Taming Inspiration

- by ria, on Wednesday, 8th December 2010, 6:36pm

I was reading an article about creating articles recently, where the writer said he can only write when he’s inspired. He gets an idea and if he doesn’t go with it straight away it fizzles and he stops working on it. He said he’s so driven by this wave of inspiration that if he stops in the middle, he can’t continue when he gets back to it because the inspiration is gone.

I completely understand where he is coming from, but I don’t agree with him. I used to be like him, waiting for inspiration and once it hit, sitting down for a 7 /8 / 12 hour stretch to try to get the whole story (or drawing, it used happen a lot with drawings) done before I had to stop working on it for the night. Usually if I didn’t get the piece finished by then, it never got finished. I get the impression a lot of young writers work this way.

The bad news: it doesn’t work. If you want to write a novel, you have to be able to take the inspiration and tame it so that you can use it whenever you need it. You must be able to draw that creative / excited energy out for the entire length of writing the novel, which could be a year or more. Any published author will tell you that writing a novel takes persistence and a strict schedule more than inspiration. That flash of brilliance is just enough to get you started, it’s up to you to take up the idea and carry it through to completion.

‘But how do I do that?’ you ask. Self-discipline, a good writing schedule and deep understanding of your story and characters helps. Really, you are the only one who can answer the question. I guess you need to ask yourself how much your story means to you, how strong is your desire to finish it. For me, I want to be a writer. I’ve wanted it for a long, long time. That need to be published is what keeps me going; you have to figure out what drives you, and use that to push yourself along when the inspiration wears off.

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category: thoughts, writing

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What to Do When You Don’t Feel Like Writing

- by ria, on Wednesday, 18th August 2010, 10:30am
A Writing Schedule

If you find it hard to sit at your computer for 6-8 hours typing out the images in your head, then I may have some advice for you.

Sometimes, a routine can help with getting you into the right headspace for writing. This is where an outline comes in handy. Figure out all the free time you have during the week for writing. Make a chart that shows the days of the week (or, use something like google calendar – that’s what I use).  Now, look at all the scenes in your outline and try to guess how much time you will need for each scene. Let’s say a scene a day. Find your first free day and mark in ‘Scene 1.’ Find your second free day and mark in ‘Scene 2.’

If you don’t have whole days to work with, you can spread your scenes over two days. Try not to spread your scenes too far. You are trying to write a book, here. Even if you only have an hour, you can get 500 words done. 1,000 words make a good scene. At most, you should only need three days for any one scene. If you are editing, do the same thing, but instead of scenes, do chapters per day.

This may seem hard, but it’s the only way to get a novel written this decade, especially if you don’t have much free time. Or worse, if you have all the time in the world. In that case, you feel that you have plenty of time, no need to sit down and start yet. Wrong. Start now. Before you know it, your time will be gone and you won’t have your book written.

When that Doesn’t Work

If you suffer from laziness, lack of inspiration, not knowing where your story is going, and you don’t feel like writing, try writing anyway. The only way to get over these problems is to write through them.

If you really don’t feel like writing, don’t write. Simple as that.

I suffer from occasional apathy, and on these days I can’t do anything. If I force myself to write when I really don’t feel like it, I end up with the worst prose and usually have to scrap it and go again when I actually feel like writing. Fortunately, these apathetic moments usually only last two or three days.

Do Something Else

If you think it’s just a passing phase, that you will feel like writing next week, don’t stress. Maybe write something in a blog, write a letter / email to a close friend, write ideas that you may have. You don’t even have to turn on your computer; you can jot them down in a notebook.

If you are inspired but can’t face your manuscript, don’t. Use some other format. Sometimes when I don’t feel like writing, I get an A4 pad (I prefer blue or yellow paper) and start writing (in pencil, fountain pen, marker). A change of scene is great to get me out of a slump. Now, I could just as easily suggest you go somewhere that you don’t normally write, a café, park or something, but I hate doing that. I need peace and silence for writing and don’t get how anyone can work in such a distracting environment.

If none of that works, stop trying. Go read a book, or play a game, get some exercise, clean the house, sew, go shopping, whatever. Maybe you need a break to get your inspiration flowing again. Whatever happens, don’t let a little unenthusiasm (firefox tells me this isn’t a real word – oh well) turn you away from your novel. Give it a week and come back, or move on to a different scene.

Whatever happens, don’t give up.

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category: writing

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