After completing book 2 of my novel saga, I started thinking about ways that might help a writer find focus. To find that transcendental space. Or just helpful techniques to assist in the creation and shaping of a project.
In this 8 Step Process, I look at ways that may help a writer achieve their goals and complete that awesome novel or project.
One | Space
Find a space with the best way you like to write. For some, it’s a cafe, it might be at home. Wherever you choose, make this your dedicated space to write. Get your mind into committing this place as a writing place, free from distractions or other considerations. This might involve a solid chair, a clear desk or other environmental considerations like sounds, light and temperature.
One of the most important issues is to make an abstract thing into a routine, in location, in time and in space.
Two | Distractions
Use specialist controls and lockout apps to curtail distraction if required. I find I need internet access for references (and yes, spell-checking or referencing those most awkward of words), but it can be helpful to lock out those distracting social media apps and websites in order to maintain focus on the writing. Connecting to step 1, sometimes the writing location can help here.
Three | Finishing
Don’t fully complete a day’s work, keep it open so that it can be more easily accessed in the next session. There’s a distinct satisfaction to fully completing something, but it can also be helpful to leave your project hanging so your mind remains active and attuned, perhaps to the next session or to the note taking, as in step 4, 6 and 7.
Four | Organised Sessions
Use your limited full-focus writing time to actually write. Use any other time to think broadly about problems, drill into concerns and make notes. Formulate plans, make to do lists, all in an effort to keep the project fresh and active in your mind. You may not be able to commit to full writing sessions that often, but by making notes away from these, you can keep it active and make it easier to slot back into the right frame of mind when needed. In this, when away from writing time, you might want to drill into a problem with a scene or missing details from a sequence to build notes for the next writing session.
Five | Ramifications
If you are struggling in the shaping of a story, think about character motivations, setup and pay off, ramifications for past moments. It’s good to create some background character history, but what really improves things is to think about shaping the story so that history returns, haunts the character, challenges them. Whether a phobia or a past transgression or action, tapping into that can help resolve or shape the narrative. It could even act as the catalyst or an exciting incident to launch an entire story.
Six | Session End
At the end of a writing session, as you wind down with the work still fresh in your mind, write or update a little to do list. Perhaps ideas on how things might progress, beats you might wish to return to or potential problems. Anything that could help return that focus in that next session.
Seven | Notes
Continuing from the prior point, always have a notebook in whatever guise. Make notes when you get a moment of inspiration. A handy location to store musings or technical details can keep a project fresh in the mind and trigger the focus for that all important next session.
A big problem with writing can be getting back into the right frame of mind, so unless you have the time to devote hours each and every day, the moments away can cultivate new bursts of inspiration when returning to the work.
Eight | Blockages
If struggling with a scene, put it aside or jump to another. Most of the times your blockage might be because you are missing some details that could need work before you can return. It might require the weaving of ideas earlier to allow set up before the payoff. This might be because you have a great new idea for the direction of the story or it could be because you hadn’t thought about deeper detail, but either way, it’s a message that further details are required.
A core thing to remember is that scenes can almost write themselves if you have plenty of material on your characters and the situation they find themselves. Maybe if you are struggling, it’s because you haven’t properly defined some aspect of character, emotion or even a technical detail.
Well, thats what I have for now. Let me know what you think. And let me know what your steps are for that perfect creative session.
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