Stage 2
I was reading a very nice essay about writer's block yesterday. It's not that I feel blocked, but a combination of frustration and schadenfraude got me reading about writers' problems anyway.
The theory behind the essay was that more or less all of us have our creativity suppressed by the society we grow up in. I subscribe quite strongly to this idea , and also to the notion that everyone should try to do something creative, to find their passion or passions. After all we're going to need to fill this world with art in every aspect of our lives once we get rid of capitalism.
According to this essay, which, by the way, you can find here:
http://www.flash-fiction-world.com/wr...
stage 2 is that point at which you take your ideas and clothe them in your own unique perspective. You see, it's a given that your ideas aren't original, but the way you manifest them will or at least could be.
It is whilst you are busy thinking about how to manifest your ideas that you are worn down by all of the anxieties that beset your creativity, largely that you should really be doing something more useful instead. Of course this is linked to your reasons for writing, and whether you are able to find the pleasure you should in the process, or if you are busy hoping that this is your ticket out of the fix that more or less all of us find ourselves in.
Well I don't know. I don't really like pop psychology. Nevertheless, this essay chimes with a lot of things that have happened to me recently, and a lot of other talks and writings I've stumbled across. It comes down to this I suppose: you need to give yourself a chance, you need to create the art that's inside you and not worry about whether it is objectively great art, whatever that might be.
I have a stack of ideas at the moment. To be honest I have had them for a long time. So, considering that my problem was once whether I could find ideas to fill a novel at all, it is somewhat ironic that I now find myself dancing around my big ideas, writing short or very short stories, or writing nothing at all, and wondering how I will take the first steps towards getting these projects down on paper.
It comes down to, as a Canadian economist whose TED talk I watched the other night argued, fear. And nothing has left so many hopes and dreams unfulfilled as fear...... well except perhaps the nature of class society........ but that's another story.
The theory behind the essay was that more or less all of us have our creativity suppressed by the society we grow up in. I subscribe quite strongly to this idea , and also to the notion that everyone should try to do something creative, to find their passion or passions. After all we're going to need to fill this world with art in every aspect of our lives once we get rid of capitalism.
According to this essay, which, by the way, you can find here:
http://www.flash-fiction-world.com/wr...
stage 2 is that point at which you take your ideas and clothe them in your own unique perspective. You see, it's a given that your ideas aren't original, but the way you manifest them will or at least could be.
It is whilst you are busy thinking about how to manifest your ideas that you are worn down by all of the anxieties that beset your creativity, largely that you should really be doing something more useful instead. Of course this is linked to your reasons for writing, and whether you are able to find the pleasure you should in the process, or if you are busy hoping that this is your ticket out of the fix that more or less all of us find ourselves in.
Well I don't know. I don't really like pop psychology. Nevertheless, this essay chimes with a lot of things that have happened to me recently, and a lot of other talks and writings I've stumbled across. It comes down to this I suppose: you need to give yourself a chance, you need to create the art that's inside you and not worry about whether it is objectively great art, whatever that might be.
I have a stack of ideas at the moment. To be honest I have had them for a long time. So, considering that my problem was once whether I could find ideas to fill a novel at all, it is somewhat ironic that I now find myself dancing around my big ideas, writing short or very short stories, or writing nothing at all, and wondering how I will take the first steps towards getting these projects down on paper.
It comes down to, as a Canadian economist whose TED talk I watched the other night argued, fear. And nothing has left so many hopes and dreams unfulfilled as fear...... well except perhaps the nature of class society........ but that's another story.
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Richard wrote: "interesting stuff.have you tried writing a story in the wrong order? Start with the bit that interests you and then back fill to enable the clever bit."
I have never tried that, Rirchard, although I have read of it as a method. I don't think I could handle it really, I don't deal very well with fragments and stitching them together if you know what I mean. I can imagine it might work well for some writers who might need to follow less of a thread as they write.
I once knew a historian who wrote his books by compiling old fashioned filing cards. Each card would end up with a fragment of the work on it, and he continued he would discover the right order to put them in before tying them all together in the final book.
Have you ever tried writing something out of sequence?
I have tried it. I used to follow the 'story has to have a beginning, middle and an end' route and in all honesty, I found it hard to write like that.There were two items - articles? anecdotes? - that face me a lift bulb moment.
One was by the chap who wrote Father Ted and the IT Crowd. he said that for him, he'd have an idea of a silly/insane/stupid situation and then backtrack from that point, so the viewer is lead to this mad conclusion. Re, Mos and the bomb disposal scene or Ted and the priests being stuck in the lingerie department. He said that if he put the characters in the situation before the build up, it didn't work for him.
The second was Alistair Reynolds. He said that he'd have an idea that would interest him; sometimes just a scene, an event or a snippet of conversation. He said that he'd write that out and see where it took him. That really clicked with me, so that's how I get started. Just a small idea and after exploring that idea with a bit of daydreaming / what if, I then write up the elements I am okay with. Then I can pre-fill that scene to lead the characters in.
I guess everyone has a way they like to work. All I'm trying to say - in a long winded way :-) - is that you don't need to start at the start. :-)
You're quite right of course.It's interesting actually, because thinking about what you have been saying, I realise that I often do plan out of sequence and put stories together like that, but then I write in sequence.
As you say, everyone has their way of working.
have you tried writing a story in the wrong order? Start with the bit that interests you and then back fill to enable the clever bit.