I heard Roald Dahl give similar advice on how to be a writer.
He said, when you have a good idea or reach an exciting part, stop writing. Go for a walk and let the idea swim around your head for a while. Then, when you return to your writing, you won't be faced with a blank page and will be ready to begin writing again immediately.
I've tried it with my own short stories, and it seems to work. I can't say the same for the monthly Excel sheets I have to do, though.
Interesting! I’ve always heard to just get it all out on the paper as soon as you can. Thinking of Though I can see how letting it swish around in there can make it easier to put on paper in a more final way.
Dahl's thinking was that if you get it all down in one go, you'll eventually come back to a blank sheet of paper and probably not know where to go next. I think.
First things first... my name is Salmansohn. Not Samuelson. No relation. 😉
Second of all... I love this. And I remember being told something similar when I was younger .... but slightly different.
I was told to try to never stop writing when you’re stuck. Because then you've preserved the worst possible feeling to return to tomorrow.
Instead, you’re supposed to stop when you’re feeling excited and cocky about what you're writing. Even if your brain’s screaming, “Wait, we’re on a roll!” That’s exactly when to walk away.
Leave the page while you're excited... so you're excited to return to the writing the next day.
Sorta similar to what Hemmingway said. But slightly different...
Hmmm... kinda in the same way that Salmansohn is similar to Samuelson... but slightly different. 😉
Ivan, I love this question. When I was writing my first book (a novel), I had a couple go-to moves for when I felt stuck. One was to just skip ahead and write the part I did feel confident/cocky about... even if I was writing out of order. I thought of it like painting a huge landscape. If I was stuck not knowing how to do the sky or the grass, I’d just focus on something I DID feel confident about doing - for example maybe a tree if I felt really confident about painting leaves. This painting thing is a metaphor for writing.. but you get the idea.
The other thing that helped was a mantra I borrowed from my then-hobby of long-distance running. I used to tell myself, “Just get to the next tree.” Not the finish line. Just the next tree. Some days, “the next tree” was five pages. Some days it was one good paragraph. But it helped me keep moving without freaking myself out.
So yes… sometimes I wrote in fragments, sometimes I wrote randomly. But mostly… I just followed the trees. 🌳
I really really love this. I’ve been writing a story that could potential be a screenplay or novel and I keep getting humming of apricot. Parts of the story in detail but become too hard on my self with the parts that connect those. I think I definitely need to be more flexible to this collage style where the random parts come out of sequence.
What a great article! I listened to it (Siri read it to me) while walking to return books to the library knowing when I came back home I was going to get back to writing my newsletter. I knew Hemingway worked mornings and took afternoons off and let the subconscious be involved in the process, but I didn’t know/remember that he would stop writing when he got to something good.
I’ve definitely started something when I’ve been procrastinating and know once I do the momentum will carry me and I get pulled in. I love the advice about having a place to start the next day, but if things are really going juicy, I continue while it’s fresh — thinking I’ll miss the breadcrumbs that my subconscious is queuing up for me. But I’m gonna try this “cliffhanger“ method..
Fantastic piece. Hemingway's advice to let the subconscious mind do the work dovetails quite nicely with another pattern I've traced (and written) about: insight. Especially the (somewhat counterintuitive) notion that stepping away from the work can invite our greatest insights, especially if there's a lingering problem. I wrote about that here, collecting historical examples in the same vein as your Hemingway snapshot: https://strangeclarity.substack.com/p/divine-inspiration-creative-possession
My procedure for novels (the draft stage) is different. I am a pantster. I write (about 3-4 hours a day) to the point where I don't know where or or how to proceed and then I put it down and work on other things for a while (book reviews, essays, etc). That "while" can last a week or month or more while I cogitate... Eventually I get an idea that "works," and I pick up the project again.
If you just hack away at it with a page per day target, you will end up with plot holes and major rewrites. Not everyone can be a Stephen King who goes straight from first draft to final draft, or an Anthony Trollope who never edited or rewrote.
A lot of novelists started out as journalists and learned to produce words on demand.
The Hemingway Effect. We all know how that turned out!
A minor poet I knew had a chest with three drawers. He put the rough drafts in the bottom drawer. When he was feeling enthusiastic, he took a poem from the bottom drawer and worked on it until it was worthy of the middle drawer. When he was feeling at his most brilliant, he took a poem from the middle drawer and polished it, until it was worthy of publication. When he needed drink he emptied the top drawer and took it to his publisher.
I love this! I had a friend who was a well-respected industrial designer who when given a two week deadline to come up with a design would start immediately for a short burst. Then each day he'd open the file and work on it for just 5-10 minutes then put it away. He found that sleeping on a problem 10-14 nights in a row would add up to so much more value than simply the sum of time dedicated to it—essentially outsourcing the problem to his sub-conscious.
Unfortunately Hemmingway did not learn how to take care of his health best as he blew his brains out with a shotgun 2nd July 1961 age 57 apparently depressed over a diabetic condition. I believe the worse condition for anyone's health is getting wedded to atheism which in the end is just nihilism which drains you of all meaning.
I heard Roald Dahl give similar advice on how to be a writer.
He said, when you have a good idea or reach an exciting part, stop writing. Go for a walk and let the idea swim around your head for a while. Then, when you return to your writing, you won't be faced with a blank page and will be ready to begin writing again immediately.
