Feeling blocked on a creative project? Before you call it writer's block, consider whether what you’re writing is the right idea for you right now.
Maybe it’s the right idea for someone else but not for you. Maybe it will be the right idea for you at some point in the future. Or maybe this project was right for you when you began it, but isn't right for you anymore.
It’s possible that you’ve outgrown it. It’s also possible that you haven’t fully grown into it.
I was 100 pages into the first draft of The MoonQuest when I set it aside for what turned into a five-month hiatus.
The day I returned to the book, I was afraid to reread those 100 pages. I was afraid the manuscript wasn’t any good, and I was afraid I had outgrown it and would have to abandon it.
What I realized, once I began reading, was that I hadn’t been ready to continue with The MoonQuest and that’s why my Muse cut me off when it did.
As it turned out, a five month absence from the manuscript gave me the life experience I needed in order to be able to catch up with the story and carry on. I began writing that same day, and three months and 300 additional pages later, the first draft was done.
Sometimes, what seems a block is a matter of timing. Sometimes, it’s just not the right idea. When we drop a project or leave it incomplete, we don’t always know into which of those two categories it falls.
If your discernment tells you to let the project go, don’t mourn the perceived waste of time and energy. Trust that you will either return to it when the time is right or that you’ve gained all you needed from the experience and can now move on to other writing.
Remember, no words you write are ever wasted. They're simply stepping stones on the journey to better words, a better draft or a better project.
A wrong idea isn’t necessarily wrong for all time. But if it’s wrong for right now, let it go and free yourself to write what’s right. For you. Now.
• Are you writing what's right for you right now?
• Are you forcing a project to completion when, perhaps, it's time to let go....for now or for good?
• How can you be more discerning...about your work, about your passion, about your timing?
Adapted from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.
For excerpts from The Voice of the Muse book and CD, click here.
Need help with any aspect of your writing process or projects? One-on-one coaching/mentoring can help you unleash the power of your creative potential
Monday, July 12, 2010
Write What’s Right...for Right Now
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Myth of Writer's Block: How to Get Writing and Keep Writing
You don't have to experience writer's block. Ever.
You don't have to sweat over the blank page. You don't have to chew your pencil (or fingernails) to the nub. You don't have to wonder where the next word is coming from.
Writer's block is a myth -- not because you won't ever feel stuck but because there's no reason for you ever to stay stuck.
Do you wonder where your next breath is coming from? Unless you suffer from some sort of lung disease, you rarely think about your breath. You assume it will come and it does. One breath and then another...and then another.
It comes because you let it, because you don't get in its way, because you're not thinking about it or worrying about it.
Words can be like that, too.
If you trust in your story, in its inherent wisdom, the words always come. The words always come because they're already there. They're there because, in some sense, your story already exists.
It exists in the same invisible realm in which your dreams, visions and ideas exist. And if you believe in that existence, if you trust in that existence, if you know deep in your heart that your story is already present and smarter than you are, you will never lack the words your story needs for its expression.
By the way, I use the word "story" in its broadest sense, to encompass all that you would write -- fiction or nonfiction, novel or screenplay, short story or poem. Everything you write, everything you experience, everything you share: It's all story.
So how do you get to that place where the story's words flow as effortlessly as your breath?
By writing. By writing without stopping...without stopping for any reason that could give your critical, judgmental, doubtful, cynical or analytical selves any opportunity for input during these initial, creative stages.
I call this nonstop approach "writing on the Muse Stream" because I believe that when we surrender to our Muse, creativity pours through us as effortlessly as water in a free-flowing stream.
It's natural to want to edit as we go, to want to stop to correct spelling, punctuation or grammar or to grope for the right word.
Don't do it. If you can't think of a word, leave a blank space or write xxx. If you don't like a word you’ve written, mark it in some way and move on. Don’t stop.
"Fine words," I hear you say. "But I'm still stuck."
You may be stuck, but you're not blocked. And you certainly haven't lost your creative ability.
