The Impatient Muse
A friend from yesteryear has embarked on an ambitious quest to make a go of really writing. He posted to his blog recently with an open plea for tips on discipline, not craft. His issue at hand? Just when he starts committing to one idea, another even better idea flies in!
This may seem like a hilarious problem: Too much inspiration? But it's real and I think it's faced by everyone creative all the time. I went to post a quick reply and it expanded so much in my mind, I'm going to turn it into a full post on 'getting started'.
You see, I might just be a great example of rogue discipline whipped into shape because I had NONE to speak of when I started. Journals and journals of half-finished things and eight years later, a trilogy of books that needed a full revision. That's right: eight years.
If anyone knows how you invite a Muse to your party and it shows up with four friends and then ten more drop in during the course of the evening---it's me.
I'm a natural eleventh-hour darling AND when faced with lots of choices, I try to do them all (see: overloaded school schedule). Disciplining myself has been a mixed bag.
Here is what has come to work for me...
1. Opportunity Cost - If you love someone, you make time for them in your life. It's very simple. You start imagining them into all your favorite activities and you miss them when they aren't there to experience them with you. This, is how you need to treat writing. And it isn't easy. It feels like a hobby, an indulgence, that thing that may-or-may-not-happen. But it isn't. It's a part of you that you love deeply, that you are actively in love with and neglecting it needs to start feeling like neglecting a partner.
One of the first things that worked for me, was replacing pass-times with writing time. I could read that book I bought, or I could be writing. I started parsing out extra activities as rewards for writing well done. A goal reward system was sometimes really helpful. (so is knowing when to take a break and recharge your batteries by doing all your other hobbies for a week--but only a week)
This idea of carving out your sacred space & time, was later affirmed for me by this book: A Writer's Space by Eric Maisel
2. Write Down Every Idea - This includes flashes of dialogue, images, moods, everything. For me, a writing journal works best. Some ideas end up in each other's stories. Some collapse into one story. Some are themes you'll probably always write about in some way or another. A good journal is your place of splurge. I like to include date and if relevant, song I was listening to.
3. Choose One Idea to Work On This has got to be the hardest thing in the WORLD! I did not get good at this until recently. I tried something when I did Nanowrimo that worked really really well and it is what I suggest MOST for getting going on the journey to committed writing-dom.
It begins with doing the following exercise for three of your favorite books, and then for all of your favorite ideas:
a) Describe the premise of each. Premise includes 3 parts: Dramatic Issue, Movement and Fulfillment. (Helpful article here).
Dramatic Issue this is the core movement of your story, what it is about/oriented towards. (love, courage, wisdom, etc)
Movement - this is the kind of action your story will have (internal feelings, external quest, etc)
Fulfillment - this is how the story delivers on its promise, for better or worse, comedy or tragedy
Describing your own ideas in such a general, thematic way is hugely challenging and often leads you to ask a ton of questions you will surprise yourself by answering. You'll probably come out with a favorite idea that you're SURE is the one you should work on first. Should you listen to yourself? No.
b) Pitch your ideas Survivor Island style to trusted compatriots. That's right, walk your precious premises through a possible hall of shame. First of all, you'll surprise yourself by how you tailor your pitch to each person, because you know them. This is a great way to explore the feeling of thinking about your audience. Also, pitching the idea as a general theme and style, easing another person into it before introducing your main character(s) and conflict, gets you some great questions. I was surprised by how much I knew about my stories without knowing. Your compatriots will also vote for their favorite.
c) Decide on your Winner. You've honed and pitched these babies, now choose your lucky focus story.
4. Build a Schedule - For myself a simple divide works best. I keep my current story idea in Scrivner and I work on it the most. For every five days I put it on my current idea, I grant myself one evening of working on a different one, which I keep in Word (it has to graduate later to Scrivner). But I do allow myself, at anytime, to write down quick notes, scenes, dialogue for ANY idea in my mind. I try to keep most of it in the writing journal, a lot of it spills into text files on my desktop too.
5. Share Your Progress & Punish Your Sins - Anyone training for anything deserves the pep and cheer of friends. Mark your milestones and let others applaud you and of course, punish your laziness with whatever works best. I like to count up the days until my next birthday and let the terror of age stare me in the face, it's very effective. So is making yourself get up early to make up for your wordcount.
Once you're got a routine down you can graduate to the cue cards, corkboards, timelines and all manner of paper trail delights with which to fill up all that time you once used for silly things like relaxing, television and basic meals. Doo dee doo.
