Imagination and Being Stuck--New Brain Facts for Writers

The topic of creativity and brain science has exploded in the past few years.  There was Daniel Pink's amazing book, A Whole New Mind, which explored how we're becoming more right-brain able and how it's causing creativity to blossom in our culture.  This week I've been reading another wonderful new book--Imagine by Jonah Lehrer.  Lehrer brought us Proust Was a Neuroscientist, an easy-to-understand exploration of senses and how we access them as creative artists.

The opening section of Imagine talks about Bob Dylan.  How Dylan was on tour in the early stages of his career and hated it so much, he told his fans he was giving up music.  He felt his songs were meaningless, that they no longer thrilled him in any way.  He didn't like who he had become.

He ended the tour and got on his motorcycle, and he rode to his cabin in Woodstock, New York, intending to hole up and do something completely unrelated to writing songs.

One day, Lehrer recounts, Dylan felt a sort of buzz inside, the first tingles of imagination stirring again, new ideas coming through.  Because he wasn't trying, because he'd given up the "right way" to write songs, the lyrics and melody of "Like a Rolling Stone" began pouring through.  You may know that this particular song changed the face of rock 'n' roll;even Bruce Springsteen and John Lennon were influenced by it.  It broke all the rules back then, and introduced us to a new era.

Why did it happen?  Because Dylan got stuck. Because he got sick and tired of how he was doing things and decided to stop.  Lehrer says Dylan's imagination was then free to engage in a completely new way.  This seems to be a key component of breakthroughs, creatively.

We need to get stuck, first, Lehrer proposes.  Before the imagination can take new pathways, we may need to really feel we're going nowhere. 

Julia Cameron also talks a lot about this, in her well-loved guide to creativity, The Artist's Way.  As I understand it, Cameron originally wrote it for creative artists who were stuck, who were not doing their art anymore.  The idea was to actually acknowledge the stuckness, to almost embrace it (morning pages), then begin to give yourself creative alternatives.  Try new things, let go of how we "should" be doing it.  Only then can the imagination stir, buzz inside us, give us those ideas that might lead to a breakthrough.  Cameron very gently assigned readers a weekly artist date:  to spend an hour exploring something completely unknown.

I teach online book-writing classes and week-long book-writing retreats.  In both of these courses, there's the keen possibility of getting stuck.  I watch many writers reach this place, and although they despair, I am quietly celebrating.  It doesn't mean I am a nasty person who likes to watch people suffer.  I just delight in the knowledge that this "stuck" writer is about to breakthrough to a new level, because I deeply believe that getting stuck--even for an hour--is a prerequisite to that letting go that allows the breakthrough to happen.

It's obvious that many writers give up when they are stuck, rather than exploring how to fill up the creative well, as Cameron recommends.  The Inner Critic gets excited, shuts the creative gate, and that's that for the book project sometimes.  I hope more writers allow their support networks to coach them through this stage, past the discomfort, and encourage them to explore something new.

Remember this formula is exactly how the imagination gets sparked.  Odd, isn't it?  Creativity is only partly the ability to be disciplined and responsible to the Muse, to sit ourselves in the chair and write.  It's also about keeping the imagination ever seeking the new and different to spark from.

Interesting that brain studies are finding out the same thing:  the brain doesn't court imaginative breakthroughs as often if it's plodding down the same road, taking things in sequence.  Discipline is great, but it alone won't make you a great writer. 

So the point is to let yourself daydream, go out of focus.  How do you incorporate this kind of activity into your writing life, especially when you are working hard on a book project?

Your Weekly Writing Exercise
1.  This week, put aside your project and go exploring.  Do something completely unrelated and allow yourself to become saturated by color, image, sounds, smells.  Spring is a great time for this--in our neck of the woods, the lilacs are in full bloom and the air is scented with heaven.  Go outside, barefoot if possible, and repair your nature deficient. 

2.  Get a copy of Lehrer's book, Imagine, and enjoy learning more about the brain and creativity.

Making Lists: A Way to Find Land When You Feel out to Sea with Your Manuscript

Many writers in my online book-writing classes get to the point where living with their manuscript is like living with a chaotic child.  

There are pages and pages, all over the place.  A storyboard keeps the overview, to some extent, but as the editing and revision get on, the book gets overwhelming.  It's hard to keep track of where you are, because the landmarks are all changing so fast.

This happened to me lately too.  I'm in revision with my next novel, and my wonderful writing group gave me some big suggestions this week.  Core changes for one of the main characters.  A lightening up of the downslide--"give them some good times too."  Maybe even a setting changed or gotten rid of.  Whew!  I really agreed with them--good suggestions like these help you see how to take your book to the next step.  But over the following days, I found myself avoiding anything to do with writing.  It all just seemed too much.

How to Get Out of the Overwhelm

At the same time, a writer from Texas wrote me about this very dilemma:

"I've been struggling for the last couple of months to get traction," she said, "because so much of my book is changing and I'm becoming overwhelmed quickly. It's hard to know where to start, and then when I do start and hit a bump, hard to keep going. It feels like a maze.
 

