Playtime
By Cornelia Amiri
It’s time to get started on my next manuscript. I’m writing a Fantasy Romance set in ninth century Scotland. I’ve begun the rough drat. I love writing rough drafts because of the wonderful process of creativity. You put aside your inner editor and write. It’s like playing with a group of objects as a child. Such as Barbie dolls or stuff animals or for a boy plastic molded soldiers or miniature racing cars. First pull your playthings out of the toy chest and arrange them. Get your plot, setting, and create your characters, with a detail history so that like real people they have a life before your novel. Now that you have gathered all your toys together, you are ready to play. Right? So write.
Let your nimble fingers fly across the keyboard with no regard for errors or proper grammar. Let the words flow from your head to the keyboard as your characters interact with each other. I love it. Sometimes the emotions really hit home and I pull away. But I take a quick walk outside to relax my shoulder and neck muscles, and to clear my head. That does the trick. I come back. My fingers dance across the keyboard for hours on end, typing away.
Never look back at anything you type. Don’t even look at the last word. Let go. Play like you did when you were four. Do that and you have it made. Enjoy it while it last because sooner then you think the rough draft will be done, then the real work begins. You will use all your technical knowledge to craft your rough draft into a professional piece of art. Oh well you can’t play forever.
Creativity is great. Everyone should get engrossed in creativity. It nourishes the human spirit. We were made to be creative just like we were made to breath. Let it flow. Play like you did when you were four. Have fun.