You can't lose something that's an innate part of you, that's an innate part of everyone. Creativity is as natural as breathing and as long as you're breathing, you can write.
Here are seven reasons why you might be feeling stuck and some ways to get unstuck.
1. Fear
Are you discovering things about yourself or your beliefs through your writing that are making you uncomfortable? Is your story carrying you into new, potentially dangerous territory?
Fear will always block us from moving forward in our writing, if we let it. The only solution is to keep writing -- through the fear. Past the fear.
Your fears -- and all your emotions -- can be the most powerful components of your writing. Don't run from them. Write them.
2. Control
When we assume that we're in charge of the story, that it has to look or sound a specific way, conform to a particular genre or format, or match a certain outcome or expectation, we're bound to get stuck.
Your story has its own imperative and its own wisdom. You override those at your peril.
Abandon control. Let your story express itself. Let your Muse have its way with you. Let the words spill out of you -- the words your story needs, not the words you think you need.
Write on the Muse Stream, and just keep going. If you find yourself getting stuck, simply repeat your last word or sentence (or any word or sentence). Repeat them over and over and over and over again until you find yourself back in the flow. And you will.
3. Rhythms & Routines
Human beings like routine. We like breakfast at a certain time and a certain kind of muffin with our Starbucks coffee.
As writers, we often prefer to have set writing times and patterns: writing in a certain room, using a certain pen and sitting down at a certain time.
Routines, however, can turn into ruts. What worked yesterday may not work today...or ever again.
If you're feeling stuck, you may well be stuck -- in a pattern that's not working anymore.
Try new rhythms and routines. Break existing patterns.
Go for a walk, do yoga stretches, take a shower or do something else unrelated to writing or to your current project. Drive to a scenic spot and write in the car. Write in the morning instead of the afternoon, longhand instead of on the computer, in a café instead of at home.
Find the rhythm and routine that works for you today, and be open to changing it tomorrow.
4. Perfectionism
Whether in writing or in life, many of us are addicted to getting it right. Being perfect means we won't be criticized, judged or rejected. A perfect first draft means fewer revisions. Being perfect is, well, just a good thing to be. Isn't it?
I’ve got bad news: It will never be perfect. It may be excellent, accomplished, creative, innovative and insightful. But perfect? Not possible.
It's not possible because there's no perfect way to translate the intangible (ideas, thoughts, visions) into words on a page.
There's no perfect way to describe a brilliant sunset or profound emotion in a way that guarantees each reader an experience identical to yours.
Do your best. But if you're intent on making it perfect, you may find yourself stuck on the same story -- or sentence -- for the rest of your writing life, never growing into something new.
As Salvador Dali said, "Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it."
5. Timing
Recognize that what appears as a block may be a matter of timing. If you've written as deeply into a story as you can and find yourself unable to continue, it may be that you need more life experience (or research) before you're ready to go on.
Instead of calling yourself "blocked," welcome the break -- to do research, to work on a different project or to get on with your life, trusting that you'll know when it's time to get back to it.
6. Passion
If you're feeling stuck, ask yourself whether the story is one that excites and impassions you, one that fires you up more than anything else you could be writing. Is it the right idea for you right now? Or is it just another good idea that anyone could write.
If you've lost the excitement (or never had it) and cannot rekindle your enthusiasm, consider that this may not be the best project for you at this time.
Lack of passion is a guaranteed recipe for stuckness. Passion, on the other hand, will always fuel your writing.
7. Self-Respect
Respect yourself and your writing. Respect every draft. Every word.
The more you beat yourself up over your writing, output or creative ability, the more you're inviting the kind of paralysis that feeds writer's block.
Discard judgment and punishing discipline. Cultivate discernment and discipleship. Recognize that every word, draft and emotion is an integral part of your creative journey. Honor all aspects of that journey -- including the painfully uncomfortable ones -- and writer's block will become a myth for you, too.
Adapted from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write (LightLines Media, 2008)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
You Are A Writer (Yes, You Are!)
