Use your subconscious in a productive way:
Okay, here’s my first writing tip for you guys. I hope you like it – there’s plenty more to come.
I don’t know about you, but I have an overly active subconscious. I’ll let you know exactly how I trick myself to take advantage of this. If you still look befuddled at the screen, and can’t relate to this at all you can keep reading just for the kicks of getting the opportunity to get a peek into someone else’s head, or be disturbed at some level and hope the subconscious never get the upper hand over mankind. (Insert decent levels of sarcasm here, please.)
To the point.
The best example to use is simply how I got the idea to the ending of ‘The Hunt’.
After a month of writing I slowly started to plan Val and Jake’s future. What happens with them? What obstacles do they face along the way? And of course the ending. How’s the book with their story gonna end? And I mean get a decent ending, collecting all the threads, and leave nothing to question or to coincidence. I started simply by asked myself ‘How does it end?’ And I asked that at least 10 times over a couple of minutes, but didn’t come up with anything. And then pushed it aside and left the work for my subconscious. Now my mind is aware of the obstacle I as a writer is facing. Over the next couple of days I would now and then ‘check in’ with my subconscious to see if it had come up with something, and it hadn’t. Sometimes in other scenarios my subconscious would provide me with an idea or fragments of an idea. But this time it took longer than usual. One day I was standing in the shower, minding my own business when suddenly *BAM* my subconscious ambush me with not only an idea or fragments of an idea, but the whole damn solution on a silver plate with a freaking bow on top. Sliding around, dripping wet I rush to my laptop like I was a cat being chased by a Great Dane, and started writing.
But this is just how I productively use my subconscious. Or trick it to my advantage. If you aren’t able to manage it as freaky as I do I suggest you simply ask yourself the question you want answers on a dozen times, and then leave it at that. Don’t try to force your mind to come up with something when it can’t. Instead leave to simmer for two weeks and try again. Use some time for brainstorming, write down your ideas even though they seem out of place, and then leave it again to simmer for a week or two. It doesn’t matter that it takes time. Perfection takes times, but you also have to actively work on it at the right times. Find your own balance, believe in yourself and keep writing.