[arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Sept. 14: Perspiration or Inspiration?

[Judy Tyrer]

I used to figure skate.  I consider it the quintessential metaphor for life.  And one of the things that it taught me is that you know you're doing it right when it becomes easy.  I've taken that into writing quite effectively.  When I'm doing it right, the writing flows.  It's just how much doing it wrong it takes to get to doing it right.  

But in fiction, the hours and hours and hours of creating fully developed characters pays off when you sit down and they start spewing out the greatest jokes that I could never think of if I sat down to write jokes.  So when it's hard, I usually know I'm doing something wrong.  Usually it's because the character doesn't want to go that way or the story has decided to take a turn I'm resisting it.  

So I sort of disagree.  It really IS easy, it's just really hard to make it so easy.

Judy

-----Original Message-----
From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Burcu Bakioglu
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 5:42 PM
To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG
Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Sept. 14: Perspiration or Inspiration?

Inspiration comes to me in odd occasions... like when I am hiking, swimming,
taking a shower, shopping... But executing that inspiration is a hell of a
lot of work and requires much hair pulling and discomfort. When I get an
idea I am always under the false impression that it is going to be easy to
execute/write, when I start the writing process I wonder what the hell I was
thinking earlier. And I don't really believe in anyone who says this is an
easy process, seriously, I've been writing for over a decade and it ain't
getting any easier.

burcu

On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Judy Tyrer <judy.tyrer at redstorm.com> wrote:


> I'm a programmer.  The solution to the problem ALWAYS happens on the drive

> home after beating my head against the proverbial brick wall for hours at a

> time.  It's inevitable.

>

> As a writer (which I am only rarely paid for) the inspiration comes in the

> morning upon first waking up.

>

> I think it's a left brain/right brain thing.  I can't write at night.  I

> can't code in the morning.

>

> Judy

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org]

> On Behalf Of Naomi Alderman

> Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 4:57 PM

> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Sept. 14: Perspiration or

> Inspiration?

>

> I actually had a conversation about this recently with Andrea and was

> *jealous as hell* when she told me that she can work on a problem and

> know that she can then just 'leave things to [her] subconscious' and

> reliably wake up the next morning with an idea. (Andrea, is this

> roughly what you said?)

>

> It is never like this for me :-(. If I'm not at my desk working, very

> little happens. The really great ideas, the ones that make all the

> difference to the project, those end up coming at random times (on a

> walk, in the pool, in the shower), but for the day-to-day 'what shall

> I do with this next scene?' questions it is graft all the way. Sit and

> type and type and hope that something comes out.

>

> Dorothea Brande, if you don't know her book 'Becoming a Writer' is

> very good on the topic of 'activities that engender ideas'. She

> recommends setting yourself a writing (or other creative) problem,

> musing on it for a while, and then going off to do something which is

> fairly mindless, body-not-brain, perhaps something rhythmic and

> peaceful like walking, rocking in a rocking chair, knitting, washing

> up or whittling. Sometimes it's worked for me, but more often it's

> just banging my forehead with my fist until something falls out.

>

> - Naomi

>

>

>

> On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 8:02 PM, David Flor <dflor71 at gmail.com> wrote:

> > I'm a programmer by trade: I do things first, then think about them

> later.

> > If it takes six complete rewrites to get it right (even if some of those

> > rewrites are done for no reason), so be it.

> >

> > I have a hard time sitting down and coming up with ideas on the spot.

> Most

> > of my ideas come out of the blue at inconvenient times: on the bus, at

> 3am

> > while asleep, watching a movie in the theater, in the shower... I pretty

> > much go everywhere with a pen and paper at this point, and also have a

> set

> > on my nightstand (drives the wife crazy).

> >

> > Judy Tyrer wrote:

> >>

> >> I don't know about "waiting for an idea to come" as I think you have to

> be

> >> actively involved in DOING and then the idea comes.  It is in the doing

> of

> >> the project that one opens oneself up for ideas to flow.  You can't just

> >> watch TV all day waiting for inspiration.  You have to be actively

> involved

> >> in what you are wanting to achieve, regardless of the media in which you

> are

> >> working.  Inspiration comes through perspiration, I guess.  At least,

> that's

> >> been my experience.

> >> Judy

> >> -----Original Message-----

> >> From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org

> ]

> >> On Behalf Of Andrea Phillips

> >> Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 1:50 PM

> >> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> >> Subject: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week Sept. 14: Perspiration or

> >> Inspiration?

> >>

> >> This is a question that came up on IRC a few weeks ago. There are a

> >> few ways that creative work happens. On the one hand, there's the

> >> Stevie Wonder model, perspiration: You work and work and work (writing

> >> dozens of songs a fay, and then, by the numbers, some of the work will

> >> be chart-toppers. Then there's the inspiration model, the apocryphal

> >> Voltaire writing Candide in three days: You wait until an idea comes

> >> to you, and then you execute it in one dizzying whirlwind until it's

> >> done.

> >>

> >> So you: Where do you fall? Skew hard one way or the other? Someplace

> >> in the middle? On one end and wish you were on the other?

> >>

> >>

> >

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-- 
Thanks,</burcu>

Burcu S. Bakioglu, Ph.D.

http://www.palefirer.com
http://palefirer.com/blog/
Skype: PaleFireR
AIM: PaleFireR

--
"Congratulations! You're the first human to fail the Turing test."
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