You are a writer.
You are a writer of power, passion, strength
and, yes, courage.
For writing is an act of courage.
You are a writer.
What you write is powerful.
What you write is vibrant.
What you write, whatever you believe in this moment, is luminous.
These words are from my guided meditation, "You Are A Writer," which appears in The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write and is the final recorded meditation for writers on The Voice of the Muse Companion CD.
"You Are A Writer" is now also a video, an empowering meditative experience designed to reaffirm your innate creativity, your writing ability and your identity as a writer.
Sit back...and take a few deep breaths as you relax, look and listen...
(If you're on my mailing list and seeing this in an email, click the image above, which links to my blog and the "You Are A Writer" video. Clicking on the thumbnail of my June 23 mailing, "Facing the Void: Coping with a Blank Page," will take you to another inspiring video.)
• For more videos about writing and the creative process, visit my YouTube page. And watch for the debut of MuseTV, my new series of video interviews with writers and creators of all types and stripes.
• For more tips and inspiration, visit my web site, where you can read my "Rules for Writing," sign up for my mailing list and read/hear free excerpts from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.
• Need help with your projects or creative process? Consider one-on-one coaching/mentoring (over the phone of via Skype) or my upcoming online coaching group (starts Tuesday, June 29 at 6:30pm PT and runs five weeks, skipping July 6).
Buy The Voice of the Muse Companion: Guided Meditations for Writers and The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write from my online bookstore, and be sure to ask for a signed copy of the book. Both are also available on Amazon
Photo/video credits: "Guiding Light" photo, Oceanside California. Title video shot, "River Flow," Olympic National Park, Washington State. All other video photos, Sandia Foothills, Albuquerque, NM. All photography/videography by Mark David Gerson (c) 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Facing the Void: Coping with a Blank Page
What do you do when you face a blank page? It's all about trusting the mystery and taking that leap of faith into the unknown...into the infinite realm where your stories reside.
• For more videos about writing and the creative process, visit my YouTube page. And watch for the debut of MuseTV, my new series of video interviews with writers and creators of all types and stripes.
• For more tips and inspiration, visit my web site, where you can read my "Rules for Writing," sign up for my mailing list and read/hear free excerpts from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.
• Need help with your projects or creative process? Consider one-on-one coaching/mentoring (over the phone of via Skype) or my upcoming online coaching group.
Art Credits: Creative Community Image from ehow.com
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson (#12): Radio About Writing, Creativity & Life
Episode Twelve: Thursday, June 17, 1pm ET
(click here to listen live or to listen to or download the archived version any time after the show airs) 
• Inspiration for your writing, creativity and life
• Feature interview with author
There are days when Facebook makes me crazy and days when I'm grateful for the magic that not only connects people across the miles but reconnects them across time.
I first met Lev Raphael what seems like many lifetimes ago. I was still in my 20s and he and his partner turned up one evening at the Montreal gay Jewish group I was part of. I don't remember whether he was promoting his then-new and later award-winning short-story collection Dancing on Tisha B'Av. I do remember reading it after meeting him and being deeply touched by it.At the same time, I didn't give Lev much thought in the ensuing decades (sorry, Lev)...until one day his name and face jumped out at me from my computer screen and I was suddenly back in that Montreal apartment on that long-ago Friday night.
I immediately sent him a note and we became online friends. He followed up a time later with news about his brilliant essay on the writing life, which became a guest post on this blog back in March and which I reprinted and reposted earlier today. After that, his appearance on The Muse & You was inevitable!
The son of Holocaust survivors, Lev Raphael is a pioneer in writing fiction about America's Second Generation, publishing his first short story about children of survivors in 1978. Many of his early stories on this theme appeared in Dancing on Tisha B'Av. Lev is the author of 18 other books, including novels about survivors, a series of mysteries and his latest, a powerful memoir, My Germany: A Jewish Writer Returns to the World His Parents Escaped 
.
