Creative Process: Insight. [43/52]

 
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Creative Process: Insight is part three of a five part series on the creative process.

I love every step of the creative process, but this third step, Insight, or the Aha! moment, is a fun one. Let’s talk about what this step is, and then I’ll share why I enjoy it so much. 

You’ve been thinking about your story and sketching character names and maps. It’s been weeks or months (or years). Then, you wake up at 1am, or you’re putting your seatbelt on, and BOOM! inspiration strikes and you’ve got that last piece of your story puzzle, and now it’s all coming together. 

Your idea has gone from a few scattered story fragments, to one cohesive story.

This happened to me when I was working on my novella The Mystery at Pancake Shores. The original idea was that a man would be discovered in a glass box deep underground. And I wanted to write it in the form of letters from someone to the man. 

I liked the glass box idea, but I was having trouble solidifying the backstory. And, I quickly realized I was not ready to write an epistolary novel. 

So, I kept thinking about it, talking to my friends, and trying to work it out. Eventually, we said, “What if the box washed up from the ocean? And what if some kids found it?”

Those two sentences broke the story wide open and I had an outline for that book within a few weeks. 

That’s why I enjoy this step so much. You’ve spent a lot of brainpower thinking of your story, and then it pays off in the best way possible. I like to try to start first drafting soon after this breakthrough happens, so I can harness that excitement onto the keyboard. 

There is one step before sitting down to write, and that is Evaluation. The timing of this one is tricky, but we’ll try to nail it down next week.

Jump. Build, Fly.
F.C. Shultz