The secret to writing faster and with more focus -- Writing in
your sleep!
One of the most powerful tools in my creative arsenal is what I
call unconscious creativity.
No, I do not ask someone to brain me with a hammer and I don't
even need to be actually unconscious. This is when I simply
allow my unconscious to do all the heavy lifting for me
creatively. It is the use of this method that has allowed me to
write quickly when working as a newspaper reporter and to
generate several books while also working a demanding full-time
job and going to school.
This method falls back on the age-old advice to "sleep on a
problem". Have you ever been worried about a decision or
struggled to remember something important before bedtime only to
wake up the next morning with the answer sharp and clear in your
mind as if it was a gift from the gods? It is a gift of sort,
but no outside agency delivered it to you. The answer was
supplied to you by your greatest creative ally-your subconscious.
Unconscious creativity uses the power of the unconscious mind.
The simplest technique is incubation, where after thinking about
the challenge consciously for some time, it is put to one side
and left for a while. Often a solution will pop into your mind
unbidden, as your mind continues to work on the problem below
your level of awareness.
The human brain is a beautiful, highly-functional instrument and
yet we utilize so little of its power. Our unconscious does
amazing things for us. It helps with our daily coordination
needed for useful tasks such as walking, eating, breathing,
driving. It stores memories for us, it keeps a check on those
things that are truly important to us (our values), it reminds
us what we believe. Most of the time it does these things (and a
myriad more) without us even having to consciously think about
it - that's why it's called the unconscious, by the way!
However, it does something even more wonderful: it is able to
sift and sort vast quantities of data (things we have seen,
heard, said, felt, smelt, tasted) and recognize patterns and
generate ways of responding. It sometimes does this in
wonderfully creative ways. We often overlook the potential of
our unconscious mind and instead let it worry about such trivia
as our dental hygienist's name and whether or not we remembered
to buy peanut butter. However, it doesn't have to be that way.
Using the unconscious as a creative tool is very simple.
Spend some time consciously thinking about your writing task or
challenge. What are the parameters of the project? What are the
special requirements? What ideas do you have already? What
specific questions do you need to work on further? Sometimes
even spending some time jotting down the ideas you have is a
good idea. Don't work on shaping or organizing them. Just record
them on paper or computer file. You may not even need them
later, but the process of recording them can be a helpful way to
prepare your subconscious for its task.
Then forget about it! That's right. Move on with your life and
consciously think about something else. Revise another project.
Read something for education or pleasure.
The incubation time varies according to your creative
personality and of course the size of the project at hand. I've
found a few days usually works best although even giving myself
a few hours can be beneficial. Doing something physical is often
helpful during the incubation period and sometimes this is the
only time I really get my gardening or housework accomplished!
When I am working on a novel I allow my subconscious to work
scene by scene through the book and often when I sit down at the
computer I find the words just flow throw me as the scene plays
itself in my head almost like a movie. I have heard of several
authors who are able to program their dreams so they are
literally writing in their sleep. Dreams can be as vivid as a
painting, as resonant as music, and as symbolic as poetry. Using
this method I can often write a scene a day (sometimes in less
than an hour) which is fairly decent progress while
simultaneously working full-time and maintaining a life.
While it is often frightening to think about trusting something
as important as the writing project of your heart to your
subconscious, it might help to remember that your brain is a
muscle of sorts. Your unconscious mind controls many muscle
functions for you all the time (try thinking about the way that
you walk while you actually walk. I always trip when I think too
much about the action of walking and yet I don't trip when I'm
not thinking about it.)
The same is true for great athletes. They talk about being in
the zone. The zone is simply the place where they can act and
react without consciously thinking about what needs to be done.
The body and unconscious mind handle all the details. Thinking
too hard can actually interfere with the zone and this is true
of writing as well. Interestingly, a recent study of
professional and amateur golfers showed that the amateur golfers
had significantly more conscious activity when playing a shot
than did the professionals. I would bet something similar would
result if experienced and novice writers were studied.
So give unconscious creativity a try and see how far it takes
you. Simply program your subconscious and then leave it alone to
incubate for a while. It may take some time to find the method
of tapping into your subconscious after your incubation period.
For some freewriting or journaling serve to unlock the fruits of
your unconscious labor. Usually, I sit myself down and begin the
task at hand. It is often slow-going at first but I force myself
forward and at some point my subconscious kicks in and the words
start flowing and the keyboard starts clicking away.
Best of luck with your writing!