Today’s post comes to you from French Polynesia! Well, sorta – I wrote it while we were there, but I’m publishing after we’ve returned. Does that count? When I wrote this, I was surfing on the back of a wild dolphin, and the dolphin was wearing sunglasses, and was probably TOTALLY my new best friend. Yes, that sounds factual. *nods*
Craig and I are relentless wanderers, ever thirsty for the faraway. So we decided to celebrate our five-year anniversary on the Polynesian island of Mo’orea. Travel not only nourishes my soul, it betters me as a writer by providing my mind a rest as well as material.
But you don’t need a passport or even cool dolphin buddies to live your story. Anything that gets you away from the notebooks and making your own narrative is enough. An excursion into life itself: trying a class on falconry, learning how to fix a carburetor, attending an awkward office party, even just walking down an unfamiliar street… All of these fill your well of experience, the well you draw from when writing stories. They acquaint you with new knowledge and new ideas.
That weirdo on the bus wearing two hats? Put him in your story. That time your sister’s baby spit up all over your shoulder? Put it in your story. The embarrassment you felt when your barista turned you down for a date? Bummer, man… Put it in your story!
As Ben Franklin said: “Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.”
Even if you don’t use your experiences as direct material, simply being in a new environment helps, because it churns up all those stagnant juices and gets the brain flowing. Creativity loves novelty.
And if nothing else, the vacation from your keyboard is important too. The brain is not a machine that pumps indefinitely as long as the button is turned on. Humans need rest. Sometimes not writing your story helps your story.
In conclusion, here’s a photo of my dolphin BFF sipping a Mai Tai.
The dolphin looks fake
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Hahahaha
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What a fun and refreshing post! I’m so jealous of your new BFF!
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Everyone should have a dolphin best friend!
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I knew Lee would not only beat me to a punchline but come up with a better one as well! Great advice as always – and given the quality of your writing at a lower ebb I can only marvel at what may appear now you are fully rested π
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Well seeing as how I’ve been too post-vacation-lazy to do any creative writing or even editing, the answer to that is “bbllrrfffff.” π Gonna try to get back into the swing of things today! Or tomorrow… Or…
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Ah…yes…I thought I saw you across the way when I was buying an ice-cream in Procrastaville earlier but I just couldn’t be sure…! You’ve only outstripped me by about a million words this year so I shouldn’t worry too much π
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Oh yes, that person with the double scoop of I’ll-Do-It-ChocoLATER was definitely me!
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Haha! Splendid punnery π This writing path we walk is always a rocky road.
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Hehehe π
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So true, Shannon! Any little away-from-the-keyboard adventure helps. π
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It really does! We need stories in our own lives to write good stories. π
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Awesome post! I could not agree more. Live a life that inspires your writing. It’s a simple and effective motto I try to follow.
I really like “creativity loves novelty.” I feel there’s a way to turn that into some super sleek saying that plays on “novel”, I’m just not cool enough to come up with it. Also, the Ben Franklin quote was the first thing I thought when I saw this post. Great inclusion!
The dolphin bit reminded me of this part of the Lonely Island’s song “I’m on a Boat” (Uh, explicit lyrics warning): https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=avaSdC0QOUM#t=79
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Hmm, how about “novels love novelty” for a sleek saying? π
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I’d say you nailed it, haha!
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“That weirdo on the bus wearing two hats? Put him in your story. That time your sisterβs baby spit up all over your shoulder? Put it in your story.”
Haha, right on. Love this post, Shannon! This reminds me of what a creative writing prof once told me about how I can’t write something I haven’t lived. To put it in other words, we can’t recreate something we haven’t felt. We can read about it, and therefore write about what we’ve read, but there’s something more urgent about having actually experienced what we’re writing about.
I’ll be travelling over the next few months, so hopefully the novelty I’ll experience will become creativity.
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Thanks for reading, Millie! I do think it’s possible to write what we haven’t lived – otherwise nobody would write fiction! I have a whole post scheduled for the future about how to write what we *don’t* know by translating a personal experience into a new circumstance, and using empathy, imagination, and good old-fashioned research. But you’re right that a truly lived experience will be more urgent and more convincing, so it’s always good to tap into those, or to keep a writer’s eye out for what experiences could help us or give us ideas. If we’re writing a murder mystery though, er… better use imagination for that. π Haha.
How exciting that you’ll be traveling for such an extended time! Where are you going?
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I guess there’s always Google for that, too. π
I’m going to Thailand! I’ve never been to Southeast Asia before. Now that winter is coming up, I figured it’s the perfect opportunity.
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Thailand’s on my list of places to visit someday too! What are you most excited to see/do there?
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Bangkok and Chiang Mai are on my list! I’ll mostly be hiking, visiting the local markets/attractions, and doing some writing and illustrating. Will report back in a future post about these experiences. π
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That sounds AMAZING. I can’t wait to read about it. π
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Wow this post was kind of interesting even though I only skimmed through some of it! It IS true that our brains need a break from all the everyday lives that we’ve lived throughout time. Sometimes it can be hard to get done what we even want to get done. But you know what? JUST KEEP GOING. That way you can finally turn from failure to success!
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Yup, just keep going! It’s all about persistence. π
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βEither write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.β
That’s going in my quote collection.
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