I feel like readers can absolutely tell when something was written from reaction versus inspiration. I've noticed a lot of reaction in recent books I've read, and honestly, I understand. I really do. But I think these kind of timeless, long-lasting books can only come from the inspiration place.
Most of the times I feel that when I am in the wrong mood for writting or in a hurry the words just refuse to come and I stay sitting watching a blank page with no idea whatsoever on what I had wanted to put in the story. On the other hand, when for some mysterious reason I find myself completely engaged in the task it is more like the story is writting itself through me rather than me actually doing an active part.
I belive it is similar to when you are close to the finishline in a race and you feel as if the things around you had vanished and it were you, the track and the goal. In a way, once you let go of the real world, the fantasy takes over and the world you have been building swallows you and develops under the terms you somehow programmed it to. Every single time just going with the flow with the unconcios wave that the story leads brings out some of the most fun scenes and brings out unexpected characteristics that the characters have.
Hi Soman! I love how you include events from the real world into your stories! I can’t wait for your next newsletter! P.S How did you come up with the brilliant idea of the Groom Room? I’m so jealous of your creativity!
Real-world events or possibilities are very inspiring and I am excited to see what you have planned. I have had some story plots where Antarctica had to get independence because eventually the countries in the treaty started to fight over it for resources and different people from these countries just made Antarctica a separate one. (which wasn't supposed to be a good thing btw) I LOVE anything about the Arctic or Antarctic and I'm so happy to see that as part of your story. I wonder if there will be some environmental concerns or global peace concerns and expansion vs one's own country and the resources they already have.
Also any hint of what your new book will be about? (I saw your story on Instagram and now I'm really curious.) Will it be YA/adult or for middle-grade again?
also something unconscious I think was just getting lost in my own thoughts after reading history (Cold War, Operation Keelhaul, communist paranoia) and Animal Farm and thinking what if it happens years later again? And I just got a story idea which I hope to execute.
Following my unconscious to something unexpected is something I tend to do everyday. It’s when I’m not in tune with that part of myself that I feel the least like myself. I’ve found it happening a lot in both my real life and in my writing.
In my real life it has led to random bucket list items I made up when I was a teenager coming true, like my dream of someday working with Garry Marshall. I never got a chance to work with him unfortunately, but I did have a very random interaction with him after a film screening I attended (one wherein he was a surprise attendee). He was standing in the lobby eating ice cream and I approached him to thank him for making “feel good” films. He asked what I thought about the movie I had just seen and as a budding screenwriter, I was honest about how I felt two of the actors lacked chemistry, but otherwise I enjoyed the film. He thanked me for my honesty.
In my writing, it has emerged as me picking random items or places or things to appear in my story while I pants my first draft, and through the art of revision and research, discovering that the item I’ve chosen or place I picked has a real life connection that I had never seen or heard of before. It’s made revisions on my first novel a very uncanny experience and has made the process take twice as long as it probably would someone else as I uncover all the connections that feel “right” for my story world.
There also seems to be an unconscious connection to me and my media consumption as a mood reader/watcher because I have a tendency to start and stop consuming things that I love until the perfect moment for it to be a reflection of what I’m currently dealing with in the real world. For example, I’m a huge Gilmore Girls fan and stopped watching the series for a few years because life took over, but when I finally decided I would continue watching the series, I happened to watch Rory’s graduation episode the same week I was preparing for my college graduation.
This random connection process has happened again with me reading the SGE series. I read the first 3 books as they were released years ago, but never finished reading the whole series, so the Camelot years had always been a mystery to me. When the SGE duology was released, I decided now was the time to reread the whole series from the beginning so that I would understand the new books better. I managed to get through books 1-4 and had to stop again because I had to switch to researching comp books for my novel. Last week, I found myself with nothing to read that really drew my attention and decided I would continue my SGE read through and restarted around the third act of book 4. Everything I’ve been reading in the 5th book (I reached the Tedros and potatoes scene last night) has been a balm to my soul this last week and half as I watch everything happening in the world.
