Intuitive ideas

General Carrera Lake, inside Marmol Caverns, Aysen region-Chile
Photo: Nico14uc

 

I made a note to myself today: Don’t get rid of intuitive ideas just because you can’t initially see how they fit.

When writing as a ‘kind of pantser’ – the best way I can describe myself – odd things creep into the writing that I know have a part to play but don’t immediatley see how they fit into the overall plan.

Two such things come to mind about my latest book. First, there’s a traumatic event in the opening chapter. This came out of nowhere even before this book started. Some months ago I was walking the dog, looked at a particular house and wondered what it would be like for that house to slide down the hill? I went home and wrote a chapter that included this idea. But there didn’t seem to be anything else forthcoming, and I put the chapter and thoughts about that particular book away. 

The idea itself persisted, and is now in the heart of the opening chapter of my current writing.

Another idea was that a character who was supposed to be dead wasn’t in fact dead. This idea had presented itself in that same discarded chapter, and now has a place in the present work.

However, I’ve just spent a good deal of time this afternoon trying to figure out why this person should be known to be dead when he isn’t, and how this fits into the story. I’ve made some progress, though it sometimes felt like going round in circles as arguments and counterarguments fought for survival.

On the other hand I still don’t know how the traumatic event I spoke about connects to the whole story. I only know it does. Time and hard work will give me a way forward on it.

One other example. In one early chapter of the WIP a cavern with an underground lake and a rowboat presented itself. I noted at the time, make sure the cavern has something to do with the story, or it will have to go. It’s a mystery I yet have to solve.

These three, along with a number of other odd ideas, or words that came out of characters’ mouths, or phrases that I threw in out of nowhere, are all intuitive thoughts. There's something about them that makes me say, This belongs. It’s my job to figure out how it belongs and what it will do to the story.

I anticipate more hours spent trying to work these things out. And I need to do it sooner than later since I can’t move forward confidently without knowing what these things think they’re doing in my book.

It's all part of the writing.

Hence the note I made to myself today. The process of writing relies not just on our skills, but on our subconscious throwing what might be called spanners into the works. To mix the metaphors, these things are then worth pursuing down their own particular rabbit holes.