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pezIt may or may not have anything to do with my reading Gail Sher's "One Continuous Mistake" and Stephen King's "On Writing" the last few days.
There can be many reasons to my failing to participate in NaNoWriMo, namely going on holiday and things around the house, but at the end of the day those are only excuses. In my case there is always, always time to write and I haven't prioritised well enough to allow for the one hobby I enjoy. I probably lacked ideas (will come to that later) but I do find sitting down and writing - even if it's only *trying* to write - a rather exciting exercise. I don't really *mind* spending an entire night writing only 500 words in a chapter of fanfiction, as long as I got the time to sit down and let my mind run free. I can, if I allow myself, write about nothing. I can start with anything at all. Give me a word, say, "chair" and I can start a piece of writing on that, be it fiction or some kind of essay. It just depends on whether I set my mind to it or not.
My failing to write for NaNoWriMo is because I haven't set my mind to it. I didn't sign up with a desire to succeed, which of course is the key element to success. I can blame it on not having an idea what to write but it's just an excuse really. Creativity can be learnt and I think I've learnt the basics. I'm very very far from being a great writer (no, not being humble here, it's just the truth) but here is what I think:
Creativity isn't something one is borned with. It isn't some kind of code in the DNA only some people are gifted with. Like languages, some may be more talented at it but creativity is actually learnt, consciously or not. To me the creative process involves 4 steps:
1. Watch and also see. Hear as well as listen. This may be, for example, noticing that your boyfriend arranges his socks in a certain order, first according to colour then according to material. This may be noticing that the leaves have turned brown in the autumn and the way they float in the air, swirling before falling to the ground. The so-called "writer's block", to me, is when I'm trying to do the other steps without doing this one properly first.
2. Processing what one has learnt in Step 1 so that it becomes understanding. This probably takes more effort than the previous step and a lot of people stall here I think. Understand why your boyfriend arranges his socks that way. Is it an unconcious process, does it soothe him to see his sock drawer organised? Is it a habit beaten into him by his mother and what has that experience taught him?
3. Alchemy - this is not a magical process. This is to take what you've come to understand and rearranging it into something else. This is where imagination and lateral thinking really starts to kick in. It takes much practice and can be very frustrating but ultimately rewarding. Bouncing ideas off with friends may help, but at the end of the day you'll need to do this alone. What if it isn't socks that he arranges? What if he opened the drawer and it wasn't socks inside but maple leaves, yellow and red and brown, not neatly arranged but tossed like a colourful salad? What would his reactions be, why did it happen, who did it, when did it happen, how did it happen?
4. Putting down the results of Step 3. Given you've done your best in the last 3 steps, this step will be the easiest of all and very probably the only step where you can get help. English can always be worked on; get a teacher or a friend to look things over.
The examples are stupid, but you catch my drift. It takes practice - I used to do random pieces of writing back in secondary school. I really did write a story with "chair" as the background. But I don't do this anymore, for me I don't need the concious exercise anymore I think.
For NaNoWriMo I've been stalling at Step 3. But now I think I have the "what", "why", "who", and "when", and I can start writing, even if it isn't going to make the word count by the deadline. I'll let the "how" come to me naturally, as it usually does. The story probably won't come out as readable material, depending on how one defines "readability", but it's a story calling to be written and I'll make time for it to happen.
I know I moaned about lack of feedback in my last post, but since when has no feedback or bad feedback ever stopped me from writing more?
There can be many reasons to my failing to participate in NaNoWriMo, namely going on holiday and things around the house, but at the end of the day those are only excuses. In my case there is always, always time to write and I haven't prioritised well enough to allow for the one hobby I enjoy. I probably lacked ideas (will come to that later) but I do find sitting down and writing - even if it's only *trying* to write - a rather exciting exercise. I don't really *mind* spending an entire night writing only 500 words in a chapter of fanfiction, as long as I got the time to sit down and let my mind run free. I can, if I allow myself, write about nothing. I can start with anything at all. Give me a word, say, "chair" and I can start a piece of writing on that, be it fiction or some kind of essay. It just depends on whether I set my mind to it or not.
My failing to write for NaNoWriMo is because I haven't set my mind to it. I didn't sign up with a desire to succeed, which of course is the key element to success. I can blame it on not having an idea what to write but it's just an excuse really. Creativity can be learnt and I think I've learnt the basics. I'm very very far from being a great writer (no, not being humble here, it's just the truth) but here is what I think:
Creativity isn't something one is borned with. It isn't some kind of code in the DNA only some people are gifted with. Like languages, some may be more talented at it but creativity is actually learnt, consciously or not. To me the creative process involves 4 steps:
1. Watch and also see. Hear as well as listen. This may be, for example, noticing that your boyfriend arranges his socks in a certain order, first according to colour then according to material. This may be noticing that the leaves have turned brown in the autumn and the way they float in the air, swirling before falling to the ground. The so-called "writer's block", to me, is when I'm trying to do the other steps without doing this one properly first.
2. Processing what one has learnt in Step 1 so that it becomes understanding. This probably takes more effort than the previous step and a lot of people stall here I think. Understand why your boyfriend arranges his socks that way. Is it an unconcious process, does it soothe him to see his sock drawer organised? Is it a habit beaten into him by his mother and what has that experience taught him?
3. Alchemy - this is not a magical process. This is to take what you've come to understand and rearranging it into something else. This is where imagination and lateral thinking really starts to kick in. It takes much practice and can be very frustrating but ultimately rewarding. Bouncing ideas off with friends may help, but at the end of the day you'll need to do this alone. What if it isn't socks that he arranges? What if he opened the drawer and it wasn't socks inside but maple leaves, yellow and red and brown, not neatly arranged but tossed like a colourful salad? What would his reactions be, why did it happen, who did it, when did it happen, how did it happen?
4. Putting down the results of Step 3. Given you've done your best in the last 3 steps, this step will be the easiest of all and very probably the only step where you can get help. English can always be worked on; get a teacher or a friend to look things over.
The examples are stupid, but you catch my drift. It takes practice - I used to do random pieces of writing back in secondary school. I really did write a story with "chair" as the background. But I don't do this anymore, for me I don't need the concious exercise anymore I think.
For NaNoWriMo I've been stalling at Step 3. But now I think I have the "what", "why", "who", and "when", and I can start writing, even if it isn't going to make the word count by the deadline. I'll let the "how" come to me naturally, as it usually does. The story probably won't come out as readable material, depending on how one defines "readability", but it's a story calling to be written and I'll make time for it to happen.
I know I moaned about lack of feedback in my last post, but since when has no feedback or bad feedback ever stopped me from writing more?