I've tried it with my own short stories, and it seems to work. I can't say the same for the monthly Excel sheets I have to do, though.
Interesting! I’ve always heard to just get it all out on the paper as soon as you can. Thinking of Though I can see how letting it swish around in there can make it easier to put on paper in a more final way.
Dahl's thinking was that if you get it all down in one go, you'll eventually come back to a blank sheet of paper and probably not know where to go next. I think.
Love this. Thanks for the insight.
First things first... my name is Salmansohn. Not Samuelson. No relation. 😉
Second of all... I love this. And I remember being told something similar when I was younger .... but slightly different.
I was told to try to never stop writing when you’re stuck. Because then you've preserved the worst possible feeling to return to tomorrow.
Instead, you’re supposed to stop when you’re feeling excited and cocky about what you're writing. Even if your brain’s screaming, “Wait, we’re on a roll!” That’s exactly when to walk away.
Leave the page while you're excited... so you're excited to return to the writing the next day.
Sorta similar to what Hemmingway said. But slightly different...
Hmmm... kinda in the same way that Salmansohn is similar to Samuelson... but slightly different. 😉
That's great advice!
What do you write when you’re stuck? Random thoughts, fragmented sentences, or unfinished ideas?
Ivan, I love this question. When I was writing my first book (a novel), I had a couple go-to moves for when I felt stuck. One was to just skip ahead and write the part I did feel confident/cocky about... even if I was writing out of order. I thought of it like painting a huge landscape. If I was stuck not knowing how to do the sky or the grass, I’d just focus on something I DID feel confident about doing - for example maybe a tree if I felt really confident about painting leaves. This painting thing is a metaphor for writing.. but you get the idea.
The other thing that helped was a mantra I borrowed from my then-hobby of long-distance running. I used to tell myself, “Just get to the next tree.” Not the finish line. Just the next tree. Some days, “the next tree” was five pages. Some days it was one good paragraph. But it helped me keep moving without freaking myself out.
So yes… sometimes I wrote in fragments, sometimes I wrote randomly. But mostly… I just followed the trees. 🌳
I really really love this. I’ve been writing a story that could potential be a screenplay or novel and I keep getting humming of apricot. Parts of the story in detail but become too hard on my self with the parts that connect those. I think I definitely need to be more flexible to this collage style where the random parts come out of sequence.
What a great article! I listened to it (Siri read it to me) while walking to return books to the library knowing when I came back home I was going to get back to writing my newsletter. I knew Hemingway worked mornings and took afternoons off and let the subconscious be involved in the process, but I didn’t know/remember that he would stop writing when he got to something good.
I’ve definitely started something when I’ve been procrastinating and know once I do the momentum will carry me and I get pulled in. I love the advice about having a place to start the next day, but if things are really going juicy, I continue while it’s fresh — thinking I’ll miss the breadcrumbs that my subconscious is queuing up for me. But I’m gonna try this “cliffhanger“ method..
Thank you Kevin!
@Kevin Dickinson #writing #Hemingway #subconscious
Fantastic piece. Hemingway's advice to let the subconscious mind do the work dovetails quite nicely with another pattern I've traced (and written) about: insight. Especially the (somewhat counterintuitive) notion that stepping away from the work can invite our greatest insights, especially if there's a lingering problem. I wrote about that here, collecting historical examples in the same vein as your Hemingway snapshot: https://strangeclarity.substack.com/p/divine-inspiration-creative-possession
My procedure for novels (the draft stage) is different. I am a pantster. I write (about 3-4 hours a day) to the point where I don't know where or or how to proceed and then I put it down and work on other things for a while (book reviews, essays, etc). That "while" can last a week or month or more while I cogitate... Eventually I get an idea that "works," and I pick up the project again.
If you just hack away at it with a page per day target, you will end up with plot holes and major rewrites. Not everyone can be a Stephen King who goes straight from first draft to final draft, or an Anthony Trollope who never edited or rewrote.
A lot of novelists started out as journalists and learned to produce words on demand.
The Hemingway Effect. We all know how that turned out!
A minor poet I knew had a chest with three drawers. He put the rough drafts in the bottom drawer. When he was feeling enthusiastic, he took a poem from the bottom drawer and worked on it until it was worthy of the middle drawer. When he was feeling at his most brilliant, he took a poem from the middle drawer and polished it, until it was worthy of publication. When he needed drink he emptied the top drawer and took it to his publisher.
Sometimes^^
I didn't know Big Think was on Substack
Whatever gets the black on the white.
I love this! I had a friend who was a well-respected industrial designer who when given a two week deadline to come up with a design would start immediately for a short burst. Then each day he'd open the file and work on it for just 5-10 minutes then put it away. He found that sleeping on a problem 10-14 nights in a row would add up to so much more value than simply the sum of time dedicated to it—essentially outsourcing the problem to his sub-conscious.
Then he committed suicide. No thanks.
Unfortunately Hemmingway did not learn how to take care of his health best as he blew his brains out with a shotgun 2nd July 1961 age 57 apparently depressed over a diabetic condition. I believe the worse condition for anyone's health is getting wedded to atheism which in the end is just nihilism which drains you of all meaning.