Of My Germany, Library Journal wrote, "True to his other works, his book is powerful and captivating to the end, painting vivid pictures of his parents’ suffering, his hatred of Germany, and eventually his healing and reconciliation."Author as well of hundreds of reviews, stories and articles, Lev has seen his work discussed in journals, books, conference papers, and assigned in college and university classrooms. Which means, as he puts it, "I've become homework. Who knew?"
He escaped academia in 1988 to write full-time and, as he says, has never looked back.
I could go on and on about Lev's varied accomplishments (and mention his radio interview show and his hundreds of talks, readings and interviews on three continents). But why do it here when you can hear him yourself, live on the radio! On this next episode of The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson, Lev talks about his journey to Germany, his alter ego as a mystery writer and his thoughts on the writing life. Please tune in!
The Muse & You and MuseTV with Mark David Gerson, are all about writing, creativity and life -- an opportunity to listen to writers and creators of all sorts talk about how and why they create and, of course, about what they create.
The Muse & You Show ArchiveIf you miss any live broadcast, you can listen to the archived episode, which is available immediately after each show on the show's web page. You can also download any show directly into your computer for later listening. Click here for links to all episodes and information about each show and its guest.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Lev Raphael: 7 Secrets About the Writing Life
A version of this guest post by author Lev Raphael originally appeared here in March. I'm reprinting it this week to coincide with his June 17 appearance on my Muse & You with Mark David Gerson radio show.
• More information about Lev Raphael and this week's radio broadcast (June 17, 1 pm ET)
While author Lev Raphael
"I studied other writers and I studied my craft," he says, "but career was terra incognita, and what I discovered has often come as a surprise."
Here’s a partial list of what he's learned, since over three decades after publishing his first short story, he says, "I’m still learning about the life I chose."
1) Writing puts miles on you
As a kid, I wanted to write, as opposed to be a writer, but when I did imagine my future work life, I saw myself at work in a very serene large study with green velvet sofas facing each other in front of a fireplace, walls lined with leather-bound books, and a desk in a bay window overlooking the Hudson River. My visions were solitary, except when I imagined being interviewed in that serene, solid room. But since publishing my first book twenty years ago, I've been all over the country many dozens of times and traveled abroad to places I never dreamed of: Oxford University, Israel, The Jewish Museum in Vienna -- all to speak about my work.
Luckily for me, I'm an extrovert, took theater classes in college, and taught for many years, so being in front of an audience is second nature. Otherwise, I think the public side of my career would have been too draining. That was only the foundation, however, since I had to learn to do something most writers don't understand is vital: make the work I do in private a public entertainment.
After twenty years of touring and several international tours, although the glamour and excitement have worn somewhat thin, there’s enough there that I can still enjoy myself thoroughly engaging in the performance side of being a writer. And I still get revved up
2) Agents aren't super heroes or magicians.
I’ve known many people who feel that securing an agent, or switching to a different agent, is all they need to find fame, fortune, and glory. Well, as hard as it is to get an agent, and as indispensible as they may be for placing your work with a major publisher, having one doesn’t guarantee anything.
My first agent, in a time before email, never answered a phone call or letter, never sent me rejections for my novel, and I later found out that her lack of contact was due to over-involvement with her most famous client.
My second agent sent my mystery to editors who didn't like mysteries and before we could talk about that, she left the business. My third agent was so slow editors would ask "Is he dead?" My fourth agent was charming, but didn't move my career forward in the slightest. My fifth agent got bounced from her agency. My sixth agent moved to Japan. My current agent took my newest book to New York just as the bottom fell out of the stock market and publishing, too. I think you could safely say I have odd Agent Karma.
3) Being a writer takes more patience than writing does, and you have far less control.
Five years passed between the publication of my first and second stories. Five years of endless rejections. Some days, two to three manila envelopes would slide out of the mailbox in my apartment building's lobby into my hand when I opened it up. I’d won a prize for my first short story, which appeared in Redbook -- how could I have hit a dead end so quickly? Surely some other editor somewhere would feel the same way about my stories?
