Experimentalism

it's about having fun and being yourself

hey, so—

what you’re struggling to write– not the idea, but the way you’re writing it, try something new.

are you having fun? When you write the words, when they come together, letter by letter, sound by sound, are you enjoying it? are you enjoying your process?

Are you enjoying your process?

If not, try something else. Try something different. Experiment! Give up on the process you cling to, because I promise, if you’re not having fun, your reader won’t either.

Articulation

Writers have different modes of imagination, different ways of working out a scene. I’ve met writers with aphantasia– they can’t ‘see’ the scenes they’re writing about, they just know they want those characters to be in there, they know what they want to say, or, they’re working out what they’re going to say, and how they’re going to say it.

We’ve got different ways of picturing the scene, or sensing the scene, so when you sit down to write it (I can’t imagine you’re standing), when you put your head together with your hands and start drumming out a sequence, you’re performing some sort of articulation, a mode of translating what you ‘see’ or ‘sense’ and putting it into words to be understood.

Here’s the catch, we learn a lot about how to understand words- sentences are supposed to go a certain way in order to be grammatically correct but how many times are you going to suffer your reader with the unnecessities?

No more essays, the professor isn’t looking, your teacher isn’t grading this paper– so write something fun. Skip over the formalities of language, because we already do when we’re reading something. Do we, as readers, suffer the time it takes for you to say a simple sentence? We pick up on the keys and reconstruct it anyway. I’m not saying: sentence ought small, but I am saying drop the expense.

If you’re bored, they’re bored

So, memories are inherently linear, right? When you remember something, you start from the very beginning and construct all the context beforehand in order to justify the very thing you’re actually excited about, right? No, not really. Not always. But you’re writing this whole story to tell us about this amazing moment and you need to start by giving me an explanation of how two kingdoms fell apart and what calendar year it is?

Stop it. You don’t care, and you groan at the idea of worldbuilding just so you could write the romance you care about. So don’t! Leave worldbuilding to the worldbuilders and set up your romance already, that’s why your readers are reading you. If they wanted a whole world they can take their pick! Me, basically, they should be picking me, because I love worldbuilding and I can tell when you don’t.

She comes from a neighboring kingdom. Perfect! It doesn’t need a history unless you think it does, and you should only think it does if you think that would be fun or interesting. If it would bore you to write, stop, everybody suffers when you are.

She comes from a rival kingdom. Great! Is it important to you that these kingdoms were once united and a bitter divorce broke them apart and they’ve been warring off and on for centuries? Yes? Easy, that took one sentence. We don’t need to know Georje III was well known for her conquests of the Xaltic coasts unless it means something important to you. Georje’s dog Zander refuses to eat salmon because it makes him sick and that’s not important to you either. But if it is, then you should write it in. Because

If You’re Having Fun, They’re Having Fun

“If it doesn’t matter to the plot,” you say to yourself, “then I shouldn’t add it in.”

Wrong! I disagree. You should put it in, because I’d die for Zander now and I’d never feed him salmon again. It’s fun: you had fun writing that detail and we’re enjoying it because we can tell.

We can tell when you’re having fun. We can tell when you’re bored.

And this essay didn’t have a clear structure, and I’m not even sure if it was about experimentalism in a way that would have satisfied a professor waiting for me to talk about the history of the medium and wait, where’s the bibliography?

There’s no such thing as the proper way!

Unless you are strictly bound by the regulations some authority has set upon you, you’ve gotta give up on the rules, because they weren’t there to furnish your creativity, they were there to help you navigate the vast space of ideation (or made it easier to grade). Your creative engines are bursting to get that scene written, right? Write it! Does it need to be connected? Do we need to know how these two characters arrived at the scene? Do we have to start on day one, then day two, then day three- no, no no. Unless you like that, unless you enjoy it.

Articulate your scene in a way you enjoy writing.
If you’re bored, give it up and try something different, something fun.
If you’re having fun, others will, and don’t you forget it!

Personal Anecdote

So, I used to think everyone had to like me. Who else? Yeah, yeah, I see the hands even through the digital space between us, even if you didn’t raise yours, I see you. When I stopped trying to get people to like me (long story short), I suddenly found that some people I was really struggling to get to like me, started to actually like me for me, the me I had fun being.

The way I wanted to present myself (or my work, because this is also an allegory) was in a way I thought was fun, and it’s something they happened to enjoy. And if they didn’t, I could let them go. And I’ve let people go. And you’ve gotta let ‘em go.

And if they don’t like what you’re writing, they can read someone else’s book. And if they’re not having fun but you are, they’ll see you’re having fun, they’ll smile, they may say, “Ah, this fantasy romance isn’t for me, but I’ll remember Zander.”

And that’s everything.

The people who stick around because they love it will later learn about Marian I’s cat Ysildre and how much trouble he gets into while trying to eat Georje’s royal pond fish.

You’re not writing for a grade, you’re writing for fun. And if you’re not, everybody can tell.

So have fun!

By the way, if you’re writing a sad story, you should still have fun with it: you should not be bored writing your tear-jerker. I can’t tell you how awful it is to read something sad and boring, like, we all know what that feels like.

so have fun, be yourself. experiment!