I’m not kidding.
Gather up your laptop, latte and backpack. Do it now.
Walk out the door and in to the greater world.
I coach a lot of writers: screenwriters, novelists and playwrights
and I find we all have this inherent, hunker -down mentality. We believe that in order to write our best
creative, most pure work, we have to concentrate on creating that feeling of truth
and reality that makes a great story.
This concept, for the most part, is complete crap.
The truth is, we can only draw from our own experiences and extrapolate
from there. The more of life that we experience,
the more tools we have with which to write
The personal story arc, a concept I deeply
believe in, says that the strength of your writing - the real powerhouse of
creativity from which every writer draws - comes from your own personal
experiences and your unique emotional reactions to what has happened to you.
This isn’t really anything new, but it’s seems to be something that newer
writers tend to discount about themselves and their work
There’s this phrase that came up through the ranks of the 1980’s
Japanese managerial style that I think works well here.
It was called Genchi gembutsu or “Go and see for
yourself” It suggests that in order to truly understand a situation,
one needs to go to the gemba
or, the 'real place' - where work is done.
This has to be true for writers, whether they work on the
page, stage or screen. There is no
substitute for seeing or living a situation to be able to bring that
all-important authenticity to the writing. It is vital to creating that
protagonist-audience connection which turns causal readers and viewer into true
fans.
This doesn’t mean that you have to be an astronaut in
order to write a story or script about traveling in space – although it would
certainly help. However, the point of all writing, whether fiction or
non-fiction, is to engage the emotions of the audience. You are taking them on an emotional journey
through your story and the more you can relate to the real and visceral emotions
of your characters, the more relatable the work becomes.
We are, after all, talking about human beings and the lives they live. And your own separate,
individual life (as important as that is) can only carry you so far. You need
to get out there, look around, see the world for what it is and incorporate
that into your stories.
So here’s the challenge:
Take at least one afternoon a
month or more to just get out into the world. Take notes, talk to people you would never
talk to and engage in part of the world you might not normally see.
Here are some suggestions on how to get out there:
·
The Walk:
Go out and take a walk somewhere you’ve
never been. With no plan in mind and no real agenda, go and just see what you
can see. Watch people as they interact.
Let the mind wander and see where it leads you.
·
The
Destination: I live in southern California and I sometimes go to Disneyland
with no other thought but to be in a crowd of people. I watch and consider. I find people to use as characters and look
for those real human interactions that always lead my mind to a whole slew of story
ideas. Money well spent! There is almost
certainly a place or event near you where you can just immerse yourself in a
sea of humanity.
·
The
Conversation: Go and have a serious conversation with a stranger or loved
one. Look deeply into their eyes as they
speak. Seek the real nature of what
they’re saying. Hear them, perhaps for
the very first time. You will be very surprise at what you experience.
Remember: You are the dreamer but also the chronicler. You job, your passion as a writer, to reflect
the nature of the human experience back to us in a way that will make us feel.
Always try to take me to a place I have never been before.
You can’t do it well without getting out there yourself.
Don’t worry. The
laptop will still be here when you get back.
