Anniversary Post - Nine Conclusions

It is time to take some inventory in the form of consolidation. The content of this blog has raised many possibilities but what does experience do when informed by the regiment of a conscious strategy, aimed at clarifying the transitional and mysterious? Theories abound regarding the refinement of techniques developed to enhance creativity, so in the spirit of adding to this body of reference, a list of observations has been distilled. Possibly, the following methods may be of some small use to those who strive to refine regular access to an imagination which is expected to produce clear and lucid writing. May we continue to seek and expand conscious awareness.

Segregate the Creative Experiment:

   New insight brings fresh approach and these bright, new, optimistic vantage points can offer the potential for growth. It is tempting to ride these up draughts of inspiration and discard the work-in-progress with some renewed approach. It is tempting to re-work old material in the direction of fresh inspiration but this can prove problematic if the development of the manuscript does not realize.
   Creative energy, like flowing water seeps and permeates and a resolve to discard what we might suspect as falling below expectation can be carried away on the impulsive nature of this energizing force. Experiment carefully and not in the spirit of shame or tyranny. The ruthlessness of a poised will is apt to desire a clear cut space to continue but often, re-visiting material we have deemed unsatisfactory might yield to later inspection.
   Keep new direction and ideas apart, at least initially from what has already been recorded. A writer’s ego is fickle.

Connect Particulars:

   Within the heady currents of activated writing, there is a powerful desire to ride the momentum of emerging experience. It is exhilarating to write from the engaged imagination but caution must be considered when roaring past details we are shown within this process, delaying the incorporation of these particulars to a later stage in editing. It is assured the original vantage point of a work-in-progress will shift and it is equally likely that with that shift, essential details will become lost.
   Carefully take the time to consider how these unique aspects of a story are expected to connect. Creative introspection, within the rush of creation will always yield a richer insight for it is within these nuanced details that the fine craftsmanship will be earned.
   Balancing the temptation to become obsessed with minutiae should be considered; this is a focus too close to the mundane yet skidding over questions of relevance and integrated application should be connected within the act of initial creation.

Remain Patient:

Work carefully; record mindfully. Structure the writing schedule to allow for even and balanced sessions. Pace is essential and relief lies in dosage.
   Do not force the river.

Divide Tasks:

   Unrealistic ambition can crush a writer’s resolve. The conscious mind has great challenges placed upon the lens of it’s capabilities and relying solely on the intuition to guide this transference will likely result in outcomes being less than what they might be if we were to assist with a clear and coherent structure.
   Retracting the conscious part of the writer’s mind, up towards the executive functioning compartment will enable the engaged writer to progress selectively and if possible, comprehensively. Above all else: a working writer strives for measured evenness in the day-to-day work and shifting focus to different requirements pertinent to the creation of a lucid manuscript will be beneficial to this harmony. Growth in technique and endurance will follow.

Adhere to a Timeline:

Arguably, one of the more obstinate challenges of regular writing is simply arranging the time to sit down to get into the matter at hand. This is precious opportunity and being such should be carefully guarded to allow for the many stations of writing a book.
   Design compassionately the schedule you believe possible and then defend this plan by adhering to it’s indications. In this way, anxiety which arises from encroaching demands not connected to the act of the creative work can be minimized; overall coherence is productive.

Sustain Lyrical Sequence:

   The phasmagoria of a working imagination is unique and dependant on the conscious will recording the lyricism of emerging image and symbol. This is the creative gold and as the writer hits upon the more expansive and mystical moments in this labour unique of creation, this expansion should be fulfilled as it occurs. The alchemy will not be repeated in the same rapture of lucid engagement.

Update Your Worldview:

   The working writer struggles for constant flow; it is damn hard work to write well. Take moments within scheduled writing sessions to refresh the taxed mind. The clarity afforded by a gentle process will ensure strong endurance and allow for the inter-locking mechanisms of creative writing to refresh.
   Avoid excessive re-reading. Do something else, briefly-yet-mindfully that is not part of the intimate exchange. The respect we lend towards our own emerging creative vision will pay dividends of renewed enthusiasm and sustained vitality.

Balance Amplification:

   Pertinent to re-writing and in particular editing, the writer who moderates the mandatory extension of initial work will emerge with revitalized clarity and consistent resolve. The challenges of re-entering landscapes recorded earlier in the writing process can be a easy source of frustration. This is not always a straightforward re-engagement and if forced, may result in shallow or unsatisfactory elaboration.
    Once again: be gentle, be patient in the demanding of further detail from a busy imagination. Entitlement will likely result in egress.

Release Emotion

   Oh! How we do feel as we write. So many moods, so much proxy emotion passes through that whirling mind. It can be exhilarating; it can be arresting. Looping.
The estimation of current ability will surely migrate through a dazzling range of potentialities and great effort must be exercised if we wish to sustain lucidity and the keenness of focus required for clear and comprehensive emotionalism.
   Finding methods to release the conjured emotions and imported feelings will help the conscious will and activated imagination to sustain their delicate balance.
   So many writers riding the waves of imaginary action - how are we not to be overcome by the source of these potent influences? By taking action to release currents of feeling, we shall be caring for our own mental health and also for the purity of intention we wish to establish within the perimeters of fictional characters. It will be through conscious maintenance of these potent, inter-changing emotions that shall ensure respectful communion with the sacred muse who illuminates the intoxication ambitions of an uncultivated mind.

