or, How to Avoid Helmet Fires and Find “The Write Stuff” - Sometimes, we need to get out of our own way when writing's not going well. Here are some ideas how.
My helmet is on fire a lot. I think I struggle the most with the "zero draft, bad words" steps. I think I even commented on your Zero Draft post with the fact that I don't write ROUGH drafts or "shitty first drafts" as some people call them. For me, that step is very uncomfortable. Even if I'm the only person who has to read the mess, I still won't do it. I'll wait, sometimes for a long time or forever, to write the words down until they're ready to behave to do their job. 😂 I also revise/edit as I draft, because when I roll back and read through whatever I've written, I want it to be readable and... well... good. This is very limiting, of course. There are many ideas I just abandon because I'm not willing to dump a bunch of almost-the-right-words and sentence fragments and half-baked ideas down on paper to fill in the gaps on and refine later.
This is something for me to work on. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
Yeah, it is tough sometimes to let go and just let the words dump. Truth be told, I will go back and fiddle with words I've already written before moving to the next section. Often, it's because I'm reading what I've put down to recapture the thread or to confirm the flow. Then I'll see something and it niggles at me. Then I fix it. Then I need to go back and recheck the flow...
So yeah, I get it!
One thing that's helped me accept a "bad word" is that I will highlight it. I started doing this initially so I could zap back there quickly and fix it later. But I noticed an interesting side effect: if I highlight it, I feel better about leaving that bad word there for the moment. It's flagged; it's not officially part of the "real" text. It's a placeholder word for when my brain -- at its future convenience (whenever that will be... lol) -- gives me the word I should be using instead. Maybe this will help you too, if it's something you want to change about your writing.
I'd also recommend trying to write about something you don't really care about to practice writing a Zero Draft. (Again, if that's something you want to change about your writing approach...!) It is a leap of faith, but you have a safety net: you can chuck it all later, since it's nothing you care about anyway. The purpose of this writing isn't to finish something, simply to start it. I've found simply spilling words onto a page gives me nuggets of gold I wouldn't have written otherwise. That alone makes the exercise well worth it, in my opinion!
For the record, I don't think there's a "wrong" way to write. So if editing as you go works for you, that's great. These are simply some ideas if you are looking for a new approach.
In any case, thanks for detailing your helmet fires!
I am teaching myself to embrace “good enough for right now”. I love the “helmet fire” label and will use it when I’m getting thrown off course by minor details. Thanks!
Yes, I find that "good enough for right now" is a very powerful tool. I don't even think about it at this point -- I put down words *knowing* I will be editing them later.
Thanks for letting me know you liked the post! Here's to hoping you don't need to use the "helmet fire" label too much... lol
Graham, this is a very helpful and actionable post. Thank you! I find myself with these writerly helmet fires often. Like so many writers out there, I struggle with giving myself permission to do the zero draft or write bad words. It can be so discouraging to watch the “brilliant” ideas in your head translate to incoherent mush on the page. But, as you help us understand here, it’s trusting in that process that will allow us to shape and craft the bad stuff into something worth reading. Conversely, if we get trapped in comparison or perfectionism, we’ll never produce a piece of writing to begin with. Thanks again.
Yes, helmet fires are common, but you're right: trusting in the process is absolutely a way to put them out! Might make a great post on its own. Hmmm...
Speaking of posts, I wrote earlier about why those brilliant ideas turn to mush on the page. (I called them "splendid ideas" for a specific reason as you'll see, but, you know, same thing...)
Another great piece, Graham. Lots of food for writerly thought here. It reminds me how much we can learn about writing by adapting concepts and models from other spheres (like helmet fires from fighter pilots). Thanks for making me think…again…
Graham, I loved this one! First, I paid attention to the voice side, per our other conversation, and I really do think you’ve nailed it. To me, you write as a helpful, experienced, yet humble friend who points out helpful approaches to the writing life.
And then the “helmet fires.” 1) It helps me understand why my son-in-law is such a good firefighter: Sam is the calmest guy I know, utterly unflappable under pressure. He seeks out pressure because I think it makes him feel even calmer. How else could he run into a burning building? 2) I think I experienced my version of a “helmet fire,” which for me usually manifests itself as “what’s the bloody point of this?” Even though I know the answer, I still have to walk myself through the damned steps.
I was in the editing stages when I read your post, so yeah, you definitely affected the way I approached polishing this one. If I nailed it, it's in large thanks to you!
