Letting your subconscious write for you.

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Exir

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I've stumbled across a technique that seems to work quite well for me during the first draft. Basically, while I'm writing the first draft, I make myself focus on very mundane details, like sticking the dialogue tags before the quotation instead of after it, Or capitalising Every other Word, or ending sentences with commas instead of periods -- anything to divert the attention of my inner editor. I find that a useful technique, as I have diverted my analytical inner editor to focus on irrelevant details. It's a way to get rid of your inner editor -- instead of turning it off, give it something to do. ;)
 

truelyana

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Thanks for sharing, that always works for me, though it's not a mere technique it's more of a free flowing waterfall. Nice to see you have found something that works for you. :)
 

Cybernaught

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Good suggestion, I think I'll try that. Sure beats what I normally do: Begin with a sentence along the lines of, "This story is going to fail. You are going to fail as a writer. What makes you think that this piece of trash is even worth the keystrokes? You should stop writing now. Consider a new hobby, maybe snorkeling or bug collecting? ANYTHING but writing. If Sophocles were alive right now and he read this garbage he'd probably murder his own father, marry his mother, then rip his eyes out."

That's the point when I tell my inner editor that his first sentence doesn't offer much incentive to keep reading.

But I like your idea much better, it's healthier for my self-esteem.
 
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tehuti88

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Well, I think my unconscious (I'm a Jungian, so that's what I call the subconscious :D ) already does most of the writing work for me--such as the time that an unplanned event around Chapter 90 led to a problem solution about a hundred chapters later--I don't plot my entire stories out ahead of time, but things seem to fall into place. I just seem to look ahead far enough to make sure there are no cars barrelling at me around the curve, though I have no clue what the view will look like once I drive around it myself. Somewhere, my unconscious seems to know, but I myself don't find out until I get there (by writing it down on the page).

Seeing as getting correct punctuation and capitalization and such is just second nature to me--an unconscious process--I'd find the technique here to be terribly distracting. I don't want to turn off my inner editor because with this stuff coming up from my unconscious, somebody has to be on hand to type it out properly and fix the little details. In short, I see it as more of a team effort, rather than the unconscious or the inner editor getting the upper hand and making writing impossible. Plus, it would leave a mound of stuff for me to edit later, which would just be terribly tedious. My inner critic perpetually nags at me but for me it's more of a general self-confidence issue than a writing issue, and it hasn't stopped me from writing so far.

BUT, that is just me. I can easily see how the technique can help somebody whose inner editor isn't willing to be cooperative the first time around. Some people really do need to give themselves permission to be messy in order to get something done, so best of luck, I hope it helps. :) I mainly replied as I liked the comment about letting the sub/unconscious write for you when that's already what mine is doing. :D
 

basilsands

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My stories usually begin with an image in my mind that I have no idea where it came from.

Karl's Last Flight: 40 something guy with a grey flatop wearing blue coveralls kneeling in the dessert, sweat dripping from his nose.

65 Below: Pair of brown Carhartts coveralls hanging on a peg next to a wood stove in a log cabin

Faithful Warrior: A preacher in the pulpit, I see the thought in his mind...he's thinking regretfully about a gun and sees a dark shadow

These all came as images in my mind while I was in the middle of doing something else. The stories themselves, my subconcious just let them roll out on their own. When I sat down to write the drafts, it was as if I watched it unfold in a movie in my head. I did not outline anything or create layouts or characters, they all just appeared on the screen in front of me in the form of words my fingers somehow typed.

Until the draft is done, there is very little thought that goes into the creation. It just happens. Then the hard work starts, the part I really dread...fixing all the typos and grammar errors that occur by letting my muse do all the story telling. She's a terrible typist.
 

mysterygrl

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Good suggestion, I think I'll try that. Sure beats what I normally do: Begin with a sentence along the lines of, "This story is going to fail. You are going to fail as a writer. What makes you think that this piece of trash is even worth the keystrokes? You should stop writing now. Consider a new hobby, maybe snorkeling or bug collecting? ANYTHING but writing. If Sophocles were alive right now and he read this garbage he'd probably murder his own father, marry his mother, then rip his eyes out.".

Our internal editors must be twins separated at birth.
 
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