Without-Feathers.com

When I stepped from hard manual work to writing, I just stepped from one kind of hard work to another.
Sean O’Casey

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Setting the Mood

Miscellany

Are you going through a slump? Do you find yourself grasping at any excuse to put off your writing just one more week, one more day, one more hour? Or are you sitting in front of the computer right now, fingers poised over the keys but your mind a total blank? Don’t worry; it might not be full-blown writer’s block. Maybe you just need to jog your Muse awake. Here are some ways I put myself in the right mood for writing; maybe they’ll help you, too.

1. Get away from it all.
Imagine you want to have a romantic evening with your partner of choice (spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, Severus Snape, Richard Dean Anderson... or maybe all of them at once... sorry, I digress). Now, where would you rather go for your nice romantic tete-a-tete: a quiet little garden with a wooden swing and a good view of the starry night sky, or a rock concert full of screaming, bouncing teenagers and a band whose amped-up guitars and pounding drums are loud enough to shatter your eardrums?

Okay, that analogy sucked. But I think you got the point, right? No? Well, the point was that quiet is more conducive to thought and reflection than noise and crowds. Think of your Muse as your lover, and plan a date accordingly. Find a nice quiet room, someplace with a lock on the door. Tell everyone in the house they have to knock before they enter, and they’d better not knock unless the house is on fire. Turn off the phone—you’re only going to be unreachable for an hour or so; if there’s a real emergency and someone needs to reach you, they’ll send a cop to your house. (Yeah, it’s callous, but you have to be harsh if you’re going to get yourself in the mood, you know.)

2. Set your words to music.
No, I don’t mean that you should write an original score to accompany your story—although, if that helps, go right ahead. What I meant was that you shouldn’t think that to write you have to have perfect silence. In this day and age, most of us are surrounded by noise 24/7; the sudden and complete absence of noise might startle your brain and jostle your ideas away for awhile. Instead of stark, unsettling silence, why not put on some mood music instead?

If you can write while listening to songs with words, that’s fine; I, personally, find that distracting. You might want to put on foreign songs, classical tunes, or movie soundtracks, so you don’t end up focusing on the words and singing along. Movie soundtracks are really good for writing, as they can sweep you quickly into any mood. If you’re writing, say, a fantasy story, why not pop in one of the Lord of the Rings albums?

If you can’t get off into a room by yourself, put some headphones on and shut your eyes. Put the music in and just listen for awhile. If you’re working on a story, picture it in your head like a movie; assign certain songs to certain characters and scenes. If you’re working on a poem, just listen to the notes; you’ll find your mind catching the rhythm and rhyme of the music as if it’s a poem itself. Soon you’ll probably feel inspired to start writing. You’ll be amazed at how your mind and the music have conspired to help you write.

3. Read a favorite book.
“Read a book?!” you say, aghast. “I’m trying to write here! Reading someone’s finished manuscript is only going to depress me at best, and subconsciously encourage me to plagiarize at worst!”

Just shut up and listen for a minute, ’kay? Reading a good book can get you in the mood quicker than almost any other technique. In all probability, you’re already emulating your favorite author (consciously or subconsciously). It’s okay to emulate, as long as you’re not actively plagiarizing. So sit down and grab your favorite work by your favorite author, and dive right in. Absorb the language, the cadence, the aura. When you put the book down and take up your pen, you’ll find that your great ideas have been simmering in equally great words, and now they’re cooked to perfection!

For More Help

• Finding the Discipline to Write
• 50 Strategies for Making Yourself Work