Judy Schneider's Writing Lab

I usually get Mind Blinks when I'm doing the most mundane chores like washing dishes. I think affording ourselves the freedom to not do anything constructive allows ideas to float to the surface of our mind.

Janice

Late in 2008, I was finishing up a script for my play, Freedom's Light: A Stop Along the Underground Railroad.

I'd gotten the main character, a pregnant slave who was attempting to escape to Ohio, in so much trouble that I didn't know how to get her out. I didn't want to back off the conflict and it took me days to realize that I could make her continuing escape make sense by giving an antagonist a personal agenda that more or less took his eye off the prize -- and ramped up the tension in another way.

As an FYI, opening night of Freedom's Light is a week from tonight!

Kelly

I remember reading somewhere about the different methods of divinity and one of the ancient methods was that you pose your question in your mind and then take a seat among a group of people. In one of the conversations you overhear, there is your answer.

Also, I did like what was written in a "House" television episode recently. A minister who was in the hospital received a visitor and told House, this isn't a coincidence, it's God's way of beiny anonymous.

My most recent "wink" came to me in a dream. I had written a play but still needed something more to 'bring it all home' and it was given to me in the dream to put in another character, a woman that the main character loved. So I added the Spirit of his dead mother to speak to him.

Janice, I had a similar experience when writing a children's story. I worked at the ending and worked at it, but I couldn't seem to find the surprise I needed. After a couple of weeks, I let it go. The answer came to me while cleaning the bathroom!

Wow, Kelly, Freedom's Light sounds absolutely wonderful! I wish you a grand opening and a full house. "Break a leg" to you and yours! Please let us know how it goes.

Millicent, I love the method of posing a question and allowing the answer to come to you in the conversations around you! I have never had a solution come to me in a dream, as you mention, but that's definitely what happens when you spend a lot of time with something! By the way, I LOVE House and have always believed as his minister visitor preaches: There is no such thing as coincidence!

Thanks for your interesting comments!!

Judy

I agree with Janice. Wasn't it Einstein who got his best ideas in the shower? In advertising, my art director partner and I always brainstorm over lunch. At some point we stall, and after so many iced teas I'm about to float away, I finally run to the bathroom. And it never fails, I always come running out with a new idea or sharper copy line.

I'm a firm believer in letting a problem stew on the back burner. Just yesterday, Judy and Janice were helping me brainstorm how to fix the slow beginning of my novel. We finally parted ways with me knowing what needed to be done but not how exactly I could pull it off. Then at 2 a.m. last night, I woke up with an idea how to make it work.

Julie, I love the whole team-brainstorming idea. It really works to bump thoughts around with people you know and trust. I know a guy (who knows a guy, etc.) who team writes for a soap opera in NYC. Is that the writer's dream job, or what? I think the team concept is why certain TV shows demonstrate such great writing!

I'm excited you have come up with a way to pull off the new beginning, Julie. Can't wait to read it!

Thanks!

Judy

Judy:

I'm glad to hear you are aggressively working on your protagonist because, as you already know, I am like the late, great Paul Harvey wanting to hear "the rest of the story." Good luck with it, and keep me posted. I seem to have mind blinks and other mental spasms either when I can't sleep at night OR when my brain is extremely overloaded and I am trying to concentrate on "something else." This brings me to a piece of advice: Always keep a notebook or something with you to jot down mind blinks and other bits of fleeting brilliance. Otherwise, as stellar as a thought might be, it can be lost forever. I can say this with authority since I'm closer to 60 than to 50 now. Keep that great story going, Judy--and good luck with it. mary

Great advice, Mary! As a practice, I jot ideas and thoughts down as they come to mind. I carry extra index cards in the books I'm reading, in my purse and briefcase, and in my car. I also have a stash near my reading corner, by the kitchen TV, and, of course, on the nightstand. I'm still trying to work out how to jot notes in the shower (and be able to read them later). I've been known to write them in the steam. As an aside, I also do math problems in the steam, too, calculating projected word counts or time elapses in plot, etc.

Thanks for your comment, Mary! I'll send you a couple of chapters, soon!

Judy

Thanks, Judy! Tonight is opening night . . .

Oh my gosh, Kelly, break a leg!! Please, please let us know how it goes!! Best to you!!

Judy

Hey . . . everything went really, really well with Freedom's Light. Most shows were either sold out or close to sold out and the actors were incredible!

Wow, Kelly, I'm soooo excited to hear Freedom's Light went well. Sold out shows are a true sign of success. Now, you'll have to bring it to Pennsylvania! Congratulations!

Judy