Afterwards, I add a few paragraphs regarding ‘What Makes This Film Good?’ and ‘What Makes This Film Great?. Where I’ll highlight the director, cast and crew. Memorable scenes, perhaps dialogue; between opinion and bits of trivia or history.

    The lay out usually takes between two and three hours. Plus another hour to wrap up. Edit
    and rearrange.

    If I’m doing a ‘Top Ten’ or list from a specific actor or director. It’s about an hour per thumb nail review. Perhaps, a bit less for an ‘Overall Consensus’ of each film. Plus another hour for editing, rearranging and proof reading.

    • I always wondered how you wrote them as I’m always impressed by the amount of detail you put into them. Looking at the hours you do, I’m even more impressed!

  6. I usually have about four posts saved of either movies I’ve seen or albums I’ve listened to, just the basic skeleton of what I’d like to say. Throughout the week I ask myself how I can present the review in a way that captures the spirit of the aforementioned media without it reading the exact same way as everyone else’s. I also write long and short stories that for the most part I wont publish here. I keep to the music and movie reviews and pop culture musings because I could use the writing exercise and don’t wish to give away too much original material for free.

  7. Great question Nostra! It’s weird how certain films are easier to write a review on than others. I don’t always review everything I see either, though I do spend a lot of time blogging (including commenting on other blogs, replying comments, etc) more than watching movies, ahah. Inspirations come from all sorts of things, sometimes in the least expected way.

    • Thanks Ruth! I don’t know if I spend more time blogging than I do watching movies, although it does cost quite a lot of time 🙂 I know that with some movies I won’t have much to say about them I will just not write about them and might only mention a score I gave on Twitter. It’s funny that the weirdest things can inspire you.

  8. Hi Nostra, interesting question. I tend to do 90% of my writing on the weekends. I like to sit down in a cafe, free from most distractions, and then just write for hours. This way I build up a queue of posts for the upcoming week, and then I do it all over again the next weekend.

    For the longest time, I would do my writing at home, but recently I found I am much more productive at a cafe. It has turned into a bit of a routine.

    • With all the comments in the blogathon I missed your answer. I usually do most of my writing on Sundays although in recent weeks time really hasn’t allowed me to do so…

      Sounds great just writing in a cafe…no really great ones near here where I would be able to do that, but then again I don’t mind doing it at home though…

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