Don't be talkin' about your subconscious like you know it!

In my last post, I talked about how you can be too conscious as a writer--how over-consciousness can almost be deconstructive. From my own experience, the best writing comes when you're in a state-of-mind where you are hardly even thinking about what you're saying. I like to think about this as the unconscious stage.

The unconscious stage is a state of hyper focus in which you create brilliant words with little evidence of understanding the process. You can't think in this mode. Only write. Trust that your subconscious brain knows what it's doing, because it just might.

After writing something in this stage, you may even be incapable of explaining or discussing what you wrote with anyone else. If you try to, you could end up sounding like you weren't the one who wrote the piece. You could completely ruin the story for your readers.


Here is an example scenario of this:

Unconscious Writer: This story is about a jockey and a horse.

Someone: Yes. The intimate relationship between man and beast.

Someone else: Yes, yes. A man's spiritual merger with a horse.

Someone: I cried when they finally became a centaur.

Someone else: Me too! A centaur, but with a horse's head and human body. An inverted centaur...

Unconscious Writer: Actually, the story is more straightforward than that. I wrote this story because I was watching a horse race and began to feel bad for horses. We always ride them but never let them ride us. Why don't humans ever wear the saddle?

Someone: So the story is about a jockey literally wearing a saddle?

Unconscious Writer: Yeah. The man and the horse don't merge. The horse hurts his leg in the middle of the race and so the jockey puts the saddle on and carries him to the finish line.

Someone else: Really? I thought it was so much deeper than that.

Someone: Horses can weigh like thousands of pounds. Jockeys weigh like a 100 pounds. This story is not plausible at all.

Unconscious Writer: Um... I realize that... and that's why they have to merge into a centaur to finish the race!



Do not make the mistake of trying to understand your story or the even bigger mistake of trying to explain it to others.

When you produce something in the unconscious stage, you really aren't the author. Subconscious forces that only Freud could understand wrote your words. It's psychology. It's science. It's unconscious. It's Freud. Maybe he wrote it.  It doesn't matter. All that does matter is that you must avoid trying to explain what you write to anyone. The text only exists in the mind of the reader, so let them figure out/fabricate the true meaning of your story.

OMG don't you ever shut up, consciousness?

Out of all the activities humans perform, writing seems to be one of the most conscious. You're not born with the ability to write. You must learn it. And once you learn how, it's still not something you can do well without a whole bunch of practice and thinking and stuff. You have to develop a conscious sense of awareness of what good writing should look and sound like before you're capable of producing it.

"The mind is a great servant but a terrible master." This is quote I remember reading somewhere at some time. Over-thinking is often our biggest enemy. Once you develop a certain level of consciousness required for proficient writing, you must then develop the ability to ignore this consciousness at times.

This consciousness can be like asking your roommate for a little bit of honest criticism and your roommate taking it a little too far:

You: Dude, like, my girlfriend says I'm too careless about the little things. Do you think that's true?

Your Roommate: Yeah, I can see that.You always forget to lock the door when you leave. You routinely leave crumbs all over the kitchen and I'm always the one cleaning them up. You never put the toothpaste cap back on the bottle and then toothpaste gets all over the sink yet somehow you never even notice.  Hey! Hello?! There's a huge white blob all over the sink. My God. Is there a bird living in here and crapping on our sink? No. It's toothpaste that leaked out from when you refuse to put the cap back on literally every single day. It's so irritating. Not only are you careless about little things, you're also extremely inconsiderate of people around you. In fact, you're the most ego-centric person I know.

Criticism taken to this extreme is far more debilitating than constructive. So, as a writer, once your conscious reaches this point, you must learn to quiet it. You must learn to put some metaphorical earplugs in and focus on writing, otherwise you'll never get anywhere.

Some of the best work comes in moments in which you are not consciously thinking about what you're doing. You're just doing. I like to think of this as writing subconsciously.You must trust that your subconscious knows what it is doing.

I plan to further discuss the concept of channeling your subconscious in more detail next week's blog post. LATER HOMIES.

