Can you fake yourself into writing
I have a very pressing deadline, and the pressure is almost paralyzing me.
Today I ran across something Robert Sheckley said in an essay [Aside: I wish I could find the full essay online or figure out how to read it] called "On Working Method." In it, he suggested telling yourself that you're not really writing a story but only a simulation of a story. A simulation has action and characters and tension just like a real story, but since it's not a real story, the words you use aren't crucial. You don't worry about it, you just write it, working "rapidly and with a certain lightness of touch, as one would do a watercolor rather than a painting." He found that his "simulations" looked pretty much like first drafts of his regular stories. He could "only write as I write, not much better or worse."
Today I'm going to write a simulation, not worry about it, just write it.
Here's something I wrote about Robert Sheckley and I once taught a class together: http://aprilhenry.livejournal.com/88610.html
Today I ran across something Robert Sheckley said in an essay [Aside: I wish I could find the full essay online or figure out how to read it] called "On Working Method." In it, he suggested telling yourself that you're not really writing a story but only a simulation of a story. A simulation has action and characters and tension just like a real story, but since it's not a real story, the words you use aren't crucial. You don't worry about it, you just write it, working "rapidly and with a certain lightness of touch, as one would do a watercolor rather than a painting." He found that his "simulations" looked pretty much like first drafts of his regular stories. He could "only write as I write, not much better or worse."
Today I'm going to write a simulation, not worry about it, just write it.
Here's something I wrote about Robert Sheckley and I once taught a class together: http://aprilhenry.livejournal.com/88610.html
~Sunny