Treat Your Writing As An Experiment And You’ll Make Progress While Having Fun.
Art For Art’s Sake: Vol 2 Part 9
One of the ways I am progressing through my writing is by treating it like an experiment.
Instead of treating my writing like a grandiose, noble act that needs to be perfect and a success every single time, I treat it like an experiment where I test and fine-tune my writing into its final form.
Treating my writing like a big deal and having to hit the bull’s eye every single time with panache flirts with my ego and adds unnecessary pressure on my writer soul.
But treating my writing like a series of experiments, figuring out what it’s trying to show me tickles my creativity and lets my writer soul have fun. Sometimes even get awestruck.
I am experimenting with my writing in two ways — one is for my fiction writing, and one is for my non-fiction writing.
“Let’s see what happens.”
When writing my novel, “Let’s see what happens” is my mantra.
I don’t have any outline. I have a general idea of how I see my novel ending and a few bullet points showing me which scenes play next. The rest I leave to my mantra.
I let the characters, dialogues, scenes, and what I call my “Idea Pops” guide me to the next scene. And then the next. And next.
This way, I am always excited to see (and then write) what happens next.
Write > Share > Step Back > Analyse > Repeat
When writing my online content, I behave like a true scientist.
Again, I don’t have an outline, just a few bullet points. I write what comes to me. And then I hit publish. I do this for a week or two without worrying about how my content is received online. Then I check my analytics and see where my readers most engage with my work. I even look at my older content which is still gathering steam, and try to figure out why that’s happening. Then I go back to my writing desk, tweak my writing where I feel it needs tweaking given the feedback, and then hit publish. And the cycle repeats.
This way, I continuously improve my content with what sits well with me and my readers.
The Secret Ingredient To Experimenting
The only way you can succeed in your experimentation is by having faith. In yourself and your writing. Having faith means trusting the process.
You must believe you have what it takes to write your books and essays. You must believe that every piece of writing you write is worth it. Even if it doesn’t bring you the results you (your ego) want, you will get the results you (your writer soul) need.
As Rick Rubin says in his book, The Creative Act: A Way Of Being -
“With unshakable faith, we work under the assumption that the problem is already solved. The answer is out there, perhaps it’s obvious. We just haven’t come across it yet.”
And I can tell you from experience, that unshakable faith will make you cross the barriers you thought were holding your writing back with boldness and confidence. Then you’ll embrace the writer you always dreamt of being.
My new ebook, Bojra — April 2023, is OUT NOW! Get your copy here.