I’m stubborn, so I kept going, but with a diminishing sense of mission and hope. I reached such a low point that I was prepared to abandon writing as a career and seek another life path. For a while in the early 1980s I contemplated rabbinical school or training as a psychologist. I didn't get far with either venture. What happened? A poem by Joseph Brodsky
4) You’d be surprised where your name or work might show up.
Back in the early '80s, I had two unexpected publications. A literary magazine in Ohio answered my submission of a prose poem with five copies of the magazine including my piece. Not that long after, a Jewish newspaper printed my short story without having told me it was accepted, and this bothered another editor who had already accepted it (though she ran the story a year later). A friend said, "Lev, head down to the bookstore and start checking magazines, who knows where else you were published without knowing it!”
I would go on to see my work quoted, referenced, written about in conference papers, academic articles and books. My first appearances in The New York Times weren't when a book of mine was reviewed, but surprisingly when my name was mentioned in an article about other Jewish authors, and then later when a review of mine from the Detroit Free Press was quoted in big print on the back page of the Arts Section.
5) No, I mean really surprised.
In the late 1980s I started combining research on the emotion of shame with my love for the writing of Edith Wharton
I grew up reverencing The New Yorker before I could even read more than its cartoons in issues lying around in the doctor's office. While I've never been reviewed there, or had any work accepted there, I have gotten in sideways, so to speak. A photo of one of my readings wound up in an ad supplement a few years ago, which was unexpected fun. Not so amusing: Daniel Mendelsohn recently echoed my unique linkage of Oprah, William Dean Howells, and a faked Holocaust memoir -- without mentioning my name. See page five of his review here.
6) Fans share more than you would imagine.
A book is such an intimate exchange between author and reader that fans may tell you very personal details of their lives, their histories. It's an honor to be the recipient of such revelations. I’ve met many readers who shared stories about their own problematic Jewish upbringing, which has made me feel my work gave them a voice, or at least catharsis. While touring with my book Winter Eyes
7) Not writing can be as wonderful as writing.
It’s only in recent years that I found myself truly enjoying time off between books. Previously I’d never felt so alive as when I was writing, thinking about writing, or even just revising something I’d been working on. But having sold my literary papers to Michigan State University, I feel my legacy for the future is secured, and the pressure to publish is off. I didn’t work on any new book at all in 2009. I’ve been living what a friend half-mockingly called “The Countess Tolstoy Life” when she was briefly unemployed, a life of relative leisure. Reading without being in a rush. Building a fire in the winter. Listening to music. Sitting in the hot tub. Cooking. Going to the gym. Having lunch with friends. Taking the dogs for a walk. Getting massage therapy. Watching a movie. Napping.
I’ve spent so many years turning the world into words, feeling not just bound by a project but surrounded by it, that it's a profound and pleasing release to not be experiencing the intense level of concentration mixed with abstraction that governs my life when I'm in the middle of a book. With another book tour this spring in the U.S. and one in Germany in the fall, I don’t expect to be working on a new book in 2010 either. Time off. There’s music in those words.
In one of my favorite Henry James
It’s good, for a time, to not feel that driven.
For more about Lev Raphael, listen to him live on The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson, Thursday, June 17 at 1pm ET. If you miss the live broadcast, you'll find the download link here.
Lev thanks editor and memoirist Mike Steinberg for the discussion that led to conceiving this essay.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
New ONLINE Coaching Group for Writers: Starts June 29 via Skype
Imagine..."I LOVED and was absolutely inspired by the coaching group!"~ MM, Los Angeles, CA
...a small writers’ group that blends sharing, support and creative community with inspiration, instruction and professional guidance...
...a group that keeps you accountable and committed...
...a group that honors where you are in your creative process yet challenges you to meet your potential and move forward in your writing and in your life.
