The second part of this article will discuss on the seven I’s, as listed by Piirto (2018), that can help writers to write; inspiration, intuition, insight, improvisation, incubation, imagery and imagination.

We have all heard this question or even questioned it to someone else; where did you get your inspiration?

 

Piirto (2018) mentioned four sources of inspiration; love, dream, travel and other’s works. When you want to write romance novels, you must have some sort of inspiration from either someone else’s love story or your own.

 

Or you could also be listening to a love song and suddenly feeling like “I want to write a story based on this song”. The same scenario can happen when you had a dream and felt like that was the best dream and you just have to share it to the whole world. Or your fabulous family trip or graduation trip that ended up cancelled due to the whole pandemic. Or reading some else’s work, like I am right now reading Piirto’s (2018) article and came up with this idea for this article. Be inspired, for you never know, when one day, you are someone else’s inspiration.

The next two I’s, to me, are very much related. Intuition and insight. That gut feeling you had in you that the story you are about to write will be the next hit and stood high on the bookstores’ best seller shelves. And as you write your artwork, you will encounter moments where you go “THIS IS IT!”. Have them. Feel them. Never lose it, and make it work. Believe me, it will work.

 

The next I that can help you is the skill to improvise. Improvisation is very important in any sorts of writings. What does it mean to improvise here? Does it mean to cover up an accident you had in your work? Or in other words, fake it until you make it? While that is what generally improvisation sounded, but here, we are talking more of speaking from the heart. Allowing yourself to put “yourself” in your work. Write will all your heart without ignoring the status quo. If you need to create a new language that only you and your characters understand, do it. Improvise. Of course, coming up with something from your heart and new is never easy. That is why, incubation is very much important. The moments when you just do nothing and not thinking about your work. In another fancy term, R&R; rest and relax.

 

The last two I’s can be quite confusing, as they are quite similar, but not quite the same. Imagery and imagination. Just the sound of it screams “what is the difference?”. Imagery is when you see the visuals such as how chair looks like, or how a fashionista dresses in their daily life, or how the sound of a 15 years in experience singer sang, or even the smell of a rotten body by the dumpster. Those are imageries, something that can be related to the real deal. Imagination, on the other hand, is something that is derived from the imageries, and turned into something out of ordinary. A fashion designer dressed the model in haute couture, but the designer dressed in a very low budget attire, or even a three headed snake battling a giant ant. In imagination, the sky is the limit. Go wild.

 

The last part of this article is highlighted by Rull, Outram and Taylor (2014) on where and when should you work on your piece. This may seem like a trivial thing to a point when I started writing, I did not understand the importance of it, but choosing the right location to write is very important. In which setting can you write? In your own room, or in a café, or maybe in a library? What about the brightness? Do you prefer darker rooms, or rooms with full brightness? It is different for every writer. When I started writing, I like writing in a classroom or anywhere else besides my own room, but as pandemic happened, I learnt how to write in my own room and not get sleepy.

 

Then, what about the noise? Do you like to turn on loud music, or calming ones? Or do you put on speaker, or simply plugged in your earpiece? Or do you prefer the place to be as silent as “A Quiet Place”? What about your own position? Do you write while sitting on a chair or lying on your bed? Or maybe cross-sitting on the floor? Ask yourself these questions. Write something or a topic out of your comfort zone, but write in your comfort zone.

 

The next element is the time. When do you feel like the most productive? During the day? Middle of the night? It is useful to align your writing time with the time of the day that you feel most productive. When will you start working on it? Or maybe whenever you feel hungry? Or right after you finished that long-delayed workout you promised yourself weeks ago? One advice, in deciding and understanding yourself better, please do not neglect your daily needs and your health.

 

Last but not least, here are some reminders for all writers out there. As much as it is important to know of all these discussion points, it is also important to always remember that the one that is writing the masterpiece is you. You, and not that writer that you adore so much. We all have our own style, our own time. Make peace with yourself before you start your work. Allow yourself to always be in the best condition so you can always write the best artwork to be showcased to the whole world. Self-development is very important. You may not have all those attitudes of a writer now, but you can slowly develop yourself. There is only one of us in this world, so do not pressure yourself to become someone else. Sure, there is a template on becoming that super successful writer but who is to say that you are not one of the successful writers? Keep it up. You are almost there.

 

“The discipline is to work whether you’re producing a lot or not, because the day you are producing a lot is not necessarily your best day” (Brooks, 1995, p. 158).

 

For Part 1, Five Core Attitudes of Writer, click here:

https://store.pelangibooks.com/blog/creative-writing-part-1-five-core-attitudes-of-a-writer

 

REFERENCES

Barbot, B., Tan, M., Randi, J., Santa-Donato, G., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2012). Essential skills for creative writing: Integrating multiple domain-specific perspectives. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 7(3), 209-223.

Brooks, J. (1995). Interview with Chinua Achebe: The art of fiction, CXXXVIV. Paris Review, 133, pp. 142-166.

Piirto, J. (2018). The Creative Process in Writers: Perspectives from Multiple Domains. 10.1057/978-1-137-50563-7_4.

Rull, L., Outram, L., & Taylor, B. (2014). Planning and preparing to write assignments an academic.

 

Article written by:

HCB (Ha ChanByeol)

Reading Spirit Publication