Anyone else care to share their 'getting started' isms?
This may seem like a hilarious problem: Too much inspiration? But it's real and I think it's faced by everyone creative all the time. I went to post a quick reply and it expanded so much in my mind, I'm going to turn it into a full post on 'getting started'.
You see, I might just be a great example of rogue discipline whipped into shape because I had NONE to speak of when I started. Journals and journals of half-finished things and eight years later, a trilogy of books that needed a full revision. That's right: eight years.
If anyone knows how you invite a Muse to your party and it shows up with four friends and then ten more drop in during the course of the evening---it's me.
I'm a natural eleventh-hour darling AND when faced with lots of choices, I try to do them all (see: overloaded school schedule). Disciplining myself has been a mixed bag.
Here is what has come to work for me...
1. Opportunity Cost - If you love someone, you make time for them in your life. It's very simple. You start imagining them into all your favorite activities and you miss them when they aren't there to experience them with you. This, is how you need to treat writing. And it isn't easy. It feels like a hobby, an indulgence, that thing that may-or-may-not-happen. But it isn't. It's a part of you that you love deeply, that you are actively in love with and neglecting it needs to start feeling like neglecting a partner.
One of the first things that worked for me, was replacing pass-times with writing time. I could read that book I bought, or I could be writing. I started parsing out extra activities as rewards for writing well done. A goal reward system was sometimes really helpful. (so is knowing when to take a break and recharge your batteries by doing all your other hobbies for a week--but only a week)
This idea of carving out your sacred space & time, was later affirmed for me by this book: A Writer's Space by Eric Maisel
2. Write Down Every Idea - This includes flashes of dialogue, images, moods, everything. For me, a writing journal works best. Some ideas end up in each other's stories. Some collapse into one story. Some are themes you'll probably always write about in some way or another. A good journal is your place of splurge. I like to include date and if relevant, song I was listening to.
3. Choose One Idea to Work On This has got to be the hardest thing in the WORLD! I did not get good at this until recently. I tried something when I did Nanowrimo that worked really really well and it is what I suggest MOST for getting going on the journey to committed writing-dom.
It begins with doing the following exercise for three of your favorite books, and then for all of your favorite ideas:
a) Describe the premise of each. Premise includes 3 parts: Dramatic Issue, Movement and Fulfillment. (Helpful article here).
Dramatic Issue this is the core movement of your story, what it is about/oriented towards. (love, courage, wisdom, etc)
Movement - this is the kind of action your story will have (internal feelings, external quest, etc)
Fulfillment - this is how the story delivers on its promise, for better or worse, comedy or tragedy
Describing your own ideas in such a general, thematic way is hugely challenging and often leads you to ask a ton of questions you will surprise yourself by answering. You'll probably come out with a favorite idea that you're SURE is the one you should work on first. Should you listen to yourself? No.
b) Pitch your ideas Survivor Island style to trusted compatriots. That's right, walk your precious premises through a possible hall of shame. First of all, you'll surprise yourself by how you tailor your pitch to each person, because you know them. This is a great way to explore the feeling of thinking about your audience. Also, pitching the idea as a general theme and style, easing another person into it before introducing your main character(s) and conflict, gets you some great questions. I was surprised by how much I knew about my stories without knowing. Your compatriots will also vote for their favorite.
c) Decide on your Winner. You've honed and pitched these babies, now choose your lucky focus story.
4. Build a Schedule - For myself a simple divide works best. I keep my current story idea in Scrivner and I work on it the most. For every five days I put it on my current idea, I grant myself one evening of working on a different one, which I keep in Word (it has to graduate later to Scrivner). But I do allow myself, at anytime, to write down quick notes, scenes, dialogue for ANY idea in my mind. I try to keep most of it in the writing journal, a lot of it spills into text files on my desktop too.
5. Share Your Progress & Punish Your Sins - Anyone training for anything deserves the pep and cheer of friends. Mark your milestones and let others applaud you and of course, punish your laziness with whatever works best. I like to count up the days until my next birthday and let the terror of age stare me in the face, it's very effective. So is making yourself get up early to make up for your wordcount.
Once you're got a routine down you can graduate to the cue cards, corkboards, timelines and all manner of paper trail delights with which to fill up all that time you once used for silly things like relaxing, television and basic meals. Doo dee doo.
Anyone else care to share their 'getting started' isms?