That group exists for you. It's the online version of my Coast to Coast Voice of the Muse Coaching Group for Writers, and it launches on Tuesday, June 29 online via Skype for a 5-week guided experience of creative commitment and acceleration.It doesn’t matter where you live.
It doesn't matter whether you have a project that’s ongoing, stuck or ready to kick off, or whether you just want help establishing and maintaining a regular writing rhythm...
• The Coast to Coast Coaching Group will keep you empowered, motivated, inspired and on track with your writing and creative projects.
See it as a blend between a writing workshop and individual coaching, an opportunity to bring your creative projects, writing questions and related life issues into a forum that carries that same nurturing and accelerating energy as you would expect to experience in my classes or workshops."I'm amazed by the insights I've gained by being part of this group."~ HK, Spencer, NY
Sessions start at 6:30pm PT / 9:30pm ET and take place online on your computer using Skype. (Free Skype software required. Webcam not required.)
The number of participants is strictly limited to insure that everyone has a full opportunity to be coached.
Register now on my web site, using a credit/debit card or PayPal. (For other registration options or for information about private coaching/mentoring, contact me.)I hope you can make it. I’m looking forward to helping propel you forward in your writing, in your projects and/or in your creative expansion!
• For information about all my upcoming events and experiences, visit my page at booktour.com.
Art Credits: Beach computer from The Harvest Blog; Creative Community Image from ehow.com
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Whose Story Is It?
"Without characters there's no story."
~ Karl Iglesias, Writing for Emotional Impact
"When I hit a real block, I find it’s usually because I've...said something false or made a character do what he doesn't want to do."
~ Anne Tyler
About a year ago, I was listening to a guest speaker -- let's call him Tom -- at a writer's group. He was talking about characters.
"In the first half of your story," he said, "let your characters do what they want. But when you get to the second half, you've got to reign them in."
Tom was pretty insistent, and it was all I could do to not jump up and shriek NO!...not to the first half of his statement, but to the second.
I was reminded of that story some months later when I began working with a new coaching client. She'd written a powerful memoir
"But I've never written a novel," she exclaimed. "I don't know how!"
"You don't have to know how," I replied. "All you have to do is write his memoir."
Thing is, whatever story we're telling -- whether it's a novel, short story, stage play or screenplay -- we're writing someone's story.
What we're writing is their story. And what we're often discovering in that first draft is not only what that story is but who that character is...who all the characters are who make up that world.
"I have never demanded of a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it’s something I never expected."
~ Stephen King
Tom's point was that we spend the first half of our story discovering who the character is. From there, we spend the rest of the story making sure the character hews to that portrait.
My point is that we may only truly discover who that character is and what she's about by writing through to the end. Why stifle the creative process just when we've finally surrendered to the story's unfoldment? Why limit ourselves and our characters by insisting that at a certain point in the draft, character and story are fixed for all time?
When I was working on the first draft of The StarQuest (the first of two projected sequels to The MoonQuest), I had a pretty good idea who the villain of the story was and to what unpleasant end she would come in the final scenes. At least, I thought I did...
Then, on my last day of work on that draft, as I was letting one of the final scenes write itself, something unanticipated happened: Instead of the ugly death I was expecting, the villain had a profoundly redemptive experience that, within a few paragraphs, had transformed her from ugly antagonist into a positive force for continuing good. I was stunned.
In that moment, I had two choices: I could follow Tom's advice and refuse the villain her redemption, or I could surrender to the character's higher imperative and permit the alchemy to occur. I chose the latter, not only because I believe my stories and their characters are smarter than I am, but because my villain's transformation supports one of the story's central themes in ways I would have been hard-pressed to consciously manufacture.
In The MoonQuest, much about the character O'ric shifted -- not only through the first draft, but through many of the drafts. He shifted not because I couldn't reign him in. He shifted because, through the writing, I began to understand more clearly who he truly was, both within himself and to the story.In the "rules for character-building" that I use when I teach workshops on characterization, Rule #10 reads "How did John become Jane? And why is she suddenly the villain?"
