Resolutions for Writers

Story Scholar, The Writer's Life

Everyone knows that the steadfast, unchanging pillars of New Year’s resolutions are: time management, productivity, motivation, and consistency.

In this article I’d like to suggest two simple, fundamental tools you might try adding to your writing process in the coming year, to manage your time better, end each day feeling productive, and always stay motivated.

(Plus, some tips for writing about these techniques in your stories.)

☞ If you’re looking for narrative Resolutions, try the One Page Novel.

Featuring quotations from His Dark Materials. May contain mild spoilers.

1. Write in FLOW

Flow is a state of intense but unforced focus that allows you to accomplish intricate tasks with ease & grace. I don’t know of any other story that better describes the experience of being in the Flow state, or any other story for which this focused awareness is more central, than His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.

“‘ . . . capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason –’ You have to get into that state of mind. That’s from the poet Keats, by the way. I found it the other day. So you get yourself in the right state of mind, and then you look at the Cave –”

Flow is fun.
No description can quite capture the sense of calm, joyful connection that the Flow state brings. You simply have to recognise it through your own experience.

Flow is the best time management system.
It allows you to stretch time and inhabit it at will, and the state of attentiveness that Flow creates keeps you riveted to the present moment.

She found that if she held the alethiometer just so in her palms and gazed at it in a particular lazy way, as she thought of it, the long needle would begin to move more purposefully. Instead of its wayward divagations around the dial it swung smoothly from one picture to another. Sometimes it would pause at three, sometimes two, sometimes five or more, and although she understood nothing of it, she gained a deep calm enjoyment from it, unlike anything she’d known.
Pantalaimon would crouch over the dial, sometimes as a cat, sometimes as a mouse, swinging his head round after the needle; and once or twice the two of them shared a glimpse of meaning that felt as if a shaft of sunlight had struck through clouds to light up a majestic line of great hills in the distance – something far beyond, and never suspected. And Lyra thrilled at those times with the same deep thrill she’d felt all her life on hearing the word North.

Flow can silence your inner critic.
Because the Flow state entails a suspension of self-conscious judgement, it allows you to write without fear, doubt, and hesitation. In fact, you may not be entirely aware of what you’ve written until you later read it back to yourself.

Flow is inspiration.
If you’re in the Flow state, you’re writing, and you don’t need to look for further inspiration.

Flow builds trust in your capabilities.
The more you work in the Flow state, the more you know that you can enter it at will, and enjoy its rewards.

Farder Coram was a chess player, and he knew how chess players looked at a game in play. An expert player seemed to see lines of force and influence on the board, and looked along the important lines and ignored the weak ones; and Lyra’s eyes moved the same way, according to some similar magnetic field that she could see and he couldn’t.

2. Be DISTRACTED

At surface level, distraction may look like the opposite of Flow, but the two actually work in conjunction, as a complete productivity toolkit.

A distraction is simply a focusing in another direction.
When you approach distractions as signposts instead of obstacles, a new, fascinating world(view) map unfolds for you.

Distractions assume there’s something you SHOULD be doing instead.
Identifying tasks you feel you’re obliged to do encourages you to:

Figure out what you’d RATHER be doing.
Reassess your obligations.
Reassess your life priorities.

Distractions are a refocusing mechanism.
When your attention is pulled in another direction, you return to your original task with fresh eyes.

She was more puzzled by this man than by anyone she’d met for a long time. On the one hand he was kind and friendly and very clean and smartly dressed, but on the other hand Pantalaimon, inside her pocket, was plucking at her attention and begging her to be careful, because he was half-remembering something too…

Distractions save time.
They can gently nudge you away from an unfruitful direction, if you allow them.

Distractions bring you what you need.
Because distractions are good at getting your attention, they’re often the means through which new information is delivered.

They waited till most of the grown-ups were looking the other way, and then Lyra scooped up some snow and rammed it into a loose powdery snowball, and hurled it at random into the crowd. In a moment all the children were doing it, and the air was full of flying snow. Screams of laughter covered completely the shouts of the adults trying to regain control, and then the three children were around the corner and out of sight.

Writing as a distraction…
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the word “distraction” also describes a recreational activity, performed for enjoyment. Writing can be a pleasant distraction from things you would rather not attend to.

Loving writing to distraction…
Finally, I can think of no resolution more fulfilling than that of allowing your passion to dictate to you, to draw you to it, and to drive you to distraction. 🖤

Scene Ideas & Prompts

Flow:

A character can describe the Flow state to another character. They might also give it their own term, or draw their own analogy.
A character can teach another character how to enter the Flow state.
A character admires another character who’s in the Flow.
A character tries to enter the Flow state but is distracted by someone or something.
A character returns from the Flow state and is surprised by what they’ve accomplished.
A character watches a child at play, or engrossed in an activity.
A character travels a familiar route and reaches their destination without realising it.
A writer writes a scene or story in the Flow state and only realises what they’ve written when they read it back.

Make up your own terminology to refer to the writer’s Flow state.
Describe your experience of Flow.
Explore the idea that what’s most fun is most productive.

Distraction:

A character can distract another character who’s undertaking an important task.
A character can distract a guard in order to allow other characters to enter a forbidden location, or to escape.
A character can be distracted by a person or object that turns out to be an important clue, or sign.
A character can be distracted by a herald bringing news.
A character can be frustrated by the distractions they’re facing.
A character can love someone or something to distraction.
A character can be in search of a new distraction.
A past-time the character considered a distraction can turn into something more important.
A character can (try to) resist an insistent distraction.