or, This is What Writing for Fun Looks Like - We've heard of a beach read, but a beach write? A friend demonstrates this no-pressure approach to writing.
I tried my hand at a fantasy project a couple years ago. I didn't make any fancy maps, there was next to zero world building, I just let myself imagine the most outlandish events to take place on the hero's journey. I let my significant other come up with names for new animals. I remember allowing myself to introduce things (animals, plants, characters etc...) into a scene and just letting my main character follow it to see where my brain could take the story. It now sits in a file on my computer, completely unfinished and unrefined...I might go back to it some day.
Oh, this is perfect! Another great example of a beach write that may or may not be a Zero Draft. I'm not a fantasy writer, but I imagine you could do all that world building whenever you want, then go back and insert the story into that backdrop. There might some advantages too, now that you know the story. You can build a world that is more at odds with the story, heightening the stakes and tension.
Or, maybe it will just sit on your computer, a beach write that's done its job. And that's absolutely great too!
How to do my best at my FUN writing without making it work, there’s the rub.
I recently read an Austin Kleon substack (before it was locked) talking about “comfort work,” the writing you do when maybe you can’t do what you really WANT to do—because you’re bored or pressuring yourself (making it UNFUN). Which is also maybe having a FUN no-stakes project on the go?
Oh, it gets dizzying very quickly... You want to work on something, but you can't find a way into something, but you try anyway, and it gets boring and/or uninspired, so you try a different way in, and... well, "unfun" is a perfect word for it.
Another great use of the beach write -- a low-stakes, high-fun outlet to fool around with words, just for the joy of it, so you can go back to your "main" work a little more creatively rested.
I think I have done a couple beach writes, just weird things I had to get out of my system and that felt fun and maybe cathartic to write. I can think of at least two that I then presented to my wife to read, and she said, in both cases, “That was fun and I can see why you wrote that … but you shouldn’t publish it.” But I’m glad I wrote them. They’d be in me, gumming up the works, otherwise.
One of my oldest friends just butchers the English language on a regular basis, and I came home from having a beer with him and wrote about how funny I found it. But Sara kindly reminded me that he probably read my Substack and he’d know it was him and it would hurt him, as he’s trying so hard to be erudite. Then there are what I’d call the “pants pooping” stories … which I know all on my own are funny only to me, or when told around a campfire, sipping whiskey.
Yeah, so you get all the fun of writing them, but none of the hassle (responsibility, awkwardness, embarassment...) of actually doing something with them.
I tried my hand at a fantasy project a couple years ago. I didn't make any fancy maps, there was next to zero world building, I just let myself imagine the most outlandish events to take place on the hero's journey. I let my significant other come up with names for new animals. I remember allowing myself to introduce things (animals, plants, characters etc...) into a scene and just letting my main character follow it to see where my brain could take the story. It now sits in a file on my computer, completely unfinished and unrefined...I might go back to it some day.
Oh, this is perfect! Another great example of a beach write that may or may not be a Zero Draft. I'm not a fantasy writer, but I imagine you could do all that world building whenever you want, then go back and insert the story into that backdrop. There might some advantages too, now that you know the story. You can build a world that is more at odds with the story, heightening the stakes and tension.
Or, maybe it will just sit on your computer, a beach write that's done its job. And that's absolutely great too!
Thanks for sharing with us, Ariella!
Love this! Thanks for sharing her story.
Glad you liked it! Thanks, Beverley!
I simply must beach write.
Thanks for this one, Graham. 🥂
You're welcome! I hope your beach writing is as productive or non-productive as you want it to be...
How to do my best at my FUN writing without making it work, there’s the rub.
I recently read an Austin Kleon substack (before it was locked) talking about “comfort work,” the writing you do when maybe you can’t do what you really WANT to do—because you’re bored or pressuring yourself (making it UNFUN). Which is also maybe having a FUN no-stakes project on the go?
Oh, it gets dizzying very quickly... You want to work on something, but you can't find a way into something, but you try anyway, and it gets boring and/or uninspired, so you try a different way in, and... well, "unfun" is a perfect word for it.
Another great use of the beach write -- a low-stakes, high-fun outlet to fool around with words, just for the joy of it, so you can go back to your "main" work a little more creatively rested.
Thanks for that!
Great analogy! I’m all for having fun. 🤩
Exactly! Fun writing instead of work writing. (And often, that fun writing can turn into something bigger!)
I think I have done a couple beach writes, just weird things I had to get out of my system and that felt fun and maybe cathartic to write. I can think of at least two that I then presented to my wife to read, and she said, in both cases, “That was fun and I can see why you wrote that … but you shouldn’t publish it.” But I’m glad I wrote them. They’d be in me, gumming up the works, otherwise.
I never thought of that angle -- purging the mind of it. But exactly right!
I've written several things like that myself over the years. They don't always go anywhere, but I'm always glad I've put them down...
One of my oldest friends just butchers the English language on a regular basis, and I came home from having a beer with him and wrote about how funny I found it. But Sara kindly reminded me that he probably read my Substack and he’d know it was him and it would hurt him, as he’s trying so hard to be erudite. Then there are what I’d call the “pants pooping” stories … which I know all on my own are funny only to me, or when told around a campfire, sipping whiskey.
Yeah, so you get all the fun of writing them, but none of the hassle (responsibility, awkwardness, embarassment...) of actually doing something with them.
I fully support this!
Embarrassment mostly, but quite right on that.