  {All images from 'Aurora Consurgens'}

Sanctuary

We approach a writing place expecting to meet the demands of creative ambition.

Inside this world where we sit to work, a writer prepares for transformation—that magical view where the vanishing point of everyday consciousness merges into the fields of imagination. We rebuke distraction yet fiddle & pace. Will something inspire the mind above the ordinary? Is there a view to be gazed upon which will release the torrent of inspired words yearned to capture?

We stare at our fingernails; we check email.

The hours passed inside this womb of potential, combines to serve as a gestation period for the greatest work. A writer should be permitted to include an appendix in their finished product so the reader can more fully understand the time invested in what we endeavour to produce for either entertainment or enlightenment.

In the summer months, we sit worried & pale. When it is cold outside, our faces flush & glow with the frustration of not being able to communicate what simply must be expressed.  Out there, in that outside world which is not yet privilege to the mechanics of ardent imagination, people endeavour things with the hope of producing tremendous reaction

How many times do we lament the vacuum?

Would it not be wonderful to have a beautiful companion, unencumbered by any schedule but the diligent writer’s? Someone who would patiently & carefully read what we labour to create, then lavish us with wise & supportive feedback? Every writer should be blessed with such support but inside the workplace, alas—it is just us, the developing manuscript and whatever else we might require to get a story moving. And so toils the process, incubated within a solitary luxury of the writing sanctuary.

                       {Images by Juul Kraijer}

A Moral Warehouse

One way we might hasten the guile of imagination is through the versatility of vocabulary. Simultaneous translation between the screen of fantastic awareness in the mind & the physical mechanics of writing is the craft of the word-smith, reduced. The greater the scope of available words to identify, then describe  sequences generated in our mind's eye, the richer, the more accurate the language we are able to capture.

Once fully activated, the focus of creativity moves like the lens of a camera, What has been witnessed during these flashes of fantasy must be carved into clear & lucid language—we begin to tell our story in the logic of words. The greater the storehouse of options to draw from in detailing this vision, the more original & succinct the sentences intended to engage a reader.

Once the blood is pumping & attention is reflecting action contained within the planes of imagination, another world opens. We smell, we can taste & hear the imaginary; we touch what is unreal & aspire to re-create these experiences in a string of carefully chosen words. These words flow from a lexicon built through education & experience. There is energy which builds when original writing emerges. Each fresh unit compels & we challenge the reader to keep pace with what is unfolding. In this fusion, we lose self-consciousness to ride the crest of an incoming wave. The is satisfaction in revealing the monumental intention of literary ambition.

Can writers behave like scientists & strive to isolate subtle variables which operate close to the mystery of an activated imaginations? The imaginary is a moral universe. Can we guide that world consciously or are we required to permit events to unfold as they must?

The vision which guides a developing work will change —experience understands this. Is it wise or even possible to impose our own intellect on the line of a developing narrative, like someone reaching over from the passenger seat to correct a driver’s course? Do we have an obligation to allow our characters to do as they are compelled, keeping our own moral code away from their unique destinies? What happens if we are frightened by what we have created?

There are opinions defining the moral authority of a writer but is one course of action more appropriate than another?

{Images by the Limbourg Brothers}

A Metric for Merit

Once free to construct, an imagination serves as the primary source of potential for whatever the writer desires to put forth into the public domain. Yet in this freedom, the creative aspect must operate within constraints of coherence, tone & ideally theme. Writers do not sit at their desks to permit the mind to spin wild & reckless. We are required to work within strict boundaries; intelligence must maintain established structure & this guiding intelligence is honed by experience.

In private worlds we sense what will not work. Experience & a threshold of tolerance will determine boundaries needed for coherence. Through the mechanics of imagination & critical judgment, creative work is brought into manifestation. This tandem of sensibilities, this co-operation bridging different hemisphere of the brain is essential if we do not wish to waste time or energy on indulgence. Concentration filters content which has no place in a developing work.

Writing requires sacrifice. This offering is expected in many varying forms: in time, with focus & perhaps mostly: the scope of concentration. Why is it that imagination will only loosen-up when it knows we are providing its contents our full attention?

With sacrifice comes expectation. Once we have met the inflexible demands of a waiting Muse, it is natural to believe we shall be rewarded. Confidence is born so we begin to write; if ambitious & persistent, several pages of worthy merit may be captured.

There is a sense of relief in this release; our compromises have been worth the loss endemic to them. Yet there is no guarantee that these dribs & drabs will be of any literary worth every time we activate the effort. They might perhaps be the gunk which needs to be drained as the sacred well primes cleaner material.