(P.S. My conscious mind wants me to take the opportunity to explain how unprofessional it was to end my post with the phrase "LATER HOMIES." It apologizes for the primitive nature of my subconscious.)

Paint

Overcoming writer's block tip #3,500,000.7:

1. Open up the "paint" application on your computer or other electronic device.
2. Immediately start drawing something. Don't think about it. Randomly change colors whenever you wish, but just keep drawing. And don't touch erase button. Stop whenever you feel like it.

This is what I ended up with. It's not pretty, but the next step will demonstrate what I can do with it.
 

3.Analyze your drawing. Pretend like it's some fantastic work of art that expresses the true fabric of human existence. It helps if you think in a British accent during this process.

It appears to be a young man. He has red hair. Maybe he is Irish? Which might mean his name is Patrick. His hair is also very messy. This is because he is a free spirit who chooses not to conform to combs. "A comb would not make me the man I want to be" he probably tells people.


He has several arms. This is because he has too much to do and not enough hands to do it. He is a poor multi-tasker, yet he is always putting himself in situations which require him to do so. He never seems to learn.


The inside of his mouth is green. Because he is a vegetarian? Maybe. But really, it's because he's hungry. Hungry for money. He has given up on sentimental ideals and is only concerned with getting rich.


His shirt is purple. Purple means royal. No, he's not a king. But he is somewhat of an elitist. He thinks he's better than most. He believes his ambition sets him apart from those around him.Those who are too simple-minded and happy with simple lives.


His shoes are blue. Blue like the ocean. His feet are going to take him across uncharted waters. Though he may not be prepared for what lies outside of his hometown, he wants to see the world and will not rest until he does.


Patrick is someone I could write a story about. Before opening up "paint" my mind was almost blank. Now I at least have a rough sketch of a character I could include in a story. So my suggestion is to try this and see what you come up with.

Chronic Brain Reluctance: It's Society's Fault, But YOUR Problem.

In last week's post, I mentioned my chronic reluctance to write. My reluctance often stems from a feeling I tend to experience about halfway through each semester. My brain is like "Nooo... don't do this to me anymore!" I try to convince it that I have no choice because I'm paying lots of present and future dollars to do this so I can eventually receive a piece of paper that will help me prove to future employers that I am worthy of receiving some of their dollars (many of which will help me finishing paying for that same piece of paper). Yet, somehow my brain still remains unconvinced. In this case, I must attempt to trick it into functioning using the following methods.

5 Easy Steps for Overcoming Writing Reluctance:

1. Drink too much coffee.  Psychology says your brain needs stimuli in order to function. When your environment is lacking necessary stimuli, you must find a way to stimulate your brain intrinsically. I recommend drinking several cups of coffee. How many cups exactly? As many as it takes to reach that euphoric state of mind where your level of happiness is comparable to how you feel when you are playing with puppies.

2. Play with puppies. If the coffee isn't enough, you might want to try actually playing with puppies. Don't forget to grit your teeth as you pet these small animals. And use lots of baby talk, as it's easier for them to comprehend.

3. Appreciate nature. Humans like to pretend that they aren't part of nature, so get away from them and from their concrete establishments and go out into nature. Breathe the fresh air. Yes. Ahhh. Nice. If possible, combine this step with step number 2. Puppies and fresh air are sure to help you overcome that reluctance to start writing.

4.Put yourself in a life or death situation.This one transitions nicely from the last. Let's say you're out in nature, playing with puppies, and an angry pack of hyenas confronts you. They have that look in their eyes--the one that says that they're hungry for both you and the puppies. Fight or flight? Fight or flight?! The answer is write. I can't tell you the proper way to avoid death, but if you do survive, you will at least have something to write about.

5. Read a post from a favorite blog or section from a chapter of your favorite book or a favorite poem or something. So you've got a nice coffee/puppy/nature/fear-of-death adrenaline rush going. You're pretty much capable of accomplishing anything at this point. However, for the purpose of this blog, your goal is to write. To help center your energy on writing, read some of your favorite words that have already been written. A few minutes of reading one of my favorite works helps me to remember why I aspire to write in the first place. I want to try to make other people feel the way I feel when I read some of my favorite works.


