Writing is a series of made decisions. Every sentence, every word appears in print because of a decision the writer makes. There are no patterns, no diagrams, and often, at the start, there are no plans. The writer begins because there comes a hint of something ahead. A reason to sit down and write. A wish, a thought, an idea, not fully formed, because, as any writer learns, that’s not how it works. We have to start writing in order for our ideas to gather together and organize.
We might have notes or just thoughts in our head, but until we take pen to paper or hit the keyboard they’re just floaters. We have to corral them and put them in their place. That, for those of us who do this regularly or for a living, is the fun part. We’ve learned to look forward to seeing where we’re going to go this time. We don’t know until we start, and we wouldn’t start, especially with creative writing, if we didn’t think we would relish what’s ahead.
For new writers this makes no sense. They think any writing is a chore. A challenge. They go into it thinking they must get it right the first time or they’ve failed. They hover over every word, every sentence, every paragraph, and can’t go on to the next until the one in front of them is perfect. They’ve set themselves up for failure, and failure it will be.
We seasoned writers tell them to relax and wait for the magic to happen, but there’s a problem with that, too. If we let them think of the process as magical, they’ll never get over waiting for the magic. It’ll stop them in their tracks, that waiting, and they can’t afford to do that. Because as writers they’ve signed on to write.
What we try to get through to new writers, but often can’t, is that after they’ve done this thing long enough they’ll stop worrying about having to make decisions and will make them almost without thinking. It becomes instinctual. Something happens to our brains as we work at becoming writers. When we sit down at our writing devices our brains catch on and move into action. That very act, getting ready to write, sends the signal to get to work and our brains pick up because we’ve trained our brains to do that.
Not that we planned it that way; it’s what happens if we’ve been at it long enough.
It’s like typing on a keyboard. It seems impossible when we’re first learning but over time we can type on that keyboard while looking up at another person and carrying on a conversation, almost as if…okay, by magic. (I freaked out my nephew by doing just that years ago and he still hasn’t gotten over it, though he’s of an age where he’s collecting Social Security now.)
The secret is in waiting for instinct to kick in. The time devoted to learning how to do it isn’t time wasted, it’s the essential part of progress. Writing and failing, writing and succeeding—it’s all part of the journey. Whenever we’re writing we’re advancing, even when it doesn’t feel right. Knowing it doesn’t feel right is actually success. We can’t fix it if we don’t know something is wrong.
Failure is often our teaching moment. Failure tells us there’s a better way to do it, and time provides the space to explore. With each earned success instinct moves in. Our brains have learned to grab the keys to our past successes and hold them until we need them the next time.
It feels like magic but it doesn’t come from outside, it comes from within. We build this routine ourselves when we dedicate enough time to it. Every good writer runs on instinct. It’s why they can’t explain how or why they do it. Once instinct kicks in it’s a silent partnership. It’s teamwork. It feels right. It feels good.
Pass it on.
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