When you start using your writer’s intuition, it is like another person joins your literary party.
Before I discovered my writer’s intuition it was just me and my creative muse. Now, I know this will come as a shock to most of you, but my creative muse is very much like me – bat poop crazy! This is why we get on so well and spend so much time together…in a darkened room. Once I started listening to my writer’s intuition it was like a sensible person had joined our literary party.
There are several stages to discovering the existence of your writer’s intuition and listening to it:
- Literary Euphoria. You are experiencing a powerful literary high. Your half-finished draft sounds so good it would make a literary agent’s eyes water and if a publisher read it now they would struggle to contain their excitement. As you sit back in your chair and admire your masterpiece you get a wonderful new idea. Instead of sticking with your original plot plan, maybe you could throw caution to the wind and take your story in a different direction. Yes! This would make it seriously AMAZING. A little voice, from somewhere deep inside you, tries to stop this madness, but it is sadly drowned out by a glorious trumpet fanfare. With an excited squeal you and your creative muse leap into action. All your characters are informed that things are going to change.
- Mistaken Identity. A few thousand words later and things are not looking so bright. You are not feeling yourself. Nothing you do seems to shake off this weird sensation in the pit of your stomach. It came on when you decided to completely change the direction of your novel. You put the weird sensation down to a case of ‘dodgy guts’ and ask a loved one for some stomach settlers. Having that take-away meal last night probably wasn’t wise and guzzling down all that wine didn’t help too. The weird sensation in your belly persists. You come to the conclusion it’s fibre related and start bulk buying prunes and dates.
- Denial. In a conversation with a close writer friend you explain that you have made drastic changes to your draft novel and coincidently ever since you made these sweeping changes you have been suffering with a severe case of ‘gut rot!’ Your writer friend asks whether the two incidents are related. They are most certainly NOT related. The only thing your gut is trying to tell you is that you need to eat more prunes!
- Discovery. Two thousand more words later and you start to wonder whether your gut is trying to tell you something. Gasp! Maybe that weird feeling is connected to this new direction you have taken with your draft? Cue the return of that little voice which tried to argue with you at the start of this wild goose chase. It told you that taking your story off in a different direction wasn’t a good idea and that you should have carried on with your original plan. You read through the new bits of your draft and you find yourself whispering ‘maybe you had a point!’
- Hope. The moment you decide to go back and delete the ‘new direction’ stuff the weird sensation in your gut disappears. Gasp! What a relief! This literary experience has taught you that the little voice inside you is your writer’s intuition. It is there to give you guidance and to stop you and your creative muse from going bat poop crazy! The hard bit is listening to it.
In terms of using your writers intuition here are some cool tips:
- Listen to your inner self when writing. Pay attention to strong hunches, weird sensations, not feeling right about something and on the flip side those odd literary moments where you know you are on the right lines, you can’t explain why, but you know you just have to keep going.
- Meditate. It’s tough to start doing but it does force you to be alone with your thoughts. You can’t help but listen to that little inner voice.
- Don’t make rash creative decisions. I love making rash decisions but I am starting to learn (the hard way) that my original plan was always the best policy.
- Accept that your writer’s intuition is going to be unpopular. Nine times out of ten neither you or your creative muse will like what your writer’s intuition is saying. Yes it will sound like a literary party pooper but do yourself a favour and listen to it!
Let me know whether you rate your writer’s intuition? Are you using it and more importantly do you listen to it?
Have a great day!
Photo: Upsplash
I like your posts and I love your user name even more. Definitely unique and different.
Hey thx – happy Sunday BTW 🙋🏼
Pleasure
Yay to meditation!! I did a sound healing session this week and found it to be very helpful for grounding and working through my ideas. All I need now are tiny bells on my writing fingers😉 Great post x
Thx Shelley – I was doing regular meditation. Then stopped and started making crazy literary decisions. Ignored my intuition. Need to start doing it again!
It’s too easy to let ‘real life’ get in the way of what’s good for us. I’ve been having acupuncture over the past couple of months and following every session I have to deal with a ‘bad day’ as all the nasty energy seeps out of me – I tried to keep going but my intuition told me to let everything go and listen to my body. It took time but I’m getting better at it.
I hear voices … my female muse leads me on … my intuition … usually female too … changes mind a lot! Methinks perhaps I shouldn’t have been born with dangley bits.?
😂 oh Eric – I look forward to you making an appearance on my blog – happy Sunday!
Surely it’s usually your writer’s intuition telling you to change track because you’re beginning to feel that the first idea either won’t work work or can be improved.
