Something I’ve noticed when I’ve met with writers across the country at conferences is their frustration with the writing process.
Over and over I hear these frustrations expressed in different ways. They couldn’t quite put their fingers on the problem. And it took me a few minutes of listening to figure it out: they were trying to fit their creativity into the wrong process.
We all work in different ways, but somehow many writers have gotten the mistaken idea that their creative moments are supposed to happen in front of the computer and should start with chapter one and finish with “the end.”
The creative process isn’t one-size-fits-all.
One writer I spoke with had an amazing voice to her story. She told me that voice emerges when she’s in the car. When she sits down in front of the computer, it seems absent. I encouraged her to keep a digital recorder with her and record her story and then transcribe it. She’d done that before, but now her face brightened at the realization that it was truly okay to write this way.
When I write, I start with chapter 1, scene 1 because I know how I want my story to start. But from that point on I deviate. I write one scene at a time no matter where that scene occurs. After explaining that to a writer, that same light of hope crossed her face. She only needed to know it was okay to write that way.
Sitting in front of the computer to revise will be required, but don’t cripple your creative stage by forcing it into a process that doesn’t work for you.
Let your creativity happen in a way that works for you!