Feelings of attachment are fragile towards fresh material; a wash of pride can dissolve into a drain of shame in one sitting. These emotions are a major handicap in assembling work of enduring quality. The rush of joy which accompanies perceived quality is no guarantee of overall viability.

There is neither a proportional relationship, nor an inverse one, between a writer’s estimation of a work in progress & its actual  quality. The feeling that the work is magnificent, & the feeling that is abominable are both mosquitoes to be repelled, ignored, or killed, but not indulged.
                             — Annie Dillard

{Paintings by Leonora Carrington}

                 

The Leap

We so often hear writers exalt “Discipline” as the mitigating factor for whether they meet with success or disappointment in their craft. It is the power of a will activated that facilitates an act of writing—this is the primary engine driving the power of a pen. Yet is it not trust which ultimately leads to the treasure of work that is joyous & surprising? Is it not the leap we take in pursuing what cannot be known for certain?

If imagination is to inspire, then guide us through the process of creating lucid writing, we must give it the trust required to not only build a foundations but also the form & structure of design.
It is this trust in a process which proves to sharpen with experience; it is imagination fueled by faith.

Trust can prove a demanding mindset. If inter-woven with the expectations of doubt, it might wander. As imagination begins to unravel pieces of a compelling narrative, all we are required to do is believe this will continue. We must relyon inevitability yet are so often compelled to impose upon this process.

Painters understand this trust, this working backwards to fill negative space with shape & colour. Though an overall impression may not have emerged, they continue plodding & applying material, confident in eventual coherence. Painters can cheat no more than writers. Doubt will cause the impulse to manufacture random connections & this can spoil the purity of what might be accomplished if patience is sustained.

Trust is the secret ingredient which enables the exceptional.

{Images by Dilcia Giron }

The Impact of Sacrifice

When we consciously examine the role imagination plays in generating the myriad functions needed to construct a manuscript, some awe is sure to follow. Not only is the creative mind required to generate detailed images & realistic scenes, often woven from unique experience & sense memory, we also require these pieces fit together. Only creative necessity could be so vast & cunning.

A successful writer's imagination provides uniformity in tone & theme; in sequence & the logic of continuity. For the working writer, a hidden loom of potential must operate through conscious will, so often motivated by fickle whims of ego yet required to distinguish a difference; so often forced to survive on the barest nourishment for inspiration—what else would be so loyal to an overall vision of the world?

Is the power of imagination enhanced by acknowledging sacrifices made to release the mysterious currents? Does it factor that we shun family & friends, forgo social engagements or isolate through boredom & disappointment?

Probably not.

We deny life excitement in order to build a more intimate relationship with this baffling mechanism, housed somewhere in the depths of creative ambition. These sacrifices are the obligation which permits access. Sometimes, when I have really struggled to get some good writing down, I am tempted to cherish that work beyond the merits it possesses. I suspect this is because it has cost me something from reserves to create yet this is no guarantee of quality or applicability.

The ego demands recompense & if I do not watch for these indulgences, I will saturate & clutter the text with superfluous guilt of compromise.


{Painting by Marzena Lavrilleux }

The Perils of Editing

When writers sit to work, we soon discover that a great deal can happen in one day. An activated imaginations can lead into places impossible to reach through a simple shift in physical geography. We can be pulled through deeply rooted personal memories, unattainable by regular reflection; we can be placed before emotional consequence we feel entirely unprepared to negotiate.

What informs the path of writing so carefully assembled through choice of words? How can writers remain confident that one series of scenes or notions, followed through imagination, will benefit the story we endeavour to tell? We devise the opportunity to work, reducing distractions & any potential conflict to writing time, so how can we guarantee the language captured will fit into the vague, overall conception which is understood through occasional glimpses?

How we manage to edit as we create will assist in this mysterious process of intuitively recognizing the useful strands of an overall vision. The threshold of experience is critical in detecting differences.

Imagination may be of use in this grading of quality: fragments offering no merit will become easily obstructed & resist inspection from different viewpoints within the narrative. These obtuse sections are what must be sacrificed & even though beautifully constructed, if they serve no purpose to overall coherence, they must be sacrificed. Their elimination requires a type of ruthlessness that effective writers administer with a combination of regret for what-must-go & the hope that something more supportive will emerge to replace what has been deleted.

Still—this instinct to cull the superfluous or misleading might be influenced by disappointment. Judgment can be confused under the evaporating effects of guiding vision. Is it better to axe-out what we suspect is extraneous immediately or wait to see if a place emerges further into the work? If we risk loading down a story with beautiful-yet-incongruous sections, we might find ourselves unable to build the narrative we suspect.

Uncertainty prevails: if material is discarded too soon, there is a risk of whittling down potential of the initial vision which first compelled. The dilemma pits protective instincts against jurisprudence & a desire to be tacit.

Can a compromise be settled somewhere between these polarized instincts? Can we build a relationship between a firing imagination & the conscious part which needs to assemble what has been surfaced?

{Images by Jonathan Meese}