Often, characters in our stories want to undergo radical changes through the course of that first draft. Too often, we follow Tom's advice and refuse them that freedom.
My view is that our job as Writer God is to give our characters absolute freedom through the entire first draft of our story...and, sometimes, beyond.
Unlike Tom, I say, Let your characters be as inconsistent and mercurial as they want to be. Let them veer off in completely different directions partway, if that’s what they choose. Let your villains become heroes and your heroes become villains. Let them change names, physical characteristics, motivations and story-significance. Let them change gender. Only by allowing them that freedom in your first draft will you learn who they truly are and be true to their story. After all, it's their story you're telling.
I do my best work when I feel least like its source and most like its channel.
~Lawrence Block
Let your first draft, as I said earlier, be your journey of discovery: of your characters and of their story. Through that journey, you will grow into your story and its characters. You might, as I did in The StarQuest, only discover something of major significance about an important character on the final page of the draft. That’s okay. Use your next draft to bring consistency to the characters you now know more fully.
Remember whose story you're telling...and get out of the way!
"It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does."
~ William Faulkner
• How can you better trust your characters to reveal themselves to you?
• How can you stop trying to control your stories and, instead, let them emerge organically?
• How can you better surrender to the magic out of which all creativity is birthed?
• How can you trust that your stories and characters know themselves better than you do?
• How can you let yourself be surprised -- by your characters and by their stories?
You'll get help answering these and other questions about your writing process and projects by participating in The Coast to Coast Coaching Group for Writers that starts up on June 13. Register through this link.
Art credits: 1) Detail from the Zazzle "fictional character" t-shirt; 2) Image from the Talk Stephen King blog; 3) Detail from the cover of Karl Iglesias's book, Writing for Emotional Impact
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Musings on Inspiration
A version of this interview appeared earlier this month on Dan Stone's First A Dream blog.
Musings on Inspiration:
Dan Stone Interviews Author & Writing Coach
Mark David Gerson
This week’s “Musing on Inspiration” features gifted author, teacher/coach and visionary Mark David Gerson.
DS: How do you define ‘inspiration’ for yourself?
MDG: Inspiration is that spark of creative fire that fuels not only my writing but my life. It’s that aha moment in which a bolt of clarity suggests a project, a direction….sometimes even just a word or a step. Like a flash of lightning, it’s that momentary illumination that reveals just enough information to get me going or, if I’m already going, to keep me going. It’s not the whole picture, or the whole story…or even the whole scene. It’s just the minimum required to ignite my imagination and my faith.
What inspires me? I think life is what inspires me. At the same time, I enjoy living in inspiring places and have lived in many. Although I’m about to move to Los Angeles, I’ve spent the past several years living in the mountain foothills of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Being able to walk in those natural areas has been very inspiring to me. It has grounded me and opened my heart. I think that anything that opens our hearts is a potential source for inspiration, and I’m sure the ocean will pick up where these mountains have left off.
DS: What do you think first inspired you to become a writer/artist? Can you identify a moment or experience or influence that turned you in that direction? And where did it lead you?
MDG: When I was in school, I hated writing….anything creative. What I see now is that I was afraid. I was trying to avoid anything that involved the potential for judgment, that didn’t exist in that fuzzy realmbetween black and white. As a result, I gravitated towards math, because if I somehow recognized that if I got the right answer, I couldn’t be judged.
Apparently, though, my Muse had different plans for me and had marked me as a writer from day one. I just had to be eased, unknowingly, into the process. It began in high school, when I somehow got talked into doing publicity for a high school musical production and had to learn to write press releases. From that safe (because it was formulaic) place, I began to do more publicity and PR work, which led me into some journalistic work and a surprisingly lengthy stint as a full-time freelance writer and editor. Each of these steps propelled me to the Point of No Return: a creative writing workshop that an editing colleague persuaded me to take, against my better judgment, in the early '90s in Toronto.
