Tag Archives: tips and tricks

WRITING TIP #7: No interruptions!

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WRITING TIPS 6: No interruptions!

It seems obvious, but it’s oh, so important!

Kelly Allison in her article “How Interruptions Destroy Creative Work” writes, “. . . if you’re constantly allowing yourself to be interrupted, then you lose your ability to concentrate. And without concentration, there is no creativity, quality, or productivity.”

Research suggests that after a creative flow of thoughts has been interrupted, it can take people between 15 and 30 minutes to properly resume that flow. That’s up to half an hour of wasted time. And time is precious!

Interruptions can also increase your stress levels, lower your mood and reduce your productivity.

Interruptions are especially counterproductive

“. . . if you’re working on one task and you’re interrupted on a completely different topic. People have to shift their cognitive resources, or attentional resources, to a completely different topic. You have to completely shift your thinking, it takes you a while to get into it and it takes you a while to get back and remember where you were.”

Worker, Interrupted: The Cost of Task Switching.
By Kermit Pattison 07-28-08

When I was writing The Bitterbynde Trilogy, I would often write at nights, when the human members of the household were abed, and only the brownies were pottering about downstairs, quietly doing the housework (I wish).

A strategy I used during the day was pasting a sign on my door, on which I’d written words to the effect of “Please do not come in unless it’s an emergency”. There seemed to be a lot of daily emergencies, however, so this wasn’t entirely successful.

If you’re trying to write, and need some distraction-free time and space, it really helps to be surrounded by people who understand.

Some people think that putting their head around the door with a five-second inquiry about where you put the clean socks should not be a problem for you. Try to make them understand that they’ve just violently ripped you out of a completely different world, thrown you, dazed, into their world, hammered your brain with an alien thought that’s twisted your mind as you’ve tried to comprehend it, let alone answer the question, and then when you’ve managed to overcome your shock enough to gasp out some kind of reply, they’ve blithely gone away with the impression they’ve done no harm.

Meanwhile you’re left desperately grasping at virtual threads, trying to untangle the complicated weave you were in the midst of, and whose fading ends floated off into the amnesiacal spaces of stillborn inspiration at the moment that door opened.

Some people get interrupted by digital distractions. If that’s you, turn off all “notifications” on all your devices. Turn off your phone.

That’s all for now… sain thee, and may your work be blessed with few interruptions.

WRITING TIP #6: Carry writing materials.

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WRITING TIPS 5 Carry writing materials.

“Carry a pen and notebook.”

This tip has stood me in good stead many times. Wonderful ideas can strike when you’re driving (pull over before you start writing), shopping, waiting in a queue, daydreaming, or on the boundaries between sleeping and waking – anytime, anywhere. Even swimming, bathing or showering, Catch those ideas while they’re fresh!

This post is, of course, related to my 1st April post “Strange places to get inspired.”

You can, of course, also use other means to record your ideas. When a pen and paper aren’t at hand I’ve often used a notepad or voice-recording app on my smartphone.

As a last resort, you can always try recording your ideas in your memory . . but unless you have a pretty accurate and durable memory, I don’t recommend this.

The thing about creativity is, it’s most likely to strike when you’re not thinking of anything much at all. It bubbles from your subconscious at times when your mind is freely drifting. You can’t force it to happen by sitting down in front of a keyboard or notebook and saying to yourself, “Right! Now I am going to write a story.” (At least, that’s not the way it works for me. )

Which is why carrying recording material of some sort wherever you go, is a great tip for writers. I always recommend pen and paper because when ideas flow from your brain down your arm to your moving, pen-holding hand (so to speak) they are just better. That’s my opinion (and I’ve discussed it in another earlier post Copy by Hand!).

Some writers carry ornate notebooks around with them, and that’s okay too. For myself, I tend to accumulate fragments and scraps of paper with sentences and half-sentences and apparently random words scrawled on them at every angle. We do whatever we need to do, to achieve our aims.

WRITING TIP #2: Strange places to get inspired.

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WRITING TIPS 2: Strange places to get inspiredFalling water, relaxation, comfort…

Many authors find that when they’re having a bath or shower, or bobbing about in the ocean on a warm, sunny day, that’s one of the best times for inspiration to strike. Your mind is free and unfettered, allowing subconscious thoughts to rise to the surface and blend in interesting ways.

Sometimes, it’s when you’re simply enjoying the calming sensation of the water, and not deliberately trying to work out something in your head that answers and brilliant ideas can flash forth.

Be prepared.

Water and inspiration

If inspiration tends to hit you when you’re bathing, have some sort of recording device on hand to help you remember all those wonderful ideas – paper and pen, or even a battery-operated audio recorder (such as a smartphone!).
A whiteboard with waterproof pens, stuck to the shower wall would be useful. It would make it easier to remember your flood of genius-quality ideas!

An extract from The Ill-Made Mute:

Speaking of water, here’s a passage from The Ill-Made Mute in which Imrhien and Sianadh find a mysterious, remote waterfall called Waterstair, reputed to conceal a vast wealth of treasure.

“Half-asleep, Imrhien stumbled onward, lending support
to her companion’s arm. As dusk approached, thunder, which had
been rumbling far off, grew louder. It was a sound that had
been audible now for a long time, yet in her dulled state of
awareness the girl had ignored it.
By now they had come right under the shadow of the
mountain wall. As they rounded a bend in the river, the trees
drew back. Pale sunlight poured down from open sky, a hissing
roar assaulted their ears, and an awesome sight greeted them.
Filled with rainbows, its millions of droplets appearing to
float slowly down from such a great height, a waterfall hung
like a silver curtain. Its hem was lost in spray over a rocky pool.
Sianadh leaned on his staff and laughed weakly.
“We have found it, chehrna . . . ”

“Sheets of jade water plunged, hurtling from the
heights in a torrent of raw energy. Rainbows
bridged its quivering mists. A haze of droplets
hung in the air, pearling every leaf and grass
blade that fringed the pool, beading hair and
eyelashes, collecting in miniature crystals on the skin. The
continuous roar pressed around Imrhien’s head, drummed and
threshed in her ears like the sound of battle.
The rocky basin receiving the waterfall was cradled
in the heart of a dell whose gently sloping sides were clothed with tall,
spindly trees . . .”