TLDR: reading your newsletter this morning after listening to the chapters in A Crystal in Time this week has been a huge example of trusting my unconscious to lead me to something magical. 💜
Also, I did feel like the little birds felt out of place in the scene, but watching Rhian use his finger glow to rewrite the truth to fit his narrative has definitely stuck with me. Listening to Agatha and Sophie continue to fight is reminding me to hold onto hope while the chaos swirls around us.
Basically, thank you for writing the kinds of stories you write. 🫶🏻
Last week I told you that I had to write a short story for my class. At the time I'd started the story, paused, started something else, then combined them and had reached a point where I didn't know how to continue. I didn't continue with the story for several days. Then on Thursday I sat down, read what I had already then continued it. I continued it until it was almost done then finished it on Sunday. I don't know if it's any good, it probably feels like a collage of ideas but I just followed wherever my mind took the story. Usually when I'm writing something I plan it out ahead of time. Who are the characters? How do they speak? What is the setting? What is the order of events? But with this story, I got an idea and started writing. Then I didn't know how to continue so when I got another idea I started writing that. Then I realized that the two ideas could work really well together, so I copied what I'd written, pasted it into the same document and kept writing. Thinking about the story I don't know if it's good but I really like the idea.
What if when you dream you go to another world where you build a different life, then one time you find out that the people in this dream world are other people, also dreaming, who have nearly completely abandoned their real life for this dream world. Do you continue with this world knowing how it might affect your life or do you leave it and everything you've done in that dream world?
Even after just writing that description of the story I feel like I should restart the story because I didn't know what story I was writing until I was almost done writing it. I just went where my mind took me and arrived at this concept that I love and a story that I don't know if it's any good at all.
You are an amazing writer! This is a powerful and thoughtful article. I hope to see more just like it.
Thank you. I’m here every week 😆
I feel like readers can absolutely tell when something was written from reaction versus inspiration. I've noticed a lot of reaction in recent books I've read, and honestly, I understand. I really do. But I think these kind of timeless, long-lasting books can only come from the inspiration place.
It’s this very subtle thing where it’s coming from either the right place… or a forced one
Most of the times I feel that when I am in the wrong mood for writting or in a hurry the words just refuse to come and I stay sitting watching a blank page with no idea whatsoever on what I had wanted to put in the story. On the other hand, when for some mysterious reason I find myself completely engaged in the task it is more like the story is writting itself through me rather than me actually doing an active part.
I belive it is similar to when you are close to the finishline in a race and you feel as if the things around you had vanished and it were you, the track and the goal. In a way, once you let go of the real world, the fantasy takes over and the world you have been building swallows you and develops under the terms you somehow programmed it to. Every single time just going with the flow with the unconcios wave that the story leads brings out some of the most fun scenes and brings out unexpected characteristics that the characters have.
I love what the unexpected brings each time.
Hi Soman! I love how you include events from the real world into your stories! I can’t wait for your next newsletter! P.S How did you come up with the brilliant idea of the Groom Room? I’m so jealous of your creativity!
Real-world events or possibilities are very inspiring and I am excited to see what you have planned. I have had some story plots where Antarctica had to get independence because eventually the countries in the treaty started to fight over it for resources and different people from these countries just made Antarctica a separate one. (which wasn't supposed to be a good thing btw) I LOVE anything about the Arctic or Antarctic and I'm so happy to see that as part of your story. I wonder if there will be some environmental concerns or global peace concerns and expansion vs one's own country and the resources they already have.
Also any hint of what your new book will be about? (I saw your story on Instagram and now I'm really curious.) Will it be YA/adult or for middle-grade again?
Haha, all I’ll say is the clues to what my next book will be is in the strategy of Julia Roberts’ movie career……….. There’s an Easter egg for you!
also something unconscious I think was just getting lost in my own thoughts after reading history (Cold War, Operation Keelhaul, communist paranoia) and Animal Farm and thinking what if it happens years later again? And I just got a story idea which I hope to execute.