That workshop was a life-changing experience, a nurturing, supportive environment that belied all my fears and beliefs about writing classes. The experience not only sparked a creative awakening but also a spiritual awakening. It also turned out to be my gateway into teaching about writing and creativity and into coaching writers.
DS: What is your most ‘inspired’ work? Why?
MDG: Many of of my readers might say it’s The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write, my book about writing. But for me, it’s my novel, The MoonQuest, probably because it’s a powerful metaphor for my own journey through and past my creative blocks.The story, about a mythical land where stories are banned and storytellers are put to death, begins with the main character as an old man, pushed by a “dreamwalker” to write the story of his MoonQuest, the odyssey that restored story and vision to the land and light to a darkened moon. So often, when I give readings from that prologue and encounter his resistance to his stories, I’m reminded of my own. And so often, it moves me so deeply that it’s difficult not to cry.
I didn’t know I was writing my own story when I wrote The MoonQuest. Frankly, I didn’t know what I was writing when that story was coming out of me! In fact, I knew nothing at all about the story when I began…or, rather, when it began me. That it takes a profoundly personal story and turns it into something universal — and that it does it in a way that transcended my conscious awareness as I was doing it—still moves and humbles me.
DS: Describe your muse, and how you invoke your muse, and do you use rituals?MDG: Given the title and cover of my writing book, I’d better be careful how I answer this one! Seriously, despite the book’s cover, I don’t see my Muse in human-like form. Rather, I see it as an energetic force, a free-flowing river of creativity that’s always available to me.
I don’t believe Muses need to be invoked. I believe the Muse is always present and willing to speak. We’re the ones who need to be invoked! We’re the ones who turn away and say, “No, not your way. I want to write it my way. No, not your story. I want to write a different one.”
As long as we’re in a place of surrender to that creative source that is our Muse, it will always speak. And as long as we surrender to all that it would have us write, we will never be be blocked. I rarely engage in pre-writing rituals anymore, though I used to meditate before beginning — not to call in the Muse, but to put myself in a more receptive state for its words and stories. These days, I just sit down with some gentle, ambient music and begin.
DS: What is your take on the notion that any artistic creative work is more about perspiration than inspiration?
MDG: Honestly? I think it’s bullshit! Of course, unless we’re writing there is no output. But the notion of perspiration suggests heavy labor. And although writing can be difficult at times, that difficulty is all about our resistance to the story our Muse would have us tell.
The more we surrender, the more access we have to inspiration and the less laborious is the process. At its best, creativity is about playfulness not hard labor. The more playful we can be, the less seriously we take ourselves and the process, the easier it always is.
DS: What do you think is the most problematic misconception about inspiration?
MDG: That we have to do something to access it. Inspiration is around us in any and every moment we’re open to it. There’s no switch to flick, no Muse to invoke. When our hearts are open to our lives and to the world around us, inspiration pours in. Then it’s our job to listen, to surrender, to trust the process…and to write it all down.
DS: List a few tools or practices or methods that work reliably for you to get you in the mood to create.
MDG: Rather than shifting into a zone, I do my imperfectly human best to live in the zone — to keep my heart and mind open, to live in a place of trust and surrender in all aspects of my life, not just my writing life. When I’m feeling stuck or shut down, a walk in nature will usually shift my energy and my mood — again, not just in my writing, but in my life.
For me, life and creativity are inextricably linked. If I’m living from a place of passion and faith, there’s less I need to do to switch gears. And if I’m experiencing writing issues, I need to look at my life, where the underlying causes of those issues most often reside.
DS: What are you currently feeling inspired to do?
MDG: Where do I begin!? I could talk about my works in progress (a sequel to The MoonQuest and a just-started memoir). But in truth, inspiration for me is less about specific projects than it is about a way of life. So I would say that I feel inspired to trust more, surrender more fully and life more heartfully — in my life as well as in my writing.
• Dan Stone's original interview
• More about my coaching services
Dan Stone is author of The Rest of Our Lives
I interviewed him in November for my Muse & You radio show.
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