Practical tip for highly visual writers.

Don't get locked in by the words on the page!!

Writing tip for my fellow visual writers out there!

I’m talking about those of us who write more fluently than we talk. Those of us who need to see something written down before it fully registers in our minds.

- DON’T GET LOCKED IN BY THE WORDS ON THE PAGE -

What do I mean by this?

So, you’ve got a draft to revise, or maybe just a scene. You’re staring at those little black letters on the page. Perhaps you’re fiddling around with them. Adding a word here. Cutting a word there. Wondering if you could use a stronger verb, if you’ve underwritten or overwritten.

Now stop!

Open a completely new blank document. Don’t worry about naming it or saving it. Don’t worry about where these words could fit in your manuscript. Just close your eyes and imagine yourself as the POV character. What are you thinking at the precise moment of this scene? What are you feeling? What do you see, hear, smell, taste?

Now write!

Anything and everything that comes to mind with ZERO concerns about whether it’s good. Just write from your gut. Let yourself sink into the visceral sensations of that moment.

You will have already written this scene. It may already be solid, but taking your eyes away from your ‘official manuscript’ and onto a blank page can shift something in your brain. No longer are you worried about deleting or adding or shuffling. Now, you you can simply create.

You may write a single line. You may write hundreds of words. It doesn’t matter.

Once you feel done, read back through what you’ve written. There might just be something in there that will truly elevate the scene you are working on. Now you can go back into analytical editing mode and find where it might fit.

Let me know if you try it! Let me know if it helps.