“Morning Pages” with a Twist for Fiction Writers

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:41:14 +0000

Julia Cameron’s popular idea (featured in her book The Artist’s Way) of writing three pages each morning–just dumping on the page–can teach a lot of things about writing.
1) The habit can teach you that the world will not end, your vacation companions will not abandon you, your children will not starve, if you write three pages before you get out of bed.
2) You will learn that you have an endless stream of words running through your head and that any “block” is about the arrangement and worth of those words (not to be belittled, those things, but good to shelve at certain times).
3) True for me at least: whatever you do first thing in the morning is the one thing that always gets done each day.
So, what if you want to write more than a fragment of last night’s dream, a harried “to do” list in narrative form, and grousing about your date last Friday? You need “Morning Pages with a Twist.” Give yourself a little loosening up room–a page, say, to moan, rant, angst, mumble . . . and then switch gears: Focus the rest of your morning pages on the project you are actually supposed to be writing. Start by writing about it. If you wrote two or three pages about your book every morning, you’d get farther than you can imagine. Then move on, as you feel moved, to sketching particular scenes, capturing images that arise, and so forth.
What to consider writing about your project:
1) Ideas you have for plot, character, setting, etc.
2) Concerns or stumbling blocks: what about . . .? what if . . . ? (Write: Maybe . . . and then list various ideas. Have a conversation/ brainstorm with yourself.
3) A specific breakdown of your goals–page counts, planning, daily chunks that will rise to weekly sections that will lead to monthly achievements that will contribute to successful completion.
In sum: start by writing about whatever’s on your mind. Then write about writing. Then write about the fictional world you are developing: about the people and what they do. Voila–you’re writing scenes!

Brain Dump: a one-week challenge

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:21:51 +0000

I just had an exciting call with a prospective client, and I gave her an assignment I thought I’d pass on to you. Many people have worked with Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, writing morning pages and going on artist’s dates with themselves.

Morning pages taught me some valuable lessons. Most importantly, perhaps, was the lesson that people will wait for you or work around you if you tell them you must write first. Also that if you write three pages each day, you will fill up many, many notebooks.

But morning pages are a true brain dump. I would write to do lists and stress out and meander. Nothing wrong with that, except if you want to write something else.

Here’s a helpful exercise: Write your morning pages on your current writing project. In other words, brain dump scenes, images, ideas, memories, thoughts and sensate details that tie in, or might tie in, to the novel or other project that is engaging you right now.

Let that wonderful morning page time double as your writing work.

Call it a Focused Brain Dump.

This is different from the permissive, wide-open morning pages and in no way meant as a critique of that tool. This is another tool, a way to build on your writing habits, to gain forward momentum. To get your novel started . . . or finished . . . now.

Try it everyday for a week and let me know what you think and what you did.

Write Angles » Julia Cameron

“Morning Pages” with a Twist for Fiction Writers

Brain Dump: a one-week challenge