The Creative Process
I didn’t write much yesterday. About 200 words in fact. I was going back to the old drawing board at night but instead decided to lay down on my back on this massive rug we had laid out on the lounge floor. I put my hands beneath my head and I stopped looking. My brain was processing my story and I wasn’t sure where it should go. I have been getting these moments lately because I know my last scenes, the final one and the coda after it, but I still feel that I don’t have the perfect line to get to them. I have a bunch of strands flailing around and I have to find the one knot to bind them all.
I felt this way the other day but I managed to write a bit more and told myself I would assess it after the next chapter or two. It’s kind of like I’m navigating in a new planet and my map is sketchy at best. So I get to the top of a hill and I look around. If I don’t see what I need I walk to the next hill and find out if that vantage point offers anything more enlightening. I find from each hill I am getting a new perspective of the world I am discovering. It might seem irresponsible to discover and chart in this manner but I find that each word, line, sentence, paragraph, and chapter offers me something more to work with. It clears my vision or gives me a trap door to go in another direction. Discovery is not easy, it is not for the weak, and in the words of Jeff Goldblum, via Michael Crichton, what some call discovery others call the rape of the natural world.
Last night, while decked out on this rug, I had major thoughts about the novel. After just over half an hour of barely moving and a hell of a lot of thoughts I got up and ran to a pen and paper. I had some ideas and I wanted them down. I sat down and sketched out my plan for the rest of the novel. It wraps up pretty good, doesn’t drag on, in fact I worry that it comes too quickly, but I know there has been a lot of build up so it will be fine. I feel like I might have climbed my last summit, and it’ll be all downhill now, but if not, which is a likelihood, then I’ll just strap on the boots and get to the next highest point and see where I am. See what I can do and who I can find.
It’s a fun process charting this topographical narrative, but you have to have a little faith. And I have plenty of faith in myself. Let’s hope it’s warranted.
Posted on September 9th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under: Writing
I’ve found that some of the most productive moments in writing don’t involve any writing at all. I find the best ideas come to me when I’m walking or in bed or driving or doing anything other than sitting in front of the keyboard. The trick is getting them down and transferring them to the story.
I just have to remember those moments. Make sure I use them. Little notepads are the best, paper everywhere in my house.
I find every story is different. Sometimes I have a glimpse of an idea and start from there. Sometimes I have an ending but nothing more. Sometimes I have a set of scenes that need to be threaded together. Sometimes I have a theme but not sure where to start.
Then once I’ve picked a worthy story to develop I have different ways of making it happen. Sometimes I start on scene one(I generally write scripts) and write chronologically. However for some scripts this is impossible and I need to plan out the story’s arc in basic form and then plan each major scene/subplot.
But I must admit I get most/all of my inspiration doing something other than sitting at the laptop. The laptop is for putting these inspirations/aspirations onto paper. I’ve often have a moment when wlaking/driving or often in the cinemas.
Keep up the writing Stink