“Unlock Your Creativity: Why Overthinking Could Be Stifling Your Best Writing”
Are you a writer stuck in your own head, mulling over characters, plots, and themes, while feeling the spark of creativity flicker away? You’re not alone! Many of us tend to overthink when we should really just be letting our emotions flow onto the page. As Kathryn Harrison beautifully puts it in her reflection on writing, the key isn’t just intellect or crafting an immaculate outline; it’s about tapping into those darker, murkier depths of our unconscious. So why do we so often ignore the call to simply feel when we write? In this article, we’ll explore the transformative power of approaching the writing process with a sense of emotional immersion and intuition. Let’s dive deeper into the essence of unshackling our minds and embracing the messy, wonderful act of creation. It may just illuminate the path to your best work yet! LEARN MORE.
Think character. Think plot. Think theme. But when you sit down to write, don’t think… feel.
The Atlantic runs a series called By Heart in which authors share and discuss their all-time favorite passages in literature. Here is one by author Kathryn Harrison:
The line also defines writing, at least writing the way I experience it. For me, writing is a process that demands cerebral effort, but it’s also one informed by the unconscious. My work is directed by the needs of my unconscious. And through that dark, opaque process, I can restore what might otherwise be lost.
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It’s funny, I teach writing, and before I taught I never would guessed the thing I say most often is: “Please stop thinking.” But people really write better without thinking, by which I mean without self-consciousness.
I’m not calculating about what I write, which means I have very little control over it. It’s not that I decide what to write and carry it out. It’s more that I grope my way towards something — not even knowing what it is until I’ve arrived. I’ve gotten better over the years at accepting this.
Of course, the intellect wants to kick in — and, in the later drafts, it should. But in the early stages of a book, I deal with potential self-consciousness by literally hushing the critical voices in my…
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