It can be this too. Lately in my situation it’s been me not listening to my intuition. Thx for reading and happy Sunday!
Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
Reblogged this on firefly465.
Thank you – happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday too🙂
My creative muse is so strong & argumentative! She often wins…
She’s like mine!!! My creative muse gets me into trouble and leads me astray!
See, It’s normal! *sigh of relief*
Hang on….are you saying I am normal??
Oops, my kind of normal😉 Although I warn you that is not the same thing. No no, entirely different and sometimes confusing.🙂
Ha ha. You have this down to an art. My intuition and I bicker like a couple old ladies. No wonder I don’t get enough done. 😀
I am amazed I get anything done – what with my naughty creative muse and my sensible, boring writer’s intuition. Things get quite heated and stuffy in my little literary car!
😀 Keep a stray bottle handy. Might become useful for a cool down. 😀 😀
You know, this is interesting. I like how you’ve separated your muse from your writer’s intuition. Nice post. And, yes to meditation. I’m still trying to find a good app to guide me along…
So many imaginary people on my literary journey! Wish I had a minute to myself 🙄🙄
Can’t you tuck them away in a box for the afternoon?
Hi Lucy Happy Sunday. My intuition is usually quite good but whipping it into line occasionally shows it whos boss. It is when you are (as Iam on the last leg and a character decides to do soe random thing that I hadn’t allowed for and that thing looks interesting your intuition says “Yep he is right that is so much better than your crummy idea” *punch* Now you are no longer on the home stretch because if he does THAT! It will alter the last third of your almost done revising manuscript. I hate it when intuition knows better than me… but he does. 😇
Yes I hate it too when my intuition knows better than me. Really struggling at the moment with mine – hope it gets easier ☺️
Well we just have to go with it if your post is right.
Sigh!
Oh and Lucy your blog is making me sad. There are no tulips outside and and you’re banner is reminding me that it will be FOR EVER until they are. *humpf* and I am on a diet so am grumpy…
Hey – I know the feeling! I need light and warmth. It’s going to be a long winter 😞
Hi Lucy!
I enjoyed your post! My writer’s intuition is sometimes at war with my openness and hunger for feedback. When someone offers me a critique on my writing I often take their advice, tweaking this or that. Most of the time, this is incredibly helpful. Sometimes, it’s disastrous. One industry professional suggested I switch the gender of my MC. I toyed with the idea, questioning if maybe they were right and I was wrong. I re-wrote a chapter, then two. . . then, as your post suggests, I felt like throwing up. I stopped writing. I drank a glass of water. (Okay wine, it was wet and I was thirsty.)
Ultimately, while I respect the advice, changing this important detail would fundamentally change the theme of the novel. I can’t say for sure that the theme is perfect, or meaningful as it stands today, but my intuition told me to stand up for it. Not because I don’t want to listen to the feedback, but because the path this change suggests isn’t a place I’m interested in going. In the end, if I’m not interested in writing it, and I’m only doing it because some little voice (outside my head or inside of it) told me too, then the integrity of the whole effort falls apart. I’m not the only one working on my novels, there are lots of people contributing to the story, but I’m the captain of the ship. If I allow it to run aground, there’s no one to blame but me.
Thanks for a great read!
That is such a great comment!! My problem is that I don’t feel like the captain of my ship and somehow I need to get that feeling back! Thank you for this fab comment! Happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday to you!
I thoroughly enjoyed this post because it makes me feel better about my attempts to write something good. I don’t think I’ve met my “writer’s intuition” but I’ll keep going and hope she shows up soon!
Hey thx for reading 😊 and tweeting!
You’re welcome! Enjoying your blog!
YAYY Meditation! Oh gosh the benefits!!!!! I write lots on that it seems🙂 Crazy spiritual me😉
I have stopped meditating (eye roll) and I have made silly decisions. I need to go back to it! Tomorrow!
Hahahahaha don’t we all make silly decisions. Try the 4-7-8 method. Breathe in for 4 with tongue to roof of your mouth, hold for 7 and breathe out in Ina whoosh for 8. Even just quietly breathing for one minute has huge benefits or using cooking etc as an active meditation.
Woah I rambled. I hope it gave a little encouragement though!!! Happy Sunday
Wow love that 4-7-8 method! Thank you
You are very welcome!!!
Lol, my writer’s intuition is subject to the publishing schedule. Once it realizes we’re past the deadline, it has less and less leverage with me.
Nice!! Thank you for reading🙂
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