Wow -- you know, when I associated the whole idea of helmet fires, I almost didn't use the analogy because there are real people out there who do face life-or-death situations that require quick thinking every day. I didn't want to trivialize it in any way, and actually changed some of the text that was leaning too far into the realm of flippant. People like your son-in-law deserve the all the respect for what they do.
But I did find it to be an apt analogy, and a great way to underline that when it's just you and the paper, there are no wrong decisions that can't be fixed.
Yeah, I've had those "what's the point?" moments myself. I think I've finally learned to write first, and worry about what's the point later. (Usually, by the time I'm done, that question has burned away like morning mist, anyway...)
Thanks for letting us know your particular helmet fire -- I imagine many people will get insights into that one!
Re: the firefighter thing. I was thinking of sharing your analogy with Sam, as I think he’d appreciate it. For him, the whole point is saving people—he feels like that’s what he’s meant to do (without attaching any “supernaturalist” to meant. And the funny thing is, he hates the whole “thank you for your service thing”—he just wants to be left alone to save people. Such an interesting fella.
Yeah... I had a recent experience (I think I'm still going through it) of writing a long self-description. But I just got too in my head about it, developed writer's block, and probably did just 50% of what I could have with that opportunity. Still need to get better at writing apart from the weekly habit I've built with Hello Universe.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing a long self-description, if it will help you get to where the final needs to be. I'm famous in certain circles for writing a page and a half of a sunset scene -- "gently mocked" might be a better way to describe it! I still write them. But now I've learned to trim it considerably for the final draft.
And I'll tell you what -- that final draft wouldn't be nearly as good if it wasn't for the a page and a half that preceded it!
FWIW, I think maintaining a weekly Substack is a great writing habit on its own. But if you want to commit to writing more, why not create a "secret" Substack to maintain that forces you to sit down and write on a different day. You don't have to actually publish it (that would be the "secret" part), but it might help kickstart your non-Hello Universe writing...
Great tips here, Graham.
My helmet is on fire a lot. I think I struggle the most with the "zero draft, bad words" steps. I think I even commented on your Zero Draft post with the fact that I don't write ROUGH drafts or "shitty first drafts" as some people call them. For me, that step is very uncomfortable. Even if I'm the only person who has to read the mess, I still won't do it. I'll wait, sometimes for a long time or forever, to write the words down until they're ready to behave to do their job. 😂 I also revise/edit as I draft, because when I roll back and read through whatever I've written, I want it to be readable and... well... good. This is very limiting, of course. There are many ideas I just abandon because I'm not willing to dump a bunch of almost-the-right-words and sentence fragments and half-baked ideas down on paper to fill in the gaps on and refine later.
This is something for me to work on. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
Yeah, it is tough sometimes to let go and just let the words dump. Truth be told, I will go back and fiddle with words I've already written before moving to the next section. Often, it's because I'm reading what I've put down to recapture the thread or to confirm the flow. Then I'll see something and it niggles at me. Then I fix it. Then I need to go back and recheck the flow...
So yeah, I get it!
One thing that's helped me accept a "bad word" is that I will highlight it. I started doing this initially so I could zap back there quickly and fix it later. But I noticed an interesting side effect: if I highlight it, I feel better about leaving that bad word there for the moment. It's flagged; it's not officially part of the "real" text. It's a placeholder word for when my brain -- at its future convenience (whenever that will be... lol) -- gives me the word I should be using instead. Maybe this will help you too, if it's something you want to change about your writing.
I'd also recommend trying to write about something you don't really care about to practice writing a Zero Draft. (Again, if that's something you want to change about your writing approach...!) It is a leap of faith, but you have a safety net: you can chuck it all later, since it's nothing you care about anyway. The purpose of this writing isn't to finish something, simply to start it. I've found simply spilling words onto a page gives me nuggets of gold I wouldn't have written otherwise. That alone makes the exercise well worth it, in my opinion!
For the record, I don't think there's a "wrong" way to write. So if editing as you go works for you, that's great. These are simply some ideas if you are looking for a new approach.
In any case, thanks for detailing your helmet fires!
I am teaching myself to embrace “good enough for right now”. I love the “helmet fire” label and will use it when I’m getting thrown off course by minor details. Thanks!
Yes, I find that "good enough for right now" is a very powerful tool. I don't even think about it at this point -- I put down words *knowing* I will be editing them later.
Thanks for letting me know you liked the post! Here's to hoping you don't need to use the "helmet fire" label too much... lol
Can I change from a pilot to a spacewoman? Of course only for personal purposes .Great article! Thanks
Of course! Whatever floats your rocketship!
