How I Write

Writing is always the result of some other endeavor. I pick up my guitar to craft a song and a short story comes out instead. A drawing of a character becomes an essay on why the person wore corduroy in a time of denim and leather. Even poetry slips away to prose sometimes.

It wasn't always like this. There was a time I couldn't write. There was this bottleneck that I just couldn't force an idea past. Drawing made more sense to release a vision. Careful lines to craft a feeling upon a page. It was something, but never enough. So much remained in the bottle.

I remember walking home one day. I had dropped out of school and drifted a while. On one cloudy headed cold night I decided I would start journaling. I began to let myself open up and dump words. It feels like a long forgotten epiphany, now.

It led to learning a few exercises that I still use frequently. The easiest and most useful is the timed session. It works best with pen and paper for me at least. I'm not much of a typist. Its simple, anyone can do it anywhere. All you do is pick an allotted time and write whatever you can as fast and smoothly as possible. Always moving forward, ignoring everythig, grammar, spelling, punctiuation, and logic. Do not stop until the time is over. Do not stop to think about what to write, just write whatever pops into your head. It could be the same word over and over, just random words, or the thsounds you can hear. Anything. Mostly what you will find on the page is gibberish, but the point is not to create a work, it is to engage your wordsmithing brain with your arm or your finger. The exercise is to program a connection between thought and physicality.

It is something like meditation. Meditation is a practice that can help still your mind by keeping it focused on something physical, like breathing or a yoga pose. By linking your thoughts to an activity, you will become more present in the moment. I used to practice something like this on my bicycle. A trackstand is that trick you see bike couriers and commuters doing where they stop the bike and remain upright without moving. Its easier than it looks and it functions a lot like yoga. Its a nice way to force your mind on to something physical.

I highly recommend anyone with anything to do with writing spend some time with an exercise like this for several months. It will greatly improve your ability to produce what you envision. Even for non-creative trades this is a remarkably useful practice.

Part of the reason I have been silent for several weeks must remain secret, unfortunately. A neurotic element of writing for me is that I must write it, not talk about it. I have to hold the excitement inside only to allow it out as writing. Otherwise, that power is lost to conversation. So that has consumed some of my time.

One of my techniques is thinking of these conflict moments, these big emotional key frames, and working the words towards that. Some flow a little easier than others. I am not the sort of writer to just ramble away then whittle down to a plot. I must have a very clear vision and that takes considerable development.

I will put up Gift of Ravens in the next few posts. Its fairly large so I will look at how to split it for readability. Two or three parts, and if you're lucky an alternate ending.

Thanks for reading.

Pete