Anyone else use meditation when writing ? With three small kiddies hasn't being happening as regularly as I like but I sometimes use it to get into character, to lucid dream ideas etc. What form do you use, how does it benefit you etc?
I try to. I'm a bit too hyperactive to meditate properly, but I've always kind of been a bit odd in that if I use my imagination, I totally zone out and my fingers twitch and wriggle. So if I want inspiration (or I'm bored, or I feel like imagining something), I'll sit somewhere, my fingers going haywire and my mind dead to everything except the story. I see it as a form of meditation, even if it technically isn't. When I'm in this zone, I can completely be my characters. I can feel what they feel, I can experience their experiences, I can totally immerse myself in the world I've created. When I was younger, I was convinced that everything I saw in my imagination really existed. I use this to develop aspects of plot, characterisation, or anything I want to, really. It's very subconscious, too. One time, I got so annoyed because one of my characters turned out to be betraying the others. I liked that character! But that was just where the story took me, and it worked out pretty well. Doing this really sweeps me up, it's a very vivid experience. I do try not to get caught doing it in public though, and it's so hard to stop! By the way, I'd be really interested to know if anyone else does this too? I have never met anyone else who does the "finger thing." Interested to learn about other meditation techniques for writing, too!
I'm just calm by nature, and find it easy to focus if needed. Don't know if I've always been that way, but I've not really cared about much of anything for a long time. As a result, I don't get bogged down and just let things happen. Not saying everything comes out easy. More like emptying a bottle. Sometimes things flow out rapidly. When they don't though, I find it useless to shake the mental bottle and instead just let those few drops slide out on their own time. -Frank
It is a form of meditation - think it is a Buddhist thing that every action and putting your whole self into something is meditation. Anything with a rhythm etc I specifically breathe - helps convince me sometimes I am a writer and I can do this lol
@Diz "...I have never met anyone else who does the "finger thing."..." Oh - I do something like that. Not often though. In those moments when there's a "constructive" tornado ripping through my brain I'll do a rapid-fire tapping of my fingertips on my thumb, or drum on the table. -Frank
I listen to specific music to get into the mood of one of my books, and when one particular song 'works' and a write a lot or have a lot of ideas associated with it, I put it on repeat for hours until I've exhausted my mental facilities on it. Ahh, to be in the zone! I used to be in the zone so much more when I was younger, and writing more... I could write for hours, and it still looked good in the morning. No longer. Although, for the first time in quite a while I wrote something yesterday that made me giggle aloud - this is the best memory I have of writing.
I do this as well. Been listening to the same CD for about a year now, while writing on the same story. Gets a little repetitive, but it keeps the mood on track. I don't need it on repeat anymore, just one or two tracks when feeling uninspired.
me too wasn't even a John Barrowman fan before I started lol he is seriously getting on my tits. However it is worth a few thousand words every time.
