Have you ever noticed how people play mind games? Everyone does. I think writers are the best players in the world. Creating stories and characters takes a lot of brain power. We psyche ourselves up, nurture and feed our Muse, depend on subliminal messages, rely on our imaginations, try to silence our internal editors, use affirmations and think up numerous reasons why not to write.
Brainstorming is a favorite mind game among writers and can be played alone or in groups. We use our imaginations and ask ourselves “what if.†What if this happened? What about this? What would be the next logical step in this sequence of events? Or the consequence of this action? How would my heroine react to this? Why did my hero do that?
We writers use both our conscious and subconscious brains to create stories. We get ideas from stimuli outside of ourselves as well as deep inside our psyche. Some of us consciously sit down and plot out what’s going to happen as our story progresses. Others do it instinctively or by the seat of their pants. All of us input data and hand it over to the subconscious mind. In the primordial depths of our intellect, this data swirls and mixes. Our subconscious brain is always working. While we busy ourselves with work, play, mindless tasks and even as we sleep, characters are fleshed out, plot points and twists are solved, black moments become clear and resolutions are finalized.
It never ceases to amaze me how we writers use mind games to force ourselves to sit at the computer and write. There’s book-in-a-month, book-in-a-week, elaborate reward systems, set timers, online support groups—you name it, some writer is doing it just to get the words on the page. We blame the Muse, procrastinate, clean house, run errands, anything to keep from doing what we love and need to do—write and create stories.
Think about it. We love writing. Or maybe we love to have written. So do whatever it takes. Play whatever mind game works for you. Whatever you do, get in the game.
Happy Writing!!! Anne Marie 🙂
