In today’s Journal
* Topic: Critical Mind: A Diagnosis
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Topic: Critical Mind
Diagnosis
I’m seemingly never immune to intrusions from the critical mind.
Yesterday, as I wrote in the current story, that niggling, quiet little voice (creative mind) kept telling me I was forcing things and going in the wrong direction. By “wrong” I mean I was telling the story per what “made sense next” instead of just giving the characters their head and writing what they gave me to write.
You would think by now I’d know better, and I do. But really, apart from having improved my skill set, the only advantage to having written so many stories is that I recognize a critical-mind intrusion more quickly than I used to.
And I did recognize the problem early — that I’d allowed my own stupid critical mind to intervene — but I kept on, thinking (yep, more critical mind) I could “fix” it.
Nope. Ain’t gonna happen. Never happens. Any time you trust the critical mind to “correct” the creative voice, you’re screwing up the story. It isn’t your story. It’s the characters’ story, so who better than them to tell it?
Intercession
So after a few hundred all but forced words, I stopped for the day (actually, I muttered an expletive and pushed away from the desk, angry), and my wife and I went to Sierra Vista to visit antique shops and junk stores.
Other than an enjoyable lunch and a brief stint of grocery shopping at the commissary (since we were in the vicinity), we got nothing physical out of the trip. But at least I escaped the story for awhile. (The need to “escape” the story is another strong sign my critical voice had taken over).
When we got back, I went out to the Hovel for a cigar, but I stayed away from the writing computer even then.
Cause(s)
I made this novel “important,” a favorite doorway of the critical mind. Why? Because it probably will be the last one before my hiatus, during which I expect to be encased in a mental fog while I shake the nicotine bug. Therefore it was important that I work through and finish it before I’m faced with entering that fog.
And I made this one super-important because, after all, any “last” novel might also be THE last novel. Eventually one of them will be. How do I know I’ll still want to write when I emerge from the fog? How do I know my characters will even still have stories to tell? Or that they’ll still welcome me to be their recorder?
Yeah, I know. Faith, belief in myself, the knowledge that I’ve done it before, etc. And all of that is good and important. But it isn’t set in concrete.
Treatment
So today I’ll scroll back to where my critical mind interceded, delete the few hundred words I wrote yesterday, and continue with the story the characters are actually living. I’ll forget the novel, immerse myself in the story again, and focus on writing the next sentence, then the next, until the characters lead me through to the end.
You know, practicing what I preach.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Why I Write (by George Orwell)” at https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/why-i-write/. Another take for your leisurely perusal.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 550 words
Writing of WCGN 4: William J. Pinchot (tentative title, novel)
Day 1…… 1965 words. Total words to date…… 1965
Day 2…… 2624 words. Total words to date…… 4589
Day 3…… 1824 words. Total words to date…… 6413
Day 4…… 3160 words. Total words to date…… 9573
Total fiction words for July……… 56481
Total fiction words for the year………… 585160
Total nonfiction words for July… 15140
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 140930
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 726090
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 12
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 65
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.