No one likes a cough. It’s even worse when that cough is accompanied by a relentlessly runny nose and a constant gurgling sound emitting from one’s chest. As you can imagine, I’m talking about being sick and the various inconveniences it may cause. In my case, as I am sure it happens to many others, being in that state, I find it very hard to fall asleep, or go back to sleep once awoken at 3 in the morning.
Not too long ago, I was exactly like that: coughing, gurgling, runny nose, fever, and a delightful combination of nausea and a weird hunger. It was so bad that my partner had to sleep in the living room to get away from my constant coughing and gurgling, and other various noises. Other than the sad reality of her feeling it necessary to go to the other room (I offered to go sleep there instead, but she wouldn’t hear it), the was also the dull reality of having to lie in bed for long hours not being able to sleep, or, coincidentally, breathe.
Why am I telling you this? First of all, it’s my blog and I can do what I want. Secondly, it is very much relevant to the creative process and writing, which is, as you all know, the main point of this blog.
Lying there in the dark for long hours, needing to distract myself from how tired I am and how much my throat hurt, I let my mind wonder about. Naturally, my mind started making stories, and as hard as I tried, I could do nothing to steer my mind to continuing the story I was writing anyway for the past few months, no. My mind wanted new pastures to graze.
For close to what felt like an hour, I started a brand new story in my head. I created characters, a setting, even found some poignant points and overarching motifs. It was quite impressive if I may say so myself. It started as a game, really. I was playing around with more ideas for novels for several weeks before that night, and my brain just started putting some meat on the skeletons of those ideas. But it turned out good, very good.
At the end, I just couldn’t handle it anymore and simply turned on my laptop and began typing what I had formulated in my head just before as best I could, to the great surprise of my fiance, who was shocked to find me awake as she was getting ready for work at six in the morning.
I suppose this entry doesn’t really have a point besides being an anecdote on how a creative mind can surprise even itself. It did also teach me something, seeing as it provided me with the first three chapters for my next novel: Follow your creativity, let it flow before you put the breaks on it for the sake of convenience or self-censorship. You’d be surprised what comes out.
Amit's Writing Journey 