Letting the Imagination Do What It Does Best

Following on with what The Big Peat said, I can sort of make a case that all writing is technical. Or, if you prefer, it's all imaginative. I'm not entirely sure what the OP envisions belongs under the heading of Technical, but I would argue (nearly said "I would imagine") that it entails more than spelling and grammar.

Constructing a believable character arc, ensuring continuity, getting proper flow between chapters, pacing (both over the book and within scenes), scene structure, all these and more are technical, but they all require imagination to get them right. A craftsman doesn't create a beautiful work on imagination alone; it requires knowing the craft.

As for why we tend to talk here less about imagination than about other topics is, as others have said, because there's so little to talk about when it comes to imagination. The word itself is hopelessly fuzzy, though if we pare it back to its root, it becomes sharper. We can talk about imagery, how we go about creating a vivid image, whether within a scene or within a single phrase. But when the word is used as shorthand for "coming up with cool ideas and ways of using cool ideas," or again as shorthand for passion about life and about writing, then it's much harder to have a conversation much beyond personal anecdotes. Not to belittle any of that, but it's not the sort of thing to spark long, argumentative threads with sources cited. :)
 
Star-child said:
If anything I get the feeling too few writers know how to harness their creativity with any discipline, which is why we have so many posts about characters and worldbuilding "getting away from" the writer".
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If you are referring to writers who write themselves into corners, or who begin a book but don't know how to finish it, then I agree with you.

A combination of creativity and discipline is important. As a freelance editor, I often tell my clients that they need more focus, more discipline, I say it so often that it begins to sound like a refrain ... but then there are the occasional ones who have lost their joy in writing, for whom the imaginative part of the process has been smothered under a long list of things they have been convinced that they are supposed to do. (Obviously, for confidentiality reasons I can't tell you who they are.)

But if you are referring to those who say that the characters have taken over the book, have refused to say and do what the author had planned for them to do, and have taken to doing other things instead ... well, you have noticed how pleased the author always is to be saying that something like that has happened, haven't you? And that is because in those cases losing control to the characters is merely a metaphor for something that doesn't, so far as I know, have a name, so they use the metaphor instead. But when this thing happens, it actually means that the author has NOT lost control at all; he or she has simply engaged a different part of the brain. The writer is, in fact, more in control than ever. They have gotten inside the characters so that they now know with great certainty what those characters will and will not do or say, a knowledge they didn't (and couldn't) have back in the earlier stages when they were first planning the book. They have gotten inside the world and know what is possible and impossible within it, and where something is possible what the consequences of doing it will be. They have reached a stage where they are "in the zone" or "on a roll" where that part of the brain that is now engaged is making "intuitive leaps," which are not really leaps at all, but simply a matter of passing by those things that don't matter at such high speed it is impossible to register doing it, and arriving at those things that do matter, gathering them all up from many different parts of the story, analyzing them, and deciding what the characters will do based on that analysis—but all so quickly, the conscious mind is unaware of some of the steps involved.

The writer is past the point of dithering about what the characters will or will not do, because they now KNOW what they will do. They are past the stage of sticking to some part of their original plan that no longer works but they had been hitherto sticking with it because "it has to happen so that something else very important can happen later." Only now one of two things has occurred. Either they have realized that the very important thing is not so important after all, and far more interesting and exciting things will be happening instead, or that the important thing will still happen, but for much better and more plausible reasons than before (not because "I planned it from the beginning" but because it now follows naturally on the motivations, actions, and words of the characters).
 
These days I deliberately write myself into corners expecting my imagination to find a solution, which so far has worked. Some tight spots are quite tricky and require a long shower approach, or a particularly difficult problem will require two showers to produce a 'Eureka!' moment.

It took many years for me to develop the subconscious structure and technical muscles for what I call my writing fitness and I now exercise my imagination to maintain that fitness. This means I can tackle any writing project with confidence and express myself exactly the way I intend.

Whether this approach results in anything readable is another question... :)
 
Yes, sometimes what looks like a corner actually contains a hidden door which opens on rather spectacular things ... if one can but find it.
 
olive said:
I'm not in control of my imagination, how do you people do that? It runs on by itself with a given hint, material... or it doesn't. It's a no for me to scratch something altogether I previously thought of and imagine a brand new kind of setting, characters... I am not able to do it yet at least.
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You control what your fingers do, is the trick.
 
Teresa Edgerton said:
It has seemed to me, lately, that as valuable as the technical advice here is—and it is very valuable, don't get me wrong—that we sometimes put too much emphasis on that and ignore the important contributions the imaginative part of our brains can provide. It think this is because the technical advice is something we can share, but the imagination is a rather more mysterious prospect and so we tend to leave it alone.
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As far as the critiques go, the difficulty is that, while it is easy to encourage and support people with the suggestion that a few technical fixes will improve their story, it is much harder to say "The whole idea strikes me as derivative. Take a week and write three new versions of this scene, each with a different ending, or each from the point of view of a different character, or each with a different vegetable sticking out of the dead man's ear (he only had one ear--how odd!). Then have a good solid think about how each version might change the relationships between your characters or even your entire storyline. Now, with that in mind, go back and write the scene again."

I'm not sure an internet critique forum is the right place for that kind of discussion. Perhaps the Chrons could use a dedicated section for interested people to engage in exercises aimed at expanding our creative faculties. The danger is that this can be so much more personal than the technical aspects of writing, it would be very easy for even the best-intended criticisms to hit people hard.
 
