10 Comments

Oh my goodness, this post is a master class in ideas and prompts. Might need to print this up old school and have it handy in my creative space. I love all of these ideas, but mostly the thought about pushing past what we are comfortable with. You are right! I've noticed some of my free writes have the same theme...which can be okay, but I am now wondering if it's because that's the easy route? I wrote about a new topic in Kelsey's class the other day: onions and my intense dislike for them. It actually turned out to be quite humourous and I have fun writing about it. I would never have considered musings on onions without Kelsey's prompt. All good lessons for me! :)

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And absolutely nothing wrong with writing the same thing. But if it's starting to feel like we're stuck in a comfort zone, well, gotta get a little uncomfortable.

Darn comfort zones, way too comfy.

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Lovely article Sonal. Im going to be returning to this over and over. Thanks for this.

Meanwhile, I have a situation which is what made me seek out this article - How does one freewrite freely (haha!) when one has already overthought something and written it/structured it way too many times? I am in a spot where I feel like I know what I've got as an outline for an episode lacks spark - because I've overthought it. Yet when I freewrite, I find my mind turning to the exact same path ...how do I unshackle my mind from what I've already thought of and find something new? Thoughts?

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Great question, Reshmy.

My first thought is to write it as is. Leave all the judgement about "is this stale? Is this overthought?" behind. Because that's the point of freewriting... we let go of judgement.

My second thought is to throw a bomb in the middle of it. Aliens land. A literal bomb goes off. A new character shows up for one episode only and shakes everything up. Something bizarre. Yes, this might shake up the structure for the rest of the series, but so what? That's fine.

If nothing comes to mind, this is a great time to meet with a writing friend or two and start riffing on ideas. Crazy things that can happen. See what sparks. If nothing sparks, try anything. See if it leads anywhere and if it doesn't, what does it tell you about what you definitely don't want?

My final idea is to introduce a constraint. A running joke through the episode or better yet, a structural constraint like Seinfeld's backwards episode. Or a rule where everyone scene has to contain subsequent lines from a song but in a way that seems organic. Something artificial, but that will force you to find new paths. See what comes up.

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What a lovely response-especially the part about not denigrating your work simply because you are not where you want to be yet. You are correct, this is all part of the growth process, knowing that you aren't yet where you want to be but accepting reality on its terms and continuing anyways. Great suggestions :)

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The part about the resistance to going deeper really resonates with me as I think about returning to my book project....

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Glad it resonates. I've noticed for myself that those moments when I need to go deeper are mysteriously the moments when I suddenly remember there's this one thing I need to look up on the internet right now....

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So many great ideas here Sonal! Thanks!!

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Try them out! I think you'll have fun with them.

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I plan to!

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