Ten or Twenty Ideas at a Time
Howard Nemerov, author of Journal of the Fictive Life, was quoted as saying this about ideas:
The reason it takes him “so long between one fiction and the next” is “not not ‘having an idea,’ but having ten or twenty ideas, and having to wait as patiently as possible for the relations among them to reveal themselves. …the mind, unable to bear the richness of consequence entailed upon one idea, forthwith produces another instead.”
Don’t you love it? Having ten or twenty ideas all skittering about in the brain, jumping out of the subconscious into the conscious and back again. Flirting, playing peek-a-boo, playing hide-and-go-seek, playing hard-to-get. Ah the joy, the exhilaration, and intense frustration of it all.
Play the Game
The trick is to play the game. Cooperate. Don’t chase too hard. Let the subconscious do its work with the stewing and simmering process. Your subconscious knows what to do and how to do it. Listen. Be patient. Listen. And then be patient some more.
Ernest Hemingway was said to have had a particular place where he did not think about what he was writing at the time. It was in that place the he "...learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day."
Then he added, “That way my subconscious would be working on it and at the same time I would be listening to other people and noticing everything…”
Someone with the depth of writing experience like Hemingway grew to trust his subconscious with the ideas and the creative flow. He knew how to let it do its thing.
The Professional Novelist's Attitude
When something pops up unexpectedly into the conscious mind, then what? Savvy novelists grab whatever is available to jot notes. Savvy novelists know from experience that the brain cannot be trusted to always remember.
Sooo... how are you and your subconscious getting along today?
Meanwhile, keep on writing…
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