Unlocking the Creative Beast Within

Recently, I had received a few comments on this site regarding some of the details, and processes of writing, especially fiction. As any avid writer will tell you, the writing process is not easy.

I often agonize for hours on end, staring at a blank screen. Even if I do begin writing, I often find it a challenge to keep writing. This is the scourge of the word-processor, as it becomes too easy to edit your work on the fly, when you realize that it's an hour later, and you've barely written three paragraphs. It's usually about that time that I get really frustrated, and that my time could be more effectively allocated elsewhere -- like mowing the lawn.

The trick -- the secret -- that us writers hope for is that magical key that will deliver good quality writing, and in boundless quantities. I struggle for weeks on end, to awaken that sleeping giant. When he awakes, it's a godsend -- and I can write for endless hours, forgoing food and sleep in order to commit all my ideas to text.

While I was completing my undergraduate degree, I recall a time when I was in the Bookstore, purchasing textbooks for another semester. While loading up on overpriced merchandise, I discovered a textbook entitled Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, by Janet Burroway. I reckoned that I would have good use for the book, as I was in the process of writing one of my novels (that never got finished). My conscience also told me that some poor English student was enrolled in the course and needed it more than I, but I was selfish. The book was mine.

And it has sat on my shelf for at least five years, untouched.

I have though, flipped through it a few times, and read passages that interested me. The other night, I hastily read the first chapter, which centered around unlocking that creative center of your brain. What I discovered within those pages hold a lot of merit, though I was not entirely surprised, I felt it would benefit us all if we knew the secrets to becoming better writers.

The first secret is keeping a journal. This should come as no surprise to us bloggers. A journal does not have to be an account of one's daily diatribes, but it should be an area where the aspiring novelist can collect thoughts, ideas, or experiment in form or style. Accepting the advice, I would expect that this site (or another that I may choose to create at a later time) will serve as the metaphorical sketchpad where I can experiment. I will leave all my experiments available to criticism.

The second secret was free-associative writing. This idea is to write whatever comes to your mind, and not stop. As I have said above, the word processor is a godsend for writers, but it has its' pitfalls. And the biggest one of them all is that it's too easy for the novelist to hit backspace, thus if you are a terrible typist (like me), it takes forever to commit your ideas to text. By the time I have finished writing down my first idea, I have already forgotten the next. This blog will also serve as a perfect vehicle for free-associative writing, and I expect to attempt this in the near future.

The last secret was one I had learned about in High School, though like a typical arrogant teenager, I never took an adults' advice very seriously. I was a stubborn youth (and still stubborn today, just a little wiser). The secret is known as clustering. The idea is to take a blank sheet of paper, write the subject down in the center of the page, and then write down any ideas you can think of that may relate to that subject, drawing lines that connect related ideas together. If done properly, a writer can create a web of ideas, which will allow you to select the good ideas, and filter out the irrelevant ones.

I used clustering often when I was writing papers in University, though I normally only resorted to them when I was dealing with a very complicated topic, and often they were general themes and topics I wished to argue in the paper. Nonetheless, I had begun to learn the benefits of clustering, and have since used them in other creative projects.

I should use clustering more. In fact, I should use all three methods more often than I do.

It occurred to me that a writer should also examine his habits, in order to determine where and when they are most creative. Everyone's habits are different; Burroway mentions this in her book. Some like to write in a park, beach, or coffee shop. Others like to write under the influence of some stimulant, and even others find that they write their best work during a certain time of day. I for one, cannot seem to write a word if someone else is in the room. As for as caffeine or alcohol is concerned, I haven't been able to determine if they produce any better work than I would produce if I were sober. I do know, however, that excessive amounts of either will make my work quite sloppy, not to mention, taking numerous trips to the washroom will fragment my train of thought, and I often spend more time getting myself back into the creative frame of mind, than writing.

I also write best late at night. In my University years, I produced my best work between the hours of midnight and three in the morning. Unfortunately, I cannot pull all-nighters like I did before, as I have bills to pay and a job to be at 8:00AM every morning. If one day, I manage to win the lottery (and I had better start buying tickets if I ever wish to win), then I might be able to live my nocturnal life like I used to.

If you are an avid writer, and are looking for peers to critique your work, I would suggest checking out Yahoo! Groups. There are a number of creative writing groups that you can join and participate by sharing your work, or critiquing others. Some groups are highly active, while others are rather quiet. While some groups are allegedly moderated by English professors, or High School teachers, I have a difficult time believing that these souls would actively participate in the critical or editorial processes. You would have to really, really love your job, if you marked essays all day, and then went home to the computer to do the same thing without getting paid.

I know I don't make music anymore unless I am being paid, nor do I do environmental assessments while I am away from my job. I expect almost everyone else is the same. Don't get me wrong, I love music to death; it's my first love. But I have other interests as well, and I use my free time to explore those hobbies. Like blogging.

Now, if I were paid to blog, rest assured it would quickly become a job, and I would get far less pleasure out of it.