One Thought

I’ve noticed that when I am writing to a direct prompt, my writing is most focused. I feel most satisfied with what I have written in such situations too. A “prompt” here isn’t formalized like an essay question on an exam. I mean something that provokes a strong feeling and compels me to respond. Often I feel most compelled when I disagree strongly with something I’ve just read. I think: “No! That’s wrong, and here’s why.” I’m great at marshaling the evidence and forming a coherent argument when this happens. Writing comes easily.

I want to understand, first, why a strong prompt fires up my writing and, second–and perhaps more importantly–how I can use this to improve my writing. Prompts motivate me in two ways: they excite me or they piss me off. They provoke a strong emotion. Without the emotional reaction, my thoughts are directionless and my point is hard to grasp. With the emotional reaction, the point is clear: I know what my thesis is, and I feel strongly that it is right. I want to set the world straight. So emotion proves to be a strong motivator. Of course, this is obvious–motivating emotions differ, but all emotions are motivating. And without emotion, there is no motivation.

How can I apply this insight to my writing? I can wait for prompts to appear and then drop whatever I’m doing and start writing immediately. This actually isn’t such a bad idea, but it gives me no control; I have to wait passively for inspiration. Alternatively, I can seek out prompts. Say I want to write about a topic. I can search for other opinions and hope that these fire me up. Again, this isn’t such a bad strategy, but it can be hard to find a strong prompt–something that really provokes me. And it is time-consuming and distracting to do a literature review before writing. Research is great, but sometimes I’d prefer just to write. I don’t want to read first and write later; I want to write now.

Here’s the best approach I’ve thought of. When I have a topic in mind to write about, I generate the prompt myself. I make it as inflammatory as possible. I think of all the best (worst) arguments in favor of the opposing view. I push all my buttons; I call myself an idiot for having that crazy idea in the first place. Then I start writing. The goal is to provoke as strong a response as possible before starting–it is the intellectual equivalent of football players punching and yelling at each other before a game. You get fired up and then begin in that state. Your heightened emotions organize your thoughts and make you feel your thesis. Writer’s block disappears. Words flow onto the page.

At least ideally. I’ll try and let you know how it goes.