Hey, You. Yes, You. Write Something!

Remember: if you are not speaking it, you are storing it, and that shit gets heavy

- Christina Isabel

I've said before: my writing is for me, more than it is for anyone else. It's me, letting the words spill and arranging them on the page. I wrote about piercing a mind-boil and letting the goo flow.

I was really talking about how writing is so very personal to me, and why it's hard to share what I write. I didn't really dig deeply into the cathartic element of it. I didn't take the opportunity to explore the other side of the coin. To spell out my belief: for a writer, it's bad for you to not-write.

We don't write because it's exciting, although sometimes it is. We don't do it because we're going to (we might, maybe, hopefully) get paid (although sometimes we do). We don't even do it because we love it, because sometimes we don't.

We (human beings) have a deep, deep need for expression. You wouldn't put an animal in a cage without opportunity to express normal behaviours. A chinchilla needs her dust bath. A cat needs her scratch post. An elephant needs trees to browse on, and elephant chums. You are a writer, so writing is your enrichment.

You eat a vegetable. You brush your teeth. You drink water. You put yourself in the sunshine or fresh air periodically. You write.

You're like a plant with opposable thumbs and notebooks.

Sometimes the urge siezes us, and the grip of those talons is a joy. The words spill out effortlessly. We write with total abandon. Other days, our muse is nowhere to be seen. Every word, like drawing blood from a stone.

My opinion: the difference between a person and a Writer is this: when the juice is not flowing, a Writer leans into it and writes anyway. Not just on the days when it's easy, but also when it's hard. Especially when it's hard.

Sometimes it's boring. Sometimes it's uncomfortable. It can be a flight into fancy, or it can be a kind of therapy. We can create entire worlds in our imagination. We can people them with rich characters, fantastical creatures, complex political intrigue, adventure, romance... But imagination is twined with introspection, and the latter is not always a fun jolly time.

If you are a writer, writing is work. You tie your laces, show up, and ply your craft. You have to.

It's what you are.

In Naked Truth I also mentioned,

"Fish swim. Moles dig. Sparrows fly. I write."

Now consider: what is a fish that doesn't swim? Not very healthy, I imagine. Dead, possibly.

What is a writer that doesn't write? I don't believe it's too dramatic to say: a little something in you dies when you don't write... so WRITE SOMETHING.

It doesn't matter if it isn't any good. Absolute shit is better than an empty page. Flex the muscle. If it's weak, work it. Even if it hurts. Especially if it hurts.

Write! Even if you think you're "no good at it". Even if someone else has told you you're bad at it. If you want to get better at anything, you have to be willing to suck at it first. So suck.

It doesn't matter if you write stuff you would never show to a twin soul. Remember, the words are for you first and foremost. Yours to write. To pull from the depths and bleed on to the page, to rearrange, to cross out. Anyone else reading them is extra. It's gravy.

It doesn't matter if you don't get paid. You don't expel CO2 because someone is paying you to do it. Capybaras don't spend time bathing because they're thinking kerchingg!

Just write something.

If the words won't come, that's OK. Take the opportunity to read. It's part of the process. Breathe softly. Soak in the words. Let the osmosis happen.

Really notice stuff. Anything - anyone - can be written into a story.

Open your eyes, then open them again.

T. Pratchett

Allow time. How much time will vary from one person to another. You will know in your bones when it's been too long. You'll feel it.

In the meantime, let yourself percolate.

Are the words flowing yet?

If not, here are some of the things I like to do when the ink is running dry...

Good old fashioned writing prompts

You can find these all over the internet - taste some. Try them on for size.

Give it a twist. Make it your own. The prompt is for a romance? Make it dystopian. The prompt is for a vampire story? Make the vampire crave something other than blood.

My own favourite piece was the result of one of those prompts. If you have one, please share it with me! (Of course, if you're entering a contest, make sure to stay within its parameters. I would imagine the judges see so many pieces, they start to become same-y after a while. A story with a novel perspective could well give you an edge. Probably.)

Write what you see

Try this: write the room you are sitting in. Describe it. Use the plainest language you can. Tell your reader about it. "There is a picture in the middle of the wall." "There is an orchid on the windowsill". And then go back and edit and change each line to show us. I actually really like this exercise.

Go out, take a notebook with you, and people-watch. Create entire characters based on the little snippets you see. Give them their own stories. Write those stories. The Yoghurt-Smelling Lady on The Bus has found her way into one of my drafts.

Write a memory

Pick a memory, and write that. Squeeze every last drop from it until your brain creaks. Swipe your paintbrush across the canvas and capture the details most vivid to you. Even if they seem odd or obscure. Let us live it with you. The little things that stand out and shine - make us see them as clearly as you do.

Write twenty memories. Give them one line each. Pick them at random. They don't have to be in any kind of order. Chronology doesn't matter. How significant they are to your life isn't important either. Save the list somewhere. Next time you're feeling creatively disadvantaged, choose one to write about. Shut your eyes and jab your finger at the page and go.

Edit, darling! Edit!

If you've read, and you've percolated, and you're still feeling artistically constipated... Table your plan for a new draft of anything just now, and edit instead. It could be an old story you've already written, or a previous chapter.

Halve the number of pronouns in it. She. I. You probably have too many. These are little words that can pull your reader out of your story. Prune them savagely.

Writing is important, but so is unwriting. Get rid of as many words as possible.

Scratch "that". Every time you use that a kitten dies. Look at the kitten. Look at it.

Here's my favourite:

1. Get a bottle of tequila

2. Read an old piece of fiction you've written/an old chapter

3. Take a shot for every time you've used the word "as"

4. If you get hammered, make a note for future, sober you: you're going to need to edit that baby.

Re-write an old fairytale

This is one of my favourites. When I was about thirteen, our English teacher had us do this. Every so often I use it again. Take an old, well-known story and turn it on its head.

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Here are my questions to you!

1. How do you get the ink flowing when you're feeling a little dry?

2. What percentage of your scribblings gets shared with others?

3. Drop me a link in the comments to one of your Vocal stories that you feel never got the reads it deserved.

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Thank you for reading! Comment so I can reciprocate!

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