Did you have a "chemical reaction" to your inspiration for your WIP?

My best ideas form slowly, often over a period of months or even years while I work on other things.

I left the chemical reactions behind when I stopped doing drugs, lol.

There are various substances, in liquid or solid form, that will do the trick. Doesn't Professor Snape have an entire cabinet full of such stuff?

caw

YES. This happened to me when I got the idea for Fey Touched. It was amazing. And the book basically wrote itself, the fastest I ever wrote anything, in 4 months.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I feel a surge of joy when I get book idea that's right (Old English Capitals) Chemical or not, who knows?

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

One of my other online writing groups calls these the 'white fire moments', when everything clicks and the writing is almost a race between fingers and brain. You're in deep focus, totally intent on the work, and eight hours can go by in a blink. It seems rare to folks who haven't experienced it, but it can become a trained reaction.

It is a very physical sensation. I'd describe it as an adrenaline rush mixed with extremely powerful endorphin reactions. The first time it happened to me I was a much younger writer, and made the mistake of bolting from the computer. I spent the day in a giddy haze, fantasizing about World Fantasy Awards and other nonsense. It faded, and I couldn't figure out why my writing seemed flat and dull later, more work than play.

The next time, I decided to associate the reward with the work, not my idealized version of it. I needed to *play* again. So I kept writing, using the euphoria as positive reinforcement. Oddly enough, by remembering the sensation I'm usually able to trigger it again to help break me out of writing funks. Not always, because nothing is 100% effective, but it helps.

I wrote most of my debut novel in two months, buoyed by my sheer joy of seeing 'what happened next'.

Filigree said:

One of my other online writing groups calls these the 'white fire moments', when everything clicks and the writing is almost a race between fingers and brain. You're in deep focus, totally intent on the work, and eight hours can go by in a blink. It seems rare to folks who haven't experienced it, but it can become a trained reaction.

It is a very physical sensation. I'd describe it as an adrenaline rush mixed with extremely powerful endorphin reactions. The first time it happened to me I was a much younger writer, and made the mistake of bolting from the computer. I spent the day in a giddy haze, fantasizing about World Fantasy Awards and other nonsense. It faded, and I couldn't figure out why my writing seemed flat and dull later, more work than play.

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All of the above. I get a little manic, and silly which makes it hard to focus and sit. I never thought you could train this reaction. A useful tidbit I shall hide away.

I think so. Something like it, definitely. I was really excited about the plot and theme and it just continued to excite me. I wrote what I would want to read so for me that made the difference.

If we want to get into it, technically you have a ''chemical reaction'' to everything...

I woke up one morning knowing a novel and wrote it, start to finish, in three weeks. Is mania a chemical reaction?

Wow. I get a major head rush and smell something akin to ammonia - more the almost electric feel when you smell ammonia.

*wonders if there are drug fairies tinkering in her kitchen*

kkbe said:

Is mania a chemical reaction?

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Erm, yeah, I get manic, too. And yes, it is chemical. ^_^ But usually, the more excited (i.e. manic) I am about something, the more epic the fail. So I'm pretty excited right now that I'm not jumping through the roof with manic-like adrenaline for my new story. I must finally be onto something. I feel calm. And happy. And patient.

I don't think I could commit to an idea that didn't fire me up in someway. It's what keeps you going when writing is like truding through porridge.

I like that term 'white fire' too.

With the novel I wrote last year, I felt nothing. The plot was very deliberately constructed, the characters were forced into their bodies and the setting was basically just the prettiest one I could find. And it was total crap.

With my current WIP, I felt the kind of adrenalin rush of which Rowling speaks. I had no time to write, so I was letting the idea bang around in my head in the meantime, and the "right" story came to me in a flash while I was driving. I still have no time to write, but I'm confident in my idea and loving outlining it.

You have to feel the rush. But you can sometimes coax yourself into it, even if just as an enjoyable challenge.

In my other life as a commercial artist, I'm often asked to create pieces of art that don't do *anything* for me. I remind myself that a client loved this enough to commission it, so for the duration of the project I find ways to accept it on its own merits and do the best job I can.

Writing is a lot more personal, though. I have at least 8 trunked projects that just didn't spark with me. Maybe that will change at some point, and I can charge gleefully into them.

So it's not acid flashback?

Goldenleaves said:

So it's not acid flashback?

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Well now, I don't think anyone is saying that

I felt that (a lot) but I usually don't write during it. I build the story in my head and let it sit there for a while before putting the fingers on the keyboard, because I know my objectivity towards the story goes out of the window during the "white fire" and I need my head on place to think it through.

In fact, the ideas I have during the fire are usually completely twisted until barely recognizable later. But I always come up with nice stories and plot lines (or so I think ). I don't think feeling the fire is important whether a story is good or not. For me, the story is good when is worth sticking to it when things are hard or not going smoothly enough.

Filigree said:

In my other life as a commercial artist, I'm often asked to create pieces of art that don't do *anything* for me. I remind myself that a client loved this enough to commission it, so for the duration of the project I find ways to accept it on its own merits and do the best job I can.

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This.

It really puts things in perspective. I've had to train my creativity to push buttons like a monkey. It's a very different feeling when the monkey tears off its little monkey shirt and transforms into an 800-pound gorilla and starts pounding the keys.

I find that when I really find a good idea, I get that rush of adrenalin. It ebbs and flows as I'm writing, which is only natural. But even if I think I have a good idea, if that rush doesn't come at some point before starting the writing, it's probably going to be a waste of time.

I like it when it happens (white fire moment works for me!) but I don't depend on it striking to get any writing done.

I do like the rush when it hits, though.

Ideas never work, and there really are no good or bad ideas. If the idea mattered, there would be a thriving, lucrative market for selling ideas. Being a writer who can take any idea and turn it into a well-written novel with great characters is what works.

Jamesaritchie said:

Ideas never work, and there really are no good or bad ideas. If the idea mattered, there would be a thriving, lucrative market for selling ideas. Being a writer who can take any idea and turn it into a well-written novel with great characters is what works.

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I'm not sure if I agree with that or not. I think a writer can take an idea they don't like, have no real interest in, or perhaps even hate, and write an adequate novel - but unless it's an idea they really want to develop, that causes that excitement, at least initially, they aren't going to put their all into it. And so you can end up with a 'well-written' novel, but not necessarily a 'great' or even 'good' novel. Kinda like writing assigned stories for a creative writing class - you can do the assignments well enough; they just bore you to tears and end up adequate, but not outstanding.

But I'll have to think about your statement for a while...