Inspiration and SuperGeekess
There’s a queer sensation I get when about to write something that someone else will be reading - even if the probability of my words touching the retinas of another human being is far less than that of George Lucas creating a summer blockbuster about Jar Jar Binks - I draw up a blank. I don’t know what to write. It’s like eating soup with chopsticks.
So, picking up on an exercise I once read, whereby, instead of staring at you monitor wondering why the BBC hasn’t updated its RSS feed in the last five seconds, you describe the torment of your writer’s block and hope to uncover a terrific idea or unleash a flow of something legible and interesting. The theory is that through simply initiating the process you are “warming up” your writing muscles in preparation for exercise. (Actually I prefer the Hemingway method whereby you lubricate your brain cells to a level sufficient for creative output).
Alas for me, it just makes me want to shovel out nonsense in the hope that I may avoid articulating an opinion, or forming an argument about something that arrested my interest ten minutes ago but which has now become as interesting as the Wall Street Journal is to a blind dog with no anus (just in case the dog in fact could read or wanted to shit on the paper, circumstances in which it could be argued that dogs might find the WSJ interesting), or fly shit is to just about everyone. That being said, I do admire those who can so deftly compose a rounded essay on a topic with engaging facts and just enough humour to raise an eyebrow or piss oneself hysterically, depending on the location of the reader. Hundreds of said articles are written every day. Can you find one? It’s a great waste of company time.
How do they do it I wonder? “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working” - some mildly famous painter once said. So I decided to draw a picture of SuperGeekess in black biro. Still waiting…
February 6th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
I heard an interesting inspiration method one time, it was actually intended for poetry but I think it works for any kind of writing.
Think about something you remember, especially if you have strong memories/feelings about it. Then write down things about it that you remember, starting each line with “I remember…”. Then at the end erase all the “I remembers”.
So…
I remember sitting at the farm watching the rain
I remember my life in boxes and a long highway ahead
I remember feeling excitement and terror
I remember many hours of the engine’s hum
I remember reaching the outskirts of Sydney in darkness
I remember when we moved our lives
Then you change it to…
sitting at the farm watching the rain
my life in boxes and a long highway ahead
feeling excitement and terror
many hours of the engine’s hum
reaching the outskirts of Sydney in darkness
when we moved our lives
[a few lines really need to be adjusted after removing the "I remember", but you get the idea]
…and writing it has stirred up a lot of memories. If I wasn’t at work I could probably go and write a whole blog post now
February 7th, 2008 at 2:13 am
nice technique, ben. if only i hadn’t done so many things that helped me to forget!
Then again, I could say.. I forget my daily walks to the beach, I forget my brown leather sandles…