Writing Without Thinking: My Way

Okay. So, a little silence on the blog front from me for a while, other than my novelette pimpage, so I suppose I owe you guys a real post.

So, a few years ago, I was in between writing projects and had no new ideas forthcoming. But I felt the need to write. Those of you who write as well, you know that need. Those of you that read... well, it's inexplicable. I'd say it's almost like a need to scratch something you can't reach, but pleasant.

As I had no new ideas frothing in mine tiny brain, I decided to go with something old and borrowed. But what? I couldn't think of anything that interested me to write about. That's one thing about writing... the writer has to be interested too.

So, I'm looking around my house, looking for inspiration. I didn't find it, but I did find my DVD shelf and a thought occurred that tried to be inspiration.

I would pick four DVDs from my collection and have a day-long marathon. Thusly armed, I would sit down that night and just write a mash up of the plots. Just something for myself, something to do for the fun of it.

Instead of picking them all myself, I decided to enlist my kids to close their eyes and pick at random... one DVD from each of us.

First pick was mine. I picked Message in a Bottle.

My oldest son picked next... Sexy Housewife Orgy or some such thing. (Remember that we picked with our eyes closed, so he didn't intentionally pick the porn).

My Daughter picked... The Parent Trap (the original).

My youngest son picked The Silence of the Lambs.

Deeming the porn unsuitable for daytime watching, I re-placed it on my shelves and had my son pick another film, though I decided that I would keep the erotic aspect because it was originally picked.

His replacement pick was Exit Wounds.

Looking over these titles, I thought to myself, "Shit a brick. What am I even supposed to DO with this??" But, I stuck with my plan, watched the movie-marathon and sat down that evening to write.

I kept writing for months on that story. It was nuts, it was wildly unbelievable & cliched.

It. Was. Awesome.

I had so much fucking fun writing that story. It was seriously stupid in the storyline department, but it was some of my best writing. Because I didn't have to think about it too much. It was already there, I had the basic lines of my plot... cannibals, twins, sex, cops and romance. I dug it so hard.

Basically, though, this exercise taught me not to think about my writing too much. Get thee the basics and write the fruition of thy sullied mind. Don't think about it until it dies.

My writing has gone through many, many changes and grown by leaps and bounds. I tried several genres before settling down to horror. My mash-up story occurred just before I came to my horrible home. It is no longer my favorite bad story (because it really was awful) but to this day it remains the one I had the most fun writing. And writing should be fun, shouldn't it?

Peace & Love
~Effie