✍️ The Importance of Being Wilde
or, More Proof that Having Fun Leads to Increased Creativity
When I first started writing this collection of essays three years ago, I had a vague mantra for writers: Have Fun.
Okay, the mantra was specific. But my reasons for latching onto that mantra were relatively vague at the time. I knew it was the key to unlocking creativity – or at least I knew it was the key to the key… I didn’t fully understand the mechanisms, but that’s partly what To Write with Wild Abandon set out to do: dig out that secret gem of an idea concreted within the dusty gypsum.
It’s been eye-opening. I’ve started spotting proof that fun leads to creativity out there in the wild – and sometimes hiding in plain sight. Still, reading fellow Substack writer TK Hall’s piece in January was a revelation. Tim wrote about his own search for writing advice way back when:
What I wanted was concrete, actionable advice about how to develop characters and structure acts and build believable settings. (Dorothea Brande’s classic text, Becoming a Writer) seemed to offer only abstractions about “harnessing the unconscious” and “inducing the artistic coma”…
You can read his whole post here, but clearly Tim was frustrated. And who wouldn’t be? I think that’s what all writers look for, especially when they’re starting out: the technical details of how to write. But missing are the creative details of how to write. An architect, for example, might be the best draftsperson or CAD operator in the world. But being able to draw a perfectly straight line does not in itself allow you to create inspiring architecture.
Actually, it reminds me of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy when the computer Deep Thought says that the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42. Turns out, they needed to find out the right question…
I don’t want to speak for Tim, but what I got from his post is that he found the right question, and he’s all the better for it.
Tim Gets It Right
I’ll admit, the first time I’m aware of ever seeing Dorothea Brande’s name was reading Tim’s post. So, like a good procrastinator, I stopped everything to look it up. Many people praise the text as Tim does. However, many point out that the language is dated, published as it was in 1934 – a “hard read” one person said. Another found the text quite severe, as if an early 20th-century editor were giving the book as lessons in writing – which is pretty much the case.
That blogger took particular umbrage to this sentence: “If you fail repeatedly at this exercise, give up writing. Your resistance is actually greater than your desire to write, and you may as well find some other outlet for your energy early as late.” Harsh, yes, but perhaps not untrue… Tim says it’s like “being told off by Mary Poppins”. In my mind, I hear these words spoken in the haughty, deliberate cadence of Miss Jane from the Beverly Hillbillies.
I haven’t read the whole book yet, but I am intrigued by the bits I skimmed. If you can get over the schoolmarm approach, you’ll see that it boils to this: everyone has the capability to be creative – or has “genius” as she puts it. Creativity does come more easily to some than others, but it is possible for everyone. Further, she says, every writer has “two selves” – a playful writer self and the more pragmatic elder self.
“When the actual writing is to be done, your elder self must stand aside, only murmuring a suggestion now and again... Later you will call on it to consider the completed draft, or section, and with its help you will alter the manuscript to get the best possible effects. But at the time of writing, nothing is more confusing than to have the alert, critical, over scrupulous rational faculty at the forefront of your mind.”
Translation: Have Fun
I found what may be part or all of her book here, along with a foreword, if you’re interested.
Key Takeaway: The creative process of writing is probably more important that the technical how-tos floating around out there. And the best way to get creative is to have fun.
Over to You: How Do You Have Fun Writing?
Have you read Dorothea Brande’s book? If so, what did you think? How to you get creative with your writing? How do you have fun?
I’ll leave you with a video review of Brande’s book below.
Until next time... keep writing with wild abandon!
~Graham
email me if you get lost.
Here I am! Must. Not. Place. Order. At. Entershine.
Also Substack has moved every button and I didn’t want to subscribe