Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

[mildlyaroused]

... of writing!

Does anyone else find that they write some of their best work, or stumble across some of their best ideas, precisely when they are not meant to be writing?

When we have guests over, and I have become rather keen for them to leave, my muse seems to be functioning in its optimum conditions. Maybe the pH is just right. In any case, some of my best ever passages of prose were written in ten minutes, when I crept away from the living room to my bedroom. Some of my greatest authorly revelations were made in waiting rooms, or just before guests arrived.

It's funny how that happens. And it has always been the case for me. I distinctly remember a night when I was younger, having cousins around (unexpectedly, since my parents never warned me about guests) for the night. While we were all watching a movie, I sat at the back and typed away as maniacally as I could without drawing attention to myself. I'm still proud of the chapter I wrote during that evening.

Then once the guests leave, I sit at my writing desk, and I find myself blocked for inspiration. I suppose the grass is always greener....

 

[TheRedChamber]

At this week has proved for me, nothing makes me more productive than a work deadline I'm stressed about. Instead of doing the thing that will ensure I'm not fired and doing it right now, there's no reason why I shouldn't stick another 2,000 words on my WiP first, right? It'll only mean I'm up to 3am doing the other thing.

 

[KeithD]

I'll have to say that most of my story ideas that don't come from whatever I'm reading come as I am rising out of sleep in the morning. That's what gave me the stories I wrote yesterday and the day before that. Neither was one I knew my muse was working on.

 

[AchtungNight]

I frequently work on stories during downtime at work. Heh.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Yes, while at work usually. I have a Bluetooth keyboard at work for just such situation, that I use on breaks.

 

[StillStunned]

I thought it was absinth that made the heart grow fonder?

 

[lustychimera]

I gotta wrestle the first part of all my shit--revision, revision, revision--then once I get going, building on it comes easy.

Maybe it's just an excuse for procrastination, but I do best when I let an idea percolate for a few months. Kinda sifts out the chaff and fuses the good parts more concise. Then it's much easier to sit down and write. Still gotta wrestle all the descriptions, but the setting, plot and, characters come easy.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I thought it was absinth that made the heart grow fonder?

Absinthe would tend to do that...

 

[samhasstories]

My best ideas generally come and wake me up between 3-4am, usually when I have something very important to get up early for.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

No, not really. They just come. I always have racing thoughts in my head. Outside of a LitRPG I got floating around, the wells been dry since I finished Babylon's Curse. I've been taking this time to catch up on some updates and reading, do a little drawing.

 

[OldDog_NewTricks]

Some of my ideas have actually come from stories here at Lit. Even with only one story published, I've told many to my wife. But for the most part, with an hours drive for work each way on the same stretch of road for many years, my mind does get a chance to wander. I keep a notebook and pen in the truck and when I get a chance I write notes or sketch out a rough story idea. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to finally see the finished product.

 

[intim8]

Does anyone else find that they write some of their best work, or stumble across some of their best ideas, precisely when they are not meant to be writing?

Yes, and I don't think it is that unusual. Writing is a different activity than coming up with ideas.

Writing is a process, and there is definitely creativity involved, but ideas - in the sense of a new story idea - come from the juxtaposition of essentially random things in unpredictable ways. It's what "inspiration" really means.

It is harder for it to happen when you are focused on a specific process, because your inputs are much more limited. It happens more easily when you are going about daily life and encountering a variety of things that have no obvious connection to writing a story, to each other, or to anything else we're aware of.

I often consciously decide that my mood, energy level, whatever, is more suited to "output" mode (writing) or "input" mode (doing other things).

Part of what happens when you write a lot is that a little corner of your brain is constantly, even when you are not writing, looking at these random juxtapositions that are constantly coming in, and thinking, what if....