When you write every day, magic happens. For several weeks now, I’ve been writing daily, doing a blog, writing for the Standleague website and working on a few short stories. Yesterday I was doing a story for StandLeague and instead of wrestling with one thought at a time — finishing that thought, then searching under the couch and in dark mental corners for the next one — the thoughts began lining up of their own accord.
A queue of ideas assembled and some of them were from far afield, not seemingly related to what I was writing, but as soon as I was ready for the next thought, the thought and its connections magically appeared.
I experienced a similar thing several years ago, writing The Incarnation of Edda Ritter. I began writing each morning at 6 a.m., and finished at 7:30. Up from sleep, I had only a few vague ideas of what I would write about that day. But like E.L. Doctorow said:”Writing a novel is like driving at night. You can only see as far as the headlights, but if you keep driving you will get to your destination.”
So I would begin, and mentally a blank area would form in front of me. I would start writing a few words, the thoughts would line up in order as I began typing faster and faster to keep up. Minor characters would appear, say things and do things that I had not anticipated. The story would take form, not always in the way I had thought it would. And days later the minor character that appeared from nowhere would play a major role in the story as it developed. Magic
Creativity may not be real magic, but as the effort lifts off, pure creation is the closest thing I can think of.
