Setting the Scene for 2022
Writing is all about keeping good routines and acknowledging working patterns that make getting the gold down on the page as regularly as possible. As our writers get back into the swing of their ideas and push towards getting a full (but it’s allowed to be rough) first draft together, we reflected at our January Gathering on goals. When are goals useful and when do they just stress us out? We agreed that the act of writing something down – an aim, a prayer or an aspiration is the first step in trying to internalise a good relationship to our writing this year.
With so many activities competing for a piece of you over Christmas, it is definitely useful to have some time off. Active time away from any piece of writing is useful for reflection, and you never know when a new idea or a fresh perspective might be just what you need to propel your work forward. However, time away from your laptop or notebook does not always mean time away from your idea. Any piece of creative work needs a chunk of thinking time – playing out different possibilities in your head, researching the edge of things you already know about the world or your characters. Our writers have been encouraged to use various exercises to keep their ideas live and engaged with, even when they are not physically writing them. A ‘What If’ exercise challenges writers to think in a wide (and sometimes crazy) way about all the different parameters of their idea.
What if…my characters met in the cheese aisle in a supermarket?
What if they argued over that last piece of Christmas Stilton?
What if they were both lumps of stilton?
In playwrighting, we call this process Active Daydreaming. To your friends and family, you might look like you’re staring out of a window or even slightly away with the fairies and talking to yourself, but actually, you’re thinking about all the possibilities and rules of the world you are creating. For example, is this a world where food items have consciousness? Is this a world where people buy more than they need, and there is nothing left for anyone else…?
Writing down all these ideas might seem like quite a task, but a bank of ideas for a writer is essential. You never know when you might want to circle back to an idea, and even knowing the silly What If’s helps you also understand what kind of play you’re interested in writing and further down the line, what kind of playwright you might be.
Now we’re back on track in January, setting goals can be a good way to focus and motivate ourselves. At our January Gathering, our writers spent 10 minutes planning out some specific goals that they think would help them develop their play ideas. We wanted to share some of these to remind ourselves of what we are aiming for, maybe they'll help any writers out there know that they are not alone if they are also struggling with any of these!
Goal 1 – Not giving up when it gets hard.
Writing is all about confidence and pushing through to the next step of something is always tricky. By deciding we are not going to give up, even when it gets ‘hard’ we are also agreeing to look for strategies to play and have fun with our ideas if it starts to feel like a slog. An audience will enjoy something you have had fun working on, and so while writing is hard, it can also be a collaborative process where someone else might just unlock what you’re struggling with. This goal helps us remember that while we are strong if the work feels ‘hard’ it might be a good time to reach out and talk out our idea, go back to our research or play with an exercise to think around the problem.
Goal 2 – Work around my timetable at University better
Finding time to write on top of a full-time course, job or other commitments is something writers through the ages have contended with – and they didn’t even have social media! Understanding when works for you personally to write is the first step – are you an early bird or late-night owl? Can you carve out a small bit of time each day to check in with your idea? For some people, committing to a scene a day or half an hour idea journaling time is a manageable chunk and keeps the idea progressing swiftly. Either way, if you try and manage your time with your script like you would a commitment to a sensitive friend who falls out with you if you flake on them, this might help you prioritise regular writing sessions – and the more you do it, the easier it gets to build into your routine.
Goal 3 – Write for myself more and trust my instincts.
January is not always the most confident month of the year. While we’re full of good intentions, it can take a while to get into our groove. Trusting our instincts when we write is something many writers contend with. The balance of pushing our ideas and challenging and provoking ourselves as we develop our scripts can be tricky for all writers. However, remember writing is about playing and experimentation. Try and keep in mind the main questions or thoughts that brought you to the idea in the first place, and check-in with these regularly. What is the kernel of the idea that made it appeal to you? Often an idea will move a lot between drafts and being flexible and responsive to this will likely make your idea much more robust than if you are rigid and scared about changing anything. Like everything, it is a balance, and working out your non-negotiables while staying open-minded to the process is a good plan.
Goal 4 – Stop putting pressure on myself to write something totally unique first time.
I think all writers have felt this at some point. While we can do lots of workshops on Writer Voice, you don’t always know what makes your idea original or interesting until it comes into being. Trying to be original or interesting often creates less fruitful work. Instead, write often, try and get your ideas down in their purest form and allow early drafts to be imperfect (or just plain bad). A beautiful butterfly needs to emerge out of a messy cocoon.
Goal 5 – Don’t worry if you don’t have a reason why you want to write what you want to write. Just go with the flow.
Be aware of the two voices that battle in our heads as writers – the creative one that pushes us to get the words down and the meaner critical one that makes fun of us and can often undermine our confidence. If we spend too long questioning our motivations at this stage, we’d conclude there was nothing new to write and even if there was then someone else is placed better than us to write about it. While it’s always good to consider why we are drawn to what we want to write about (especially if it is a story that originates from a marginalised group) we shouldn’t let this be an excuse to avoid writing. Getting the words out on the page is the most important thing at this stage. We can challenge all other impulses once we have words on the page. Until that point, we just gotta get the words down!
We hope these goals inspire some reflection on your own creative work, now they are out there for all to see, the next step is sticking to them!
Happy New Year everybody and here’s to some brilliant creative work happening in 2022!
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