"One thing that is not helping is that I have notes and bits and pieces everywhere, and inspirations that I've written down are being lost. So I know I need to do something about that. When I start to pull them together, I tend to go wandering again... I know it's a personal thing but just wondered if you had any tips on systems. Actually, I know this is in your book (Your Book Starts Here), Mary. I'll go back to it this morning. :)
 

"I was also thinking about not knowing when paths are blind alleys or dead ends. Once you've done enough writing on your project to know that they exist, and you have all those little darlings hanging out to dry and cure, the Inner Critic has something solid to hook his claws into, that this next path you're on could be another dead end.

"Do you have any thoughts and tips on organizing things with where you are with your story?What approaches are you using? A to-do list?"

Yes.  That's exactly where I am headed.  Lists are lifesavers at the overwhelm stage of revision.

Three Kinds of Lists

I make three kinds of lists during this stage.  Some have been ongoing since the earlier drafts and some are new.  Each acts as a mini-map out of the maze of pages.  Each helps me orient and find that precious overview again.

They are:

1.  Questions List

2.  Location List

3.  Character List  (River of Life)

Questions List

First and most important is the Questions List.  This revision-stage list is basically a to-do list but made up of questions.  I find that tasks are well and good, but I can get equally overwhelmed by another list of tasks.  So I trick myself into a sense of exploring and creativity by turning the to-do's into questions.

I get a pad of paper and all the feedback and ideas I've accumulated thus far (printing them out is very helpful).  I don't refer to the manuscript during this exercise--it'll just bring back the overwhelm.  On the top of the pad, I write "Questions List."  I begin with anything I've been mulling about, based on feedback or my own ideas.  I list these as questions.

For instance, rather than "give Mel a fun scene in Act 2" I would rework this as "What could Mel do in Act 2 that would be fun for him?"  Questions get the creative brain juiced up and working.  To-do's make us feel burdened with tasks--and tasks are driven by discipline, which is part of the overwhelm (we're tired!!).

Once I have my Questions List started, I stop writing, get up, and do something completely unrelated to my book or my writing for an hour or so--fill the creative well.  The goal is to distract the linear self and allow the right brain to engage and the creative self to get cooking.  Tasks that help might include paging through a magazine and tearing out photos for collage, meditation or yoga, gardening, making food, reading a book in your book's genre, listening to music, taking a walk.  Gradually, as you disengage from the pressure, the ideas will start flowing.  I find that sometimes I'll get a new map, a sudden idea, a solution to a problem. 

If there's a desire to keep writing, then do it via a mind-map or cluster technique--where the question is put in the center of a blank sheet of paper in a circle and spokes come off of it with related ideas.

Location List

The second list that helps me during this stage is the Location List.  This exercise requires the manuscript.  I write down EVERY location in the book.  Every single one.  Usually this exercise takes only an hour or so--skimming the manuscript is pretty fast--and I come up with an astonishing list of all the places where I expect my readers to follow the story.  Here the kicker:  I try to reduce this to seven locations.  Even fewer is better.  Locations that are meaningful are like characters or people in a book--we can only get to know a certain number.

So I circle the ones that are most important to me/the story.  What can I eliminate?  What might deliver the same meaning as another location and be less redundant?  Getting rid of excess locations is like closet cleaning--it makes the story simpler and less overwhelming.  It brings air and light into the stuffy places. I've found this exercise very effective in helping me move ahead.

Character List (River of Life)

The final list is the Character List.  It's also called the River of Life.  You can use this for any key players in your book--no matter the genre.

Take a pad of paper and write the name of each main player in your book, allowing one sheet of paper per character.  Include yourself, if you are writing a memoir.  Begin listing the main events for that person, which are in your book or will be.  Write as quickly as you can.  Try to get 25 events for each person--this is an indicator that they are developed in your mind and preferably on the page.

When you run out of ideas, go to the next page and the next player.

Read your lists and highlight or underline the five most important events for each person.  Next to the event, write down how it changed the person.  What did they do or think or feel or believe differently because of that event?  Again, this is a way to check the relevance of your events--if the character didn't experience growth, then there's a good chance the event is not outwardly dramatic enough to feature in your book.

See if you have at least five events that are pivots for each character.  If you don't have enough, it points to why you may be overwhelmed--there are not enough "turning points" in this character's River of Life to build a book out of.  If you have a lot more than five, it also points to overwhelm--there's too much happening and not enough time in the book to process the changes.

Finally, if you wish, draw a river on a piece of paper (I have these as charts in my writing room--I use them for the entire book journey).  Place each player's key events on the river.  Note where they are in relation to each other.  This can help you with weaving multiple timelines and people's stories.

This Week's Writing Exercise

1.  Pick one of the three lists and try it.

2.  Post your questions and results here--or share them with your writing friends.

3.  If you're interested in working with these kinds of organization techniques with me, online, my next class for book structuring begins the week of May 14.  Check it out here.