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This site created by:
© 1998, 1999, 2000
Bryan
Bailey,
All rights reserved. |
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There
are secrets everywhere, and everywhere revelations. George
Leonard, The Silent Pulse
Picture your story as a movie. Select music
that will be the soundtrack for your movie and play it in your mind.
Hum it. Is the music available? Play it! Music can inspire the written
word by seting the tone of the work and produce mental images that can
carry the story to places you probably haven't planned.
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If
you're working on a story that is Spiritual in nature, select music that
will enhance thoughts of spirituality. Instrumentals from India and Mid-eastern
countries can produce an inner mood that can be reflected in your
story. You may be working on a fiction piece that calls for psychological
tension between characters and the opposition. Your neighborhood CD store
might have horror movie soundtracks which would benefit the suspenseful
or mysterious atmosphere you're trying to create. The soundtracks to Psycho
II & III are comprised of excellent instrumentals that might give your
imagination a push into the right direction. |
Listening to the radio can be distracting.
Most stations play an odd assortment of songs that have nothing to do with
one another, and there is nothing more frustrating than creating a flow
of consciousness on paper and being interrupted by some grating commercial
from a car dealership. Steer away from the radio, unless of course you're
lucky enough to listen to commercial-free radio stations that have a sense
of musical continuity. And turn off the damn TV. Advertisers spend a lot
of money to distract you from whatever you are doing to make you watch.
You can't watch what your writing if you're watching the TV. Turn it off.
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| While
browsing for CDs, take a look and see if there are any quality natural
soundtracks of the ocean, babbling brooks, thunderstorms, etc. These sounds
can help you relax and quiet your mind' especially if you live in the city. |
| Go to an art museum. If you were your
main character, how would you interpret the artwork? What would be appealing
to your main character? Bring a notebook and write down these feelings
and impressions. Would your main character find solace or apathy toward
certain works of art? Would your main character find the individual paintbrush
strokes fascinating, or would he be intimidated by the guard who seems
to be following him around? Use these moments to explore your character. |
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| Go to the library. What books has your main
character read in the past? Can he read? What books would you like
your characters to read? In which section of the library would their interests
lie? Go there and browse. Look at contemporary magazines that your characters
would find interesting. What ads would they respond to and how? |
| Where do your characters live? Refer to maps
or charts in the reference section that describe the locations in your
story. Browse through picture books that depict settings your characters
are in. Get a feel for the location. Memorize the vegetation, the terrain,
the man-made strucrures. Get a feel for the weather. How cold does it get?
Is it hot or humid? Feel it. |
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Go
to a graveyard. Is your main character buried there? Does anyone visit
her grave? If the character is still alive, what is her attitude toward
death? How does she want to be disposed of? Is the subject of death easily
confronted by your characters, or is it sornething they would rather not
discuss?. |
| Go to the zoo. Just about everyone resembles
an animal by either their mannerisms or their looks. Imagine your characters
as you walk through the zoo. What characteristics do your characters and
members of the animal kingdom share? What animals eat like them, sound
like them, mate like them? The zoo is not only a good place for getting
in touch with the animals, it's a good place for people watching too. |
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Involve
yourself with a form of aerobic exercise. Besides relieving stress,
aerobic activity stimulates the brain and produces a sort of thought euphoria.
During a good aerobic workout, think about your story and let your rnind
go with it. You might be surprised with the results. Besides, writers
have a tendency of getting out of shape when they're sitting in front of
their computer too long. Don’t let this happen to you. |
| Local writers' workshops
can provide not only constructive critiquing, but allow a sharing of ideas
and writing methods between writers. Someone may have a remedy for calling
in your muse, and likewise, you may give an aspiration to someone else.
Check your local libraries, coffee houses, and universities for postings
of writers' workshops, or start one of your own. |
| And in the End
The writing process is never over; it never
seems to be in a state of completion. Even when a writing project—like
this website—is apparently finished, it keeps developing in the author's
mind especially when the files have been transferred—the electronic dillema
of the written word going to press.
This website is a continuing project, and
I would like to get some feedback from you. If you have ways in which you've
creatively eliminated episodes of writer's block and would like to share
these methods with other readers/writers, let me know. Post them
in the Creative Web's Forum.
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