two sides of wrting

winter aspens

summer canopy

 

There are two basic phases of writing. And they are both essential. The creative phase and the critical phase.  A writer alternates between the two. Both phases are necessary, and they are also mutually exclusive.

The creative phase is about getting words down on a page or into a computer. It may be the first draft of a work, or a re-working of a section after a critical look, or just jotting down notes. The thing about the creative effort is, it's shy. It's sensitive. It doesn't take well to criticism. And it is easily scared away. So if you want it to come out from the shadows and do its dance, you have to create the right atmosphere.

There are ways to create space for creativity to flow. Firstly never mix critiquing with writing. If you write a sentence or a paragraph and immediately critique it you’ll scare away your creativity and writing will become a torturous struggle. Do creative writing when you are doing creative writing and do critiquing when you are doing critiquing. Next whenever you have an idea write it down. It could be for a new piece, or a bit of dialogue for a current project, or insight into a character… Whatever it is write it down. Now. Don’t judge it! Just record it. If you get an idea in the middle of the night get up and write it down. If you are driving in your car, pull over and write it down. Einstein found answers to physics problems in his dreams. I know, he is a scientist, not a writer, but science and art are less different than we imagine they are. Remember Einstein said imagination is the most important thing. When you follow this practice, you are letting your creativity know that you value and welcome it.

If you do this, you will find more ideas coming at you and your creativity will flow.

When you are looking at your work with a critical eye, don’t mix creativity with it. Don’t immediately switch to re-writing. The critical eye is shy in its own way. Just note the parts that you think need improvement and keep going. When you critique your work, don’t judge it! I know that sounds contrarian but it isn’t. Don’t say to yourself this writing is terrible, lousy, cringe worthy. I’m never going to be good at it. That kind of self-talk isn’t helpful. It fact it will set you back.

Never take your own critique, or anyone else’s personally. Just look at the piece and notice what doesn’t work and needs improvement. I find the concept of a piece working or not working better than the ideas of good and bad.  And stop worrying about how good or bad a writer you are.  Judging your own writing ability is unnecessary. Just focus on the piece and if it needs improvement or not. If you do this your critiquing will be easier, more fun (yes, it can be fun), more productive and it will help your creativity also.

Common advice to writers is, put your work away for a while before looking at it critically. You need some distance to see it in a new light. And you do.  And you do before every re-critique. The thing about critiquing is if you look at the same paragraph continually, over and over again, you will become bewildered and confused. You need that fresh point of view. When looking at your work go straight through it noting your first impressions and marking what needs improvement. Don’t ponder and second guess your impressions. If it is a long piece, you may have to split it up into several sittings to look it all over. For each sitting don’t go back and re-critique what you just did, move on to the next section.

The thing about both these phases is that they need time for the work settle. You might think I am going to write a first draft in this or that amount of time and charge right through it no matter what. Not a good idea. The thing about writing is, it’s mentally exhausting and is most fun and most productive done in spurts with time away from it. Your brain needs time to assimilate your work and process it in ways that at present we really know nothing about.

Many writers work on more than one project at a time. In this way one project has time to settle while the writer works on another.

Another funny thing about critiquing is it’s never really done. If you do it without being personally judgmental, just focusing on the piece, you will find things you want to change every time you look at your work. There is a story about Picasso: he used to see his work hanging on someone’s wall and want to go over to it with a brush and paint and change things. You know your critiquing is on the right track when finding things to change is not depressing it’s exciting.

There is an idea that in writing there is the perfect word, the perfect sentence, the perfect paragraph, etc. And that great writers are the ones who can produce these perfect creations where no other combination of words will be as stellar. I don’t think so. There are infinite ways to write any piece of equally wonderful text. And there are infinite numbers of opinions on every piece of text and they are all valid. So as a writer just write what pleases you. And when is it perfect? Never. And when do you stop changing it? Whenever.

Now that I have laid out one process for writing I will tell you something. Everyone needs to invent their own personal process for writing and only you can discover what your process is.

This is what I tell myself: use less words.