Writing Practice Prescription

My mantra of recent times has been, “Why pop a pill when you can get better with pen and paper?” Not always, of course, but often. Expressive and quick speed writing forces you into a state where thoughts begin to flow onto the paper–or computer screen should you write on the computer. (I do. I like to be able to read what I have written afterwards. This is not always possible when I write with pen and paper.)

I think this type of writing helps a great deal because a lot of chronic diseases or the impact of them spring from hidden distress and retained anger. Writing provides clarity that brings other options. Or as our grandmothers and mentors alway say, “Don’t get angry. Get clear.” In addition, writing things down provides an opportunity to reflect and the reconsider how to proceed.

In our WellWriting Workshops, we often hear our attendees question whether or not they could get the same emotive clarity and release through fiction writing. Today, I came across a blog post at Babblelogue that addresses that question.

The author of the post tells of a lecture she attended and then relates how a recent trip to Turkey was “bugging” her to the point that her experience of the here and now was interrupted. Then:

“As usual I began to write down my thoughts, and just allowed my pen to move across the page and spell out whatever came into my mind. As usual this activity began to bring some relief to my emotional state, and then, as sometimes happens during this process I had a real “light-bulb” moment, a sudden insight into what it was that had been bugging me. And I felt tons better from that.

But then things got even better. My imagination started to kick in, and I started to make up a story founded in my emotional mess. I found it was really easy to transfer all my stuff onto a totally made-up character, and allow her then to take up the reins for where it all might lead. Doing this also strenghtened the permission I gave myself to explore more deeply some stuff that was previously making me feel really uncomfortable. I could pretend, through the medium of my own imagination, that the things I’d been experiencing weren’t actually mine, and this made them much more accessible and acceptable to me.”

My experience echoes this. I have not written much fiction but when I have ventured into those waters, I have experienced the “watching” of my fictional character take me into places I would not have explored without her.

Try this as an exercise: take something that is nagging you and then make up a character who can stew in the same nagging juices you are feeling. Write what he or she will do next by letting your pen just spill the story out. Try it. You might like it.

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I think that Babblelogue is a fun, upbeat blog. Why not take a stroll over there now and check out all more posts. To do so, click here.