Following my unconscious to something unexpected is something I tend to do everyday. It’s when I’m not in tune with that part of myself that I feel the least like myself. I’ve found it happening a lot in both my real life and in my writing.
In my real life it has led to random bucket list items I made up when I was a teenager coming true, like my dream of someday working with Garry Marshall. I never got a chance to work with him unfortunately, but I did have a very random interaction with him after a film screening I attended (one wherein he was a surprise attendee). He was standing in the lobby eating ice cream and I approached him to thank him for making “feel good” films. He asked what I thought about the movie I had just seen and as a budding screenwriter, I was honest about how I felt two of the actors lacked chemistry, but otherwise I enjoyed the film. He thanked me for my honesty.
In my writing, it has emerged as me picking random items or places or things to appear in my story while I pants my first draft, and through the art of revision and research, discovering that the item I’ve chosen or place I picked has a real life connection that I had never seen or heard of before. It’s made revisions on my first novel a very uncanny experience and has made the process take twice as long as it probably would someone else as I uncover all the connections that feel “right” for my story world.
There also seems to be an unconscious connection to me and my media consumption as a mood reader/watcher because I have a tendency to start and stop consuming things that I love until the perfect moment for it to be a reflection of what I’m currently dealing with in the real world. For example, I’m a huge Gilmore Girls fan and stopped watching the series for a few years because life took over, but when I finally decided I would continue watching the series, I happened to watch Rory’s graduation episode the same week I was preparing for my college graduation.
This random connection process has happened again with me reading the SGE series. I read the first 3 books as they were released years ago, but never finished reading the whole series, so the Camelot years had always been a mystery to me. When the SGE duology was released, I decided now was the time to reread the whole series from the beginning so that I would understand the new books better. I managed to get through books 1-4 and had to stop again because I had to switch to researching comp books for my novel. Last week, I found myself with nothing to read that really drew my attention and decided I would continue my SGE read through and restarted around the third act of book 4. Everything I’ve been reading in the 5th book (I reached the Tedros and potatoes scene last night) has been a balm to my soul this last week and half as I watch everything happening in the world.
TLDR: reading your newsletter this morning after listening to the chapters in A Crystal in Time this week has been a huge example of trusting my unconscious to lead me to something magical. 💜
Also, I did feel like the little birds felt out of place in the scene, but watching Rhian use his finger glow to rewrite the truth to fit his narrative has definitely stuck with me. Listening to Agatha and Sophie continue to fight is reminding me to hold onto hope while the chaos swirls around us.
Basically, thank you for writing the kinds of stories you write. 🫶🏻
I love everything about this. You’re just following the signs as you go and they’re leading you to all sorts of wonderful places, even in dark times.
Last week I told you that I had to write a short story for my class. At the time I'd started the story, paused, started something else, then combined them and had reached a point where I didn't know how to continue. I didn't continue with the story for several days. Then on Thursday I sat down, read what I had already then continued it. I continued it until it was almost done then finished it on Sunday. I don't know if it's any good, it probably feels like a collage of ideas but I just followed wherever my mind took the story. Usually when I'm writing something I plan it out ahead of time. Who are the characters? How do they speak? What is the setting? What is the order of events? But with this story, I got an idea and started writing. Then I didn't know how to continue so when I got another idea I started writing that. Then I realized that the two ideas could work really well together, so I copied what I'd written, pasted it into the same document and kept writing. Thinking about the story I don't know if it's good but I really like the idea.
What if when you dream you go to another world where you build a different life, then one time you find out that the people in this dream world are other people, also dreaming, who have nearly completely abandoned their real life for this dream world. Do you continue with this world knowing how it might affect your life or do you leave it and everything you've done in that dream world?
Even after just writing that description of the story I feel like I should restart the story because I didn't know what story I was writing until I was almost done writing it. I just went where my mind took me and arrived at this concept that I love and a story that I don't know if it's any good at all.
Judging a story completely implodes it! That’s the wrong side of your brain. You have to let the story spin first. Then once it’s done, you can judge.