Preface: I had no intention of writing any of this until I came to the realization that the most important thing you can do in life is share. Life’s so short, so precious, so mysterious that creating things is the only way of validating time spent.
I started thinking of the process of my writing. I write because it’s the easiest thing in the world for me. The biggest design pattern I follow is not to get from here to there. That’s not an issue with me. What I’m striving for, on a daily basis, is how to get to the Zone. Not Auto Zone or the Fun Zone. I’m talking about The Absolute, Infallible Zone of Creativity and Bliss. There is nothing more gratifying than to say to somebody, “Not now, Tinky, I’m in the fucking zone!” You know when you’re in the zone because time stops, things come together in new and exciting ways you couldn’t dream of, and your work is…well...working.
The zone is located on the path of righteousness, but it is blocked by the countless Detour signs of the Resistance. [1]
The following is my way of breaking through the Resistance: My design.
Getting into the zone comes at a price. You must fight a war: the daily, gnawing, agitating war against the Resistance. The Resistance comes in many forms, and it’s kinda like the New York Yankees. Its smug, its presence is all over the fucking place, and it knows it could beat you. The Resistance, put simply, is everything that prevents you from working. From the distracting phone calls, to crying babies on buses, to the miserable jerks who smell like cabbage, to your love ones who smell like Honey Dew, it seems that everyone is playing for the Resistance. But guess what, when you’re not working, you play for it too. And that’s when you lose.
Life always seems to get in the way, but if you want to work well, you’ve got to win. You’ve got to beat the living shit out of this snot nose, suffocating…. Thing. You’ve gotta have a battle plan. That’s where design comes into play. You’ve got to come up with a brilliant, offensive scheme to beat this bastard.
Good game planning is very important. Writing wise, it’s essential. For me, I take four hours of the day (usually between 6-10 pm) to write. These are four hours of fierce combat. I generally have an objective, sometimes the objectives change and in mid stream I have to adapt to its course. But when I’m engaged to commit myself to get to the zone, I go all out.
My game plan is simple and it’s the same everyday. I sit down. I have an objective of what I want to write and follow these three rules.
1) Be true to the original idea.
There is no substitute to this. What comes out of your head is so hard to put into the physical world, but when it matches and molds into the initial idea you had, you know you have something special. Being true to the original idea is crucial.
2) Listen to your characters
Before I start something, I sit down and my characters talk to me. When I’m writing, particularly when I’m writing dialogue, I’ve got to hear the characters and their problems. Like playing with action figures, I mouth the characters voice and let it out there in open air. It’s something I’ve done ever since I was a kid. Some people may call it schizophrenic. I call it paying attention. I’ve got to hear the intonation of their voice, their pauses, their rhythm, but most importantly their desires.
My characters are doing most of my work. I’m just a court stenographer.
3) Write to Write. Edit to Edit
When I write, I vomit anything and everything that comes to mind. I don’t care if it’s inane, great or mediocre, I spill out everything because I have to. As Hemmingway pointed out, “The first draft of anything is shit.”
Then when the puking is over, I look back to what’s there and I play the hybrid role of both conquistador and janitor, that is the editor. I find the gold and dump the rest. Sometimes there isn’t any gold. Just loads and loads of crap, but that’s not a problem because I’ll just explore another mine by writing another mine.
It took me a long time for me to figure this out but when I finally found it, I knew my foundation was complete. Before learning this, I was very analytical when I wrote ,and I wrote and edit at the same time. This was frustrating and exhausting because it was detrimental to my psyche and slow as hell.
Separating the actions to specific times frees up so much creativity and the zone gets closer and closer. Refining is important, but you must first have something to refine.
That’s my plan. That’s how I write. That’s my design. During college, I found it difficult to write anything but term papers and I felt terrible, but when I came up with the system I knew I had something special, because it got easier and easier to get in the zone, and consequently, my writing got better, ideas flowed like rivers and I got a lot fucking happier with life
They say 3 is a magic number. Well, if there are 3 great players on your basketball team, odds are you’re going to kick some major ass, and in my case when all 3 elements are working in unison, Resistance doesn’t have a chance. The game is won. The Zone is there in all of its orgasmic glory, and it’s like…it’s like an Opera.
You are a golden God; not to the world, but to your work, and because you are a God, you must play by your own rules. Relax. Diffuse bullshit. Be scary.
[1] Read Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art”. Great book. Highly Recommended.
This is an amazing post. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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