Deborah DeWit, 2007
Recently, I’ve had several things happen to trigger an idea or fix for stories currently burrowing themselves in the crevices of my mind. Just when I thought the creative juices were draining out of me at the pace of someone wringing cold water from a worn dish rag, I relished the presence of my mind churning out solutions and new ideas. Since these have helped me immensely in the past week, I wanted to share them with you. While they are quite simple and you’ll probably have seen them before, just remember that you’re giving your mind over to your subconscious when you’re doing these. I’m a firm believer in our subconscious being connected directly to God like a string tied to the ends of two plastic cups. He’s constantly whispering at me, and it’s not until I zone out and allow the sibilant murmurings free reign over my mind that I’m able to finally get new ideas and answers to various plot problems. So,
1. Listen to Music
Not just any music. Music that resonates with you, music that transports you. I was listening to my iPod on the way home from work the other day when Jon Foreman’s “Over the River” off his album Limbs & Branches shuffled through my playlist. The evenly paced, “hush…hush…hush…hush…hush” of the opening chords struck me with a panorama of snapshots from my WIP that led to the sudden click of a “Doh!” Suddenly, my plot problem was solved. The reason why it worked so well and so nearly instantaneously was because that song has a way of transplanting me to a place of emotional serenity, which relaxes my mind, which allows me to think of such things.
2. Think on Other Works
Think about some good books you’ve read recently. What happens in them? Could you recreate the general idea of the story into something wholly your own? Last week, I finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Lovely book. Hands down, one of my favorites now. But I began to think on the idea of traveling through time and how it’s portrayed through a book. Audrey took the idea of time traveling in the general way we acknowledge it, but gave it a twist of her own, then I began thinking on Audrey’s book and came up with my own idea of following someone through time. Can you do this with any of your favorite books?
3. Gaze at Photographs
I took a test in elementary school that told me I was a visual learner. The idea of visuals has followed me ever since. I am often inspired visually to write, notably through pictures (but especially through being physically present somewhere). An amazing site I just found showcasing Deborah DeWit’s photography and paintings blew the embers of inspiration into the rusty gears of my brain. Do you know any photographers whose work inspires you? Take a gander at some of their photographs and see if it doesn’t help get you writing. (Or, if you’re able, take a drive somewhere in person that fuels your creativity.) I was looking at a picture on Deborah’s website last night that all but hosted the characters and carried their dialog in a story idea I’ve been thinking on for some time.
4. Join a Writing Group
If you are able to gather a group of writer friends or know of a local writing group you can join, I’ve found that my creative writing classes help me immensely when it comes to my own works, even if we’re talking about someone else’s piece. It has largely to do with atmosphere. When you’re surrounded by like-minded yet uniquely different people engaging on the topic of writing in a workshop setting, it can do wonders for your own stories. For instance, I was in class the other day listening to the back and forth suggestions of my peers when I figured out how I was going to revise my own story that had been workshopped the week before. Just make sure you don’t zone out for the rest of the meeting…
5. Simply, Journal
Journaling is something I’ve just gotten back into, and maybe it’s just me, but when I can de-clutter my brain of excess thoughts (think Dumbledore and his Pensieve), it clears some room in my mind for connecting with my WIP. If something is severely bothering me, flushing it out onto the page gives me a release and a way to let go of the baggage so that it doesn’t continue to hinder and affect me personally and in regard to my work.
6. Take a Walk
Have you ever seen the movie Alex & Emma with Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson? It’s a cute, simple movie about a writer who hires a stenographer to type out his latest novel as he speaks it. In one scene of the film, Luke Wilson’s character is in a creative rut and tells Kate they’re going to take a walk to help clear his mind. Like journaling, this is a good way to release tensions you may feel, but moreso targeted at your work. Sometimes you just need to walk away and let your subconscious refuel.
Are these helpful? Have any other ways to inspire ideas and fix plotting issues?