Coffee Laced with Plant Food and Other Writing Hazards

The other morning, I was stumbling around the kitchen with my head wrapped around a plot twist that needed unraveling, as I made a pot of coffee. It wasn’t until water was already dripping through the filter that I realized I’d just used the jug with “tap water” scrawled on its side--the one I use to water my plants. Needless to say, I had to throw it all out.  It didn’t make me feel any better to know the water I’d been sipping since the previous night came from the same jug.  I don’t know if plant food is harmful to humans, but I'll let you know if I suddenly have the nagging urge to dig my toes in the sand and follow the sun across the sky.

Photo by Dan Holm

This isn’t the first time my breakfast has suffered because of my inattention.  While busy contemplating a character motivation, I once plopped a raw egg into my coffee mug instead of the frying pan.  I won’t even mention the time I stuck my cell phone in the refrigerator or drove three exits past my destination before I noticed. 
 

I’ve done all kinds of crazy things while my head was busy someplace else.  It’s one of the hazards of being a writer.  I spend a lot of time in my head and for much of the time, that's exactly where I want to be. 

  

NO PLACE LIKE MY HEAD

 

When I’m in my head, I might be exploring worlds that never existed, or walking beside a character who's about to take the wrong path or puzzling about the best way to describe an oak tree’s gentle sway or the color of the sky after a storm.  No matter that I’m supposed to be vacuuming, or washing the car or chatting with friends at a dinner party, I can’t resist the temptation to spin tales or mull over possibilities.  No matter how much it annoys my family and friends, daydreaming is an unavoidable part my writing process. 

Unfortunately this tendency conflicts with another trait important to writers: paying attention.   

BEING PRESENT

 

It’s a paradox that we who most want to escape into the space between our synapses, are also the ones who most need to pay attention to what’s happening in the world around us.  Writers need to be observant of details and to bring those details into their writing.  We need to interact with the world and to understand the people who populate it.  Only then can we bring this insight to the page and infuse our made up stories with relevant kernels of truth and authenticity.
  

We must listen, observe, and drink deep of our lives if our stories are to resonate for the people who read them.  That's all the harder for me since, like so many writers, I'm an introvert. Unlike my more extroverted friends, I'm perfectly happy submerged in the pages of a best-seller or hiding behind walls made up of my own thoughts and musings.  Instead of eating chips and guacamole and trading barbs with friends at a Superbowl party, I’d rather be hunched at my desk tinkering with yet another edit of my Work in Progress.

But somehow, I know a gentle balance must be struck.
                                                                        

‘Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.  Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh

IN THE WORLD AND OF THE WORLD

 

Being present is a zen concept.  For writers, it means stepping outside of our heads and taking the time to focus only on what’s in front of us.  It means concentrating on the scenery we pass when we walk in the woods.  It means making the effort to really get to know the people we interact with everyday.  It means striving for an effective balance between being part of the world and just writing about it.  Between truly living a life instead of just daydreaming about one.  

It’s tough for me to do these things, but I know sometimes it’s what I need most.  And it would make preparing breakfast a lot easier too.

Do you find yourself neglecting other facets of your life to focus on writing or reading?  How do you strike the gentle balance and keep yourself present?

Feed Your Head: Why Your Brain Craves A Good Story

Without a good story, beautiful prose is just empty calories . 

Lisa Cron examines this idea in her book WIRED FOR STORY, one of the best writing books I've read in a long time.

See it on Goodreads

I love Cron's book because it talks about how recent breakthroughs in neuroscience help us understand what our brains are hungry for and how writers can use this knowledge to tell better stories. 

I'm fascinated by brain science.  I love to know how the mind works, why people act the way they do, how the structure and mechanics of our brains influence the way we act and think.  Applying it to writing is the next logical step.

It's all in your head

In her book, Cron asks, why do humans naturally crave something as ethereal and seemingly unimportant as stories?  The answer: survival.  We evolved to love stories because they help us simulate and learn from experiences, without actually having to live through them.  So if we're ever captured by pirates, chased by flying monkeys or lost in the Sahara desert, we'll know what to do.  While reading or listening to a story, subconsciously, we continuously ask ourselves, what would I do in this situation?

Like a harrowing ride on an upside down roller coaster, stories provide the chills and spills and adrenaline of a threatening situation, with none of the risks.  We play out the scenario in our minds, so we won't need to face a charging elephant stampede to anticipate how we might react.  

It's especially true in the social realm.  We need to know what other people might be thinking.  Why do they act the way they do?  How do I deal with them?

The connection is so subconscious, we aren't even aware of it.   We feel what the protagonist feels and experience the story, just as though it's really happening.

In order to engage this hard-wired response in our readers, writers have to tell the right kind of stories.

 Now that's a good story

A good story triggers our desperate need to know what happens next.  Our curiosity is aroused, and the mechanisms in our brains drive us to find the answers.  And when we finally do, our brains reward us with a little charge of dopamine.

Haven't you felt it?  You're reading a fast- paced thriller or a heart-breaking love story and feel compelled to know how it ends.  You skip lunch, stay up late, neglect your dog, just to read a little bit more. And when you finally figure out who committed the crime or learn the secret that's keeping the loving couple apart, it feels great

That's the reaction every writer is after.  A story that gets into a reader's head and rewards her with the "aha" moment she's craving.  To achieve this, the first thing a writer has to do is to make the reader care.

Make something happen

Something must be at stake from the first page.  No matter how exquisite the descriptions or scintillating the dialogue, if there's nothing at risk, there's little reason to pay attention.

Cron says, a story is the telling of events that affect someone in some way and causes them to change as a result.   "Not only must something be happening, but there must be a consequence we can anticipate."

A story with no consequence is flat and uninteresting.  The higher the stakes, the more the reader is engaged. 

To achieve this, someone in the story has to want something.  To find the hidden treasure.  To catch the bad guys.  To win the bowling trophy.  To earn a father's approval.  To save the world.  Something. Even in a "literary" novel, characters must have a goal.

Figure out what the main character wants and create obstacles to keep her or him from acheiving it and you'll have the reader eating out of your hand.