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No, a public forum is not the right place for that kind of discussion, you are quite right. Criticism, no matter how constructive, can be hard to take when there is a potential audience of . . . well, who knows how many people will view a thread over the years? So the really tough criticism is best left to a private writer's group, or between a writer and editor (where there is no audience at all).

But the point of my starting this thread, I guess, was to discuss how we might encourage creativity at the same time—though not necessarily in the same threads—that we are encouraging technical excellence.
 
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We've got monthly writing challenges, so how about monthly creativity challenges? Or discussions, rather than challenges. Not a competition but prompts with different exercises/techniques that encourage people to push the boundaries of their imaginations and re-examine their approaches to character development, world-building, plot development, planning or even style.

One simple idea could be the tried and tested technique of rewriting a scene by changing the genders of everyone in it. (Even the horses. And dragons. Or making everyone robots.) Rather than posting the scenes for critique, people could discuss how the changes altered their scenes. If we put together a pool of creative exercises--putting a scene into a different time period, changing the POV, whatever--people could vote each month for the method they want to try. Then everyone discusses how that specific technique affected their writing
 
>discuss how we might encourage creativity
Safety first.
You've already touched on it. People are more willing to take risks--which is a key aspect of creativity--when they don't have to be afraid of how the work might be received.

I hasten to say this doesn't mean puffery. The writer doesn't need to be told a piece is wonderful when it's not.

What would I want, I wonder. I guess, somehow, that only the creativity aspect would be the focal point. This means it has to involve actual writing. It's fruitless to discuss whether my idea is clever or creative, because only the implementation counts. It might be worthwhile, for the writer, to be able to write a scene, maybe with an explanatory preface to set up the scene, that explored in a direction we might not take in the actual novel. I might, for example, have an idea for a certain kind of monster. I think it's original or at least creative. Merely describing it isn't enough, but letting the thing roar through a scene, then having others ask questions and offer suggestions, ... I dunno, maybe?

I'd be interested to hear other folks' ideas on how creativity might be encouraged here, on these forums.
 
I'd vote for prompts as an option but not as the only option. I find prompts to be arbitrary, limiting, and never connected to anything that means anything to me at the time. Other folks, I know, love them. Might there be room for both responses to prompts and individual offerings?
 
Anyone who wanted to could start it out by starting a thread with a writing prompt in the Workshop, or any other exercise they think people would want to take part in. There used to be a lot more activity there, as I recall, and it might be fun to liven it up a bit.

But also, I think that perhaps, while avoiding puffery (because puffery does nobody any good) we might consider how we might go about being more ... inspirational, even while we are handing out constructive criticism.
 
Teresa Edgerton said:
The writer is past the point of dithering about what the characters will or will not do, because they now KNOW what they will do. They are past the stage of sticking to some part of their original plan that no longer works but they had been hitherto sticking with it because "it has to happen so that something else very important can happen later." Only now one of two things has occurred. Either they have realized that the very important thing is not so important after all, and far more interesting and exciting things will be happening instead, or that the important thing will still happen, but for much better and more plausible reasons than before (not because "I planned it from the beginning" but because it now follows naturally on the motivations, actions, and words of the characters).
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I think there are many writers this is true of. But I doubt the majority of writer's whose characters are dictating the story are equally intuitive in their control.
 
Well, I don't think that intuitive state lasts as long for some as it does for others. Also, some people may not be entirely truthful. They may lay claim to that process because they have heard that is what "real" artistic writers say, and it sounds good to say it. (Just as others may lay claim to a degree of discipline they do not actually have.) It is hard to know what their process is, or even if they have a process at all, when one hasn't seen the writing.

But sometimes I think people could do it and don't because it can be rather frightening to let go that way, at least until one has learned a certain amount of trust.
 
I don't think either is mutually exclusive. I think the reason we see a lot of technical discussion here is simply that by the time things are shared we are past that initial "imagination" phase. By the time we ask for critiques, we are already well into the story and where it is going. That doesn't always get translated in these discussions. Let's be honest, we can't relay the entire plot, twist, and character development to everyone every time we ask for advice or critiques. That doesn't mean the imaginitve part isn't there.

For me, letting my inagination run crazy beyond the borders of the story I am telling helps with the world building process. It gives me a better idea of where my story fits in the grand scheme of the setting. I feel like if I haven't done that, then I haven't done enough and there will be plot holes and a narrow scope. It doesn't mean I will include everything, and in fact I shouldn't but it helps me with editing and realizing what components are truly important. You can certainly go too far with imagination and not enough technical. At the same time, as many have stated,being bombarded with rules and formats can be overwhelming for newer writers. Technique I think comes more as a natural part of growing in the process. Study and feedback always helps but isn't necessarily the answer for everyone. Some people are going to have a natural gift for storytelling while others will have a harder time with it, in the same way that thinking outside the box can be very difficult for others.
 
I think it's important for a writer to have a technical understanding of the tools available in writing.

But but but ... to me the first draft is for recording your inspiration - the second draft is where you begin to work on technical issues. It's long been the advice here not to go into editing mode with your first draft because the danger is you'll get stuck there. :)
 
My writing process is a bit like a Tarantino movie. I don't write from A to B to C, the inspiration and narrative jumps around - it can be a bit like a puzzle to piece it all together but I've found a certain joy sense of achievement in doing so.

We definitely should nurture the fire of imagination as well as the technical here. A writing prompt thread would be awesome I reckon.
 
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