Glad you like the article!
Draft zero: love this!
Thanks Marion!
I do too. Turns out, I've been doing it for a good chunk of my life, even though I didn't call it that until recently... lol
😆
Graham, this is a very helpful and actionable post. Thank you! I find myself with these writerly helmet fires often. Like so many writers out there, I struggle with giving myself permission to do the zero draft or write bad words. It can be so discouraging to watch the “brilliant” ideas in your head translate to incoherent mush on the page. But, as you help us understand here, it’s trusting in that process that will allow us to shape and craft the bad stuff into something worth reading. Conversely, if we get trapped in comparison or perfectionism, we’ll never produce a piece of writing to begin with. Thanks again.
Glad you found it helpful, Jacob!
Yes, helmet fires are common, but you're right: trusting in the process is absolutely a way to put them out! Might make a great post on its own. Hmmm...
Speaking of posts, I wrote earlier about why those brilliant ideas turn to mush on the page. (I called them "splendid ideas" for a specific reason as you'll see, but, you know, same thing...)
https://www.towritewithwildabandon.com/p/splendid-idea
Thanks for telling us your experience!
Another great piece, Graham. Lots of food for writerly thought here. It reminds me how much we can learn about writing by adapting concepts and models from other spheres (like helmet fires from fighter pilots). Thanks for making me think…again…
Thanks Terry!
And with your experience "flying" planes, I suspect you know something about the actual helmet fires, too... lol
Graham, I loved this one! First, I paid attention to the voice side, per our other conversation, and I really do think you’ve nailed it. To me, you write as a helpful, experienced, yet humble friend who points out helpful approaches to the writing life.
And then the “helmet fires.” 1) It helps me understand why my son-in-law is such a good firefighter: Sam is the calmest guy I know, utterly unflappable under pressure. He seeks out pressure because I think it makes him feel even calmer. How else could he run into a burning building? 2) I think I experienced my version of a “helmet fire,” which for me usually manifests itself as “what’s the bloody point of this?” Even though I know the answer, I still have to walk myself through the damned steps.
I was in the editing stages when I read your post, so yeah, you definitely affected the way I approached polishing this one. If I nailed it, it's in large thanks to you!
Wow -- you know, when I associated the whole idea of helmet fires, I almost didn't use the analogy because there are real people out there who do face life-or-death situations that require quick thinking every day. I didn't want to trivialize it in any way, and actually changed some of the text that was leaning too far into the realm of flippant. People like your son-in-law deserve the all the respect for what they do.
But I did find it to be an apt analogy, and a great way to underline that when it's just you and the paper, there are no wrong decisions that can't be fixed.
Yeah, I've had those "what's the point?" moments myself. I think I've finally learned to write first, and worry about what's the point later. (Usually, by the time I'm done, that question has burned away like morning mist, anyway...)
Thanks for letting us know your particular helmet fire -- I imagine many people will get insights into that one!
Re: the firefighter thing. I was thinking of sharing your analogy with Sam, as I think he’d appreciate it. For him, the whole point is saving people—he feels like that’s what he’s meant to do (without attaching any “supernaturalist” to meant. And the funny thing is, he hates the whole “thank you for your service thing”—he just wants to be left alone to save people. Such an interesting fella.
Oh yeah -- I'd be curious to know what he says!
Yeah... I had a recent experience (I think I'm still going through it) of writing a long self-description. But I just got too in my head about it, developed writer's block, and probably did just 50% of what I could have with that opportunity. Still need to get better at writing apart from the weekly habit I've built with Hello Universe.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing a long self-description, if it will help you get to where the final needs to be. I'm famous in certain circles for writing a page and a half of a sunset scene -- "gently mocked" might be a better way to describe it! I still write them. But now I've learned to trim it considerably for the final draft.
And I'll tell you what -- that final draft wouldn't be nearly as good if it wasn't for the a page and a half that preceded it!
FWIW, I think maintaining a weekly Substack is a great writing habit on its own. But if you want to commit to writing more, why not create a "secret" Substack to maintain that forces you to sit down and write on a different day. You don't have to actually publish it (that would be the "secret" part), but it might help kickstart your non-Hello Universe writing...
Thanks for chiming in as always, Punit!
Great idea, I've suggested the secret Substack idea to other friends but never considered it as something for myself. I'll consider it strongly!
Good luck with it!
Ha - I must be magic!
Any idea what message you're going to need to hear two weeks from now...?
I will meditate on it and see what I come up with!