If you’re on this site, you probably enjoy writing. And that’s an important first step to crafting your freelance writing career. But every writer has days when writing is a struggle: the words just don’t flow, or the assignments just aren’t inspiring. When writing is your job, you don’t have the luxury of entertaining writer’s block. So how do you get the words flowing when you aren’t feeling creative? I use a three-step creative process that works well for a variety of projects. (Remarkably enough, it’s a method I first articulated in high school and that I used to churn out flowery, cliché-ridden, angsty poetry. Maybe I was onto something, even though I gave up my poetic aspirations years ago.) The three steps are content, construction, and clarity. Over the next three weeks, we will look at each step in depth.
Step One: Content
Before you can start writing, you have to assemble all your information. This may mean conducting research, or just brainstorming and getting all your thoughts down. Well-organized and thorough content often makes it surprisingly easy to flesh out your article later.
In this stage, write whatever comes into your head. Turn off your internal editor. Don’t worry about getting the words right, just write everything down. By getting your thoughts out of your head, you are freeing up space for other thoughts to enter. You may even be surprised at what you find yourself writing.
In her indispensable guide to writing, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott devotes an entire chapter to writing what she calls “shitty first drafts.” We all write them. “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it,” she says. Writing a shitty first draft — just getting everything down — is the only way to figure out what you are really doing or where your writing is going. Often a piece will go in an entirely different direction than you had planned. If you can — if you’re writing fiction, or a personal experience piece, or anything with which you have a bit of leeway — let your writing take you where it wants to. Don’t worry about what it all means. Just get it down. One of my favorite quotes about writing is by Flannery O’Connor, who said, “Wouldn’t it be better for you to discover a meaning in what you write rather than impose one? Nothing you write will lack meaning because the meaning is in you.” This phase is all about discovery. You will have the opportunity later to add your stunning eloquence and infuse the piece with your sparkling personality. Whatever you do, don’t just stare at a blank screen and wait for something to come to you. Just start writing, and you’ll eventually find it.
Do you have any brainstorming tips or stories you’d like to share? What helps you unlock your creative process and get everything down on paper? Leave your comments, and check back next week for step two: the construction process!
March 17th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I can barely speak from experience here since I’ve really only started getting into writing when I created my own blog, which was less than two months ago.
I have already noticed how the creative flow can take over and turn my original thoughts into something 10x better. I simply pick the basic topic and just go for it! I do have to make sure to go back and tie things together ensuring there’s no loose ends, but in the end I’m happy with how things turn out.
My biggest hurdle at this stage is confidence. I’m not quite sure my work is good enough but I force myself to publish it anyway. I’ve even entered my articles in competitions and at the moment I’m in 3rd place with just over 8 hours to go! That’s been a HUGE confidence booster which is making me want to write more.
Currently I’m struggling with a creative block in my animation work…probably created by the fact that I’d rather be writing since I’m finding so much pleasure in it. My guess is once writing starts paying the bills, brick walls will pop out of nowhere and I’ll have to refer back to this article in order to get around them.
I’m really looking forward to the rest of the posts coming up in this series!!
March 18th, 2009 at 3:22 am
If I have a topic or phrase in my head I start with that.
If not I try just blurting – putting it all out uncensored and maybe incoherent.
A slightly less incoherent way is to express what I’m feeling as directly as possible. Say what I think and, “Forget mummy.”: just say it!
Mindmapping can help – especially with organisation.
I sometimes find as I write that I end up going somewhere different to where I thought I was headed. Things can occur to me as I write. If I don’t want to pursue the thought I write it down – otherwise I have found that I forget.
Hope these are useful ideas.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:18 am
@b1tzmast3r,
So glad you enjoyed it! How did the competition turn out? It sounds like you are definitely on the right track. Writing is like anything else, the more you do it the more confidence you will have, so keep it up!
March 19th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I know that I do my best writing when I just “write from the head”, if that makes sense. Letting it flow out of me definitely produces my best work!