On Writing Motivation
Filed Under: SF Business, Writing Advice, creativity
Quaero_verum asks:
You’ve probably already written about 1,000 posts on it already, but motivation is my sore spot at the moment. As in, “sit thy butt down and just write!”
Also, when I do write, I sit and stare at the blank white screen for a lonnnng time. I am finding it hard to even churn out “free-writes”….
My advice to you is simple. Don’t force it. If you’re going through a period of low motivation, you may need to recharge your creative batteries. This is something that I’ve had to learn the hard way.
Creative energy is a very poorly understood topic in my experience. Some manage it very well and are able to be consistently, highly productive. See Jay Lake write a novel in a handful of weeks. Others struggle for a decade. The product isn’t necessarily better in either case.
It’s very important to give your self opportunity to write. But if you don’t write, it’s not necessarily because you’re lazy. Your energy could be low. You might not have anything to say right now. Maybe you’d rather draw, or take a photograph to express what you’re feeling. Who knows. The important thing is not to beat yourself up.
Lastly, I’d like you to go watch this presentation by Amy Tan from the TED Talks recently. She talks about how we percieve creativity, and she makes some very interesting points.
Do any of you have any further advice on the subject? I’m really curious to hear what others think about creative energy. It’s a topic that I’m only just starting to develop some theories about, especially as it pertains to my own work.
Comments
06-26-2009
It doesn’t always work, but sometimes when I’m stuck on a story I’m writing, I’ll pick up whatever book I happen to be reading and read a chapter. When I go back to write, more times than not I’ll get at least another page down.
06-26-2009
Sometimes I’ll use trigger places or objects. Once or twice a year I go for a writing walk around a cemetery near my house. Other times I’ll handle some nostalgic thing, like the bottle from when I was taking testosterone.
06-28-2009
William Gibson does something similar to Rob when he’s working on a novel, though he uses Google. As soon as he discovers something online that interests him, he adds it to his story.
06-29-2009
I feel exactly the same way, redundancy, impending financial catastrophe, no sign of work or income…..it all adds up, I don’t have a single creative thought in my head right now. People often say to me “so, you have all this free time to write…” but actually most of my free time is spent trying to get a job and when I am free the last thing I feel like doing is writing.
It’s a shame to say it, and I know it sounds like an excuse, but sometimes life just doe get in the way.
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