Any combination of these five steps should help you trick your brain into functioning just enough to do things that it does not want to do. If it does not, you might want try repeating the process over again, but this time substitute the puppies with kittens.

Graphophobia - Fear of writing?

I like to write. I like it. I would say I love it, but then I would have to mention the fact that I sometimes hate it. So I say I like it because my love/hate feelings probably average out into like. Also, I avoid the using the term love because it can be misleading. I'm often reluctant to write.  If I truly loved writing, then you would think I would write more. Uuuugh. I wish I could figure out the cause of my reluctance.

Is it a fear of commitment? Am I afraid to commit to one particular style or genre of writing? I go to write poetry but then I'm like "I ain't no poet!" I go to write fiction and I'm like "I ain't no story teller!" I go to write a blog and I'm like "I ain't no geek!" I go to write a research paper and I'm like "I ain't no scholar!" So instead of writing anything, I stare at the wall for five hours instead.

If I absolutely had to pick one though, just one, it would be fiction.

I'm often too ambivalent in my opinions and beliefs and conclusions, so academic/research-based writing is far too dreadful of a process. Fiction, on the other hand, seems to allow more room for ambivalence and ambiguity and probably some other smart-sounding a-words. You just tell a story. It doesn't necessarily have to be told in chronological order, or any specific format. It doesn't even have to have a clear message. As long as you are able to keep the reader interested your words, they'll often find their own messages and values in them.

Not that writing fiction is easy by any means. It just seems to provide lots of room for flexibility and experimentation, something I need to keep me interested in what I'm writing. This is my current rationale for trying to convince myself to take my relationship with fiction to the next level. If anyone objects, please say so now.

Some Letters Recycled into a Blog Post

Here's an inspiration killer: Every thing worth writing has already been written. There are so many books out there, so many words in so many books, so many ideas in so many books -- a lot of repetition and redundancy. Every word I write, I get the sense that I’m stealing from words that have already been written. 

This is because every word has already been written. Every word I’m using in this sentence has been used before. Nothing is entirely original. CREATIVITY IS A MYTH!!!  No wait... I’m lying. 

Here’s the uplifting turn in my melancholic blog post: Originality lies in the creative arrangement of things that already exist. It makes me happy to think about the fact that no one has ever written the exact combination of words found in this blog post. Just to guarantee my previous statement is true: Watermelon. Anaconda. Four Seven Six Nine Nine. Morgan Freeman floating in a purple tornado.

 

According to a rule some shaggy-haired guy named Albert made up, everything that exists in this universe is made of matter that has existed since the universe itself began existing, or something rather. This means a carbon atom in my left arm could have once been a part of a real live dinosaur. Who knows. 

Sure all of my atoms are hand-me-downs, but that don't mean I ain't original!

Trust me, I love music more than anyone else.

I LOVE MUSIC! I love it more than anyone else does! IT IS MY LIFE!! MINE!!!!.... Of course, I'm exaggerating. 

I don't want to claim ownership of music. I just like it. I like to listen to it. I like the different moods and vibes it puts in my brain. I like when the lyrics are somewhat poetic. I like how it allows my brain to take these moods and vibes and lyrics and create a story in my head. 

I often struggle to find the energy to write things when I need to write things. When this is the case, I use music as a tool for channeling this required energy, as I'm sure many of you do. It definitely helps. 

Here's an idea for taking this one step further, particularly for when you may be having trouble thinking of something to write about:  Listen to one of your favorite songs--preferably one that tells an intriguing story. Then try writing a story that captures the essence of that song. You can even use specific details from the song to establish the setting of your story. 

I'm going to try this and see what happens. Ideally, I'm hoping to at least develop a starting point for a story that will eventually become its own original entity. (As in, it won't just appear to be a rip off of a popular song.)