{"id":811,"date":"2010-09-09T12:26:41","date_gmt":"2010-09-09T12:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=811"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:12:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T16:12:13","slug":"what-makes-writers-tick-tom-warner-answers-ists-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/what-makes-writers-tick-tom-warner-answers-ists-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"What makes writers tick – Tom Warner answers IS&T's questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nine Questions<\/span>

<\/span><\/font>In
\nthe third episode of our new series, Ink Sweat & Tears talks to
\npracticing writers about their process and craft \u2013 and asks them nine
\nquestions…<\/span>
<\/font><\/span>


1. Where do you write? (do you have an office, room, bus or train journey that you find yourself and your writing? etc)<\/span>

I tend to start writing outside my backdoor (I don\u2019t smoke in the house) with a cup of tea and a notebook, but once I\u2019ve got some ideas down I\u2019ll take the work to the spare room where I have a very untidy desk.<\/span>

2. How do you write? (into a notebook or straight onto a computer? etc)<\/span>

Pencil and paper to start with. I don\u2019t like writing straight onto the computer. For me, it feels too solid too soon. It doesn\u2019t seem right to see a poem emerging in Times New Roman or Arial. I like scribbling.<\/span>

3. Roughly how much time do you spend each week on creative writing related activities? (writing, editing, correspondence & submissions \u2013 give a daily average if possible)<\/span>

I think I spend between four and five hours a day, but much of that time is spent reading, sending emails or doing other creative writing admin stuff.<\/span>

I find I write in short bursts with lots of thinking time between them.<\/span>

4. What time of day do you usually write?<\/span>

In the mornings, as early as possible. When I worked full-time I\u2019d get up at six to do an hour of work before I\u2019d get ready for work. That\u2019s a good time for me to write, free of distractions, but it can be a real challenge to get up that early.<\/span>

5. Do you set yourself a daily target for writing?<\/span>

I don\u2019t have a daily target, but I do always feel that I could be doing more. I suspect a lot of poets feel like that.<\/span>

6. What does it feel like to write? <\/span>

It feels like the one thing I have to do. Sometimes a poem will just come out and I\u2019ll be fairly happy with it, but mostly it\u2019s a struggle. I can\u2019t ever give up writing, I know that. <\/span>

7. Are there any stimuli that will usually trigger you into writing?<\/span>

I wish I\u2019d found one! It\u2019s different with each poem. It might be music or something I\u2019ve read or a news item or a memory or a photograph or a biscuit\u2026<\/span>

8. Do you work in silence or have background noise? If you do have sounds, what are you listening to now?<\/span>

I tend to work in silence. Right now I\u2019m listening to my girlfriend getting ready to go out and the kettle whistling. Tea is a vital part of my creative process.<\/span>

9. What are you working on now?<\/span>

I\u2019m currently on a grant from Arts Council England to buy me time to work towards a first full collection.<\/span>

It\u2019s been great to have time to write and I\u2019ve written quite a few new poems that I\u2019m happy with. I don\u2019t know how close I am to a full manuscript, but I\u2019m not in too much of a hurry. I\u2019m just enjoying writing poems.<\/span>


*Tom Warner<\/span> has previously received an Eric Gregory Award and a Faber New Poets Award. In 2009 he was Poet-in-residence to Newark, Nottinghamshire. A <\/span>pamphlet<\/a> of his work was published by Faber in 2010.  Tom also won the 2009 Cafe Writers Norfolk Prize sponsored by <\/span>Ink Sweat & Tears<\/span> with his poem <\/span>Sunlight and Rain<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>
<\/font> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nine QuestionsIn the third episode of our new series, Ink Sweat & Tears talks to practicing writers about their process and craft \u2013 and asks them nine questions…1. Where do you write? (do you have an office, room, bus or train journey that you find yourself and your writing? etc)I tend to start writing outside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23867,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/23867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}