Put It Down on the Page

One of the most fruitful activities while writing a story is talking out character and/or plot problems with someone else. During the first draft this person is likely your long-suffering partner, and then the sounding board can expand as you explain the book to others. Whatever the audience, the feedback most of the time is not as important as your testing out new ideas.

Part of the reason these sessions are so helpful is because you’re staying involved in the writing process. The issues are churning in your mind, and at some point a solution will emerge from your subconscious. Even on a day when you are frustrated while writing, talking afterward about what you are trying to do is an attempt to right the ship for the next writing session.

The main reason for its value, though, is that in formulating thoughts about what you’re trying to accomplish, you can have eureka moments. The neural pathways in the brain are mysterious, and the art of communication in particular seems to operate through separate channels. For some reason a matter you have spent hours wrestling with in your study may trip off your tongue effortlessly. “Oh, of course, that’s the answer” is a comment I’ve made more than once when a surprise pops out of my mouth.

You run a risk, however, if you don’t behave as an author and get that idea down in writing. This applies especially when someone raises an objection about your story. The natural impulse is to explain why you did such-and-such. The explanation seems so right as you are speaking. Yet as an editor, I have one significant problem with this method. If the reason you’re giving is not down on the page, where I can read it, what good does it do me?

Joining the twin streams of written prose and spoken explanations serves to deepen your narrative point of view. What you’re telling another person is only a variant of telling the same thing to your reader. So get down that spoken idea first, plain, unvarnished. You can always improve upon simple vernacular, being more succinct or expressive as you edit the prose. But if you wish to be a complete writer, those bull sessions of throwing out ideas are only one more facet of someone who is immersed in a life of writing.

Exercise: If you’re explaining a part of the story, and you vocalize a really good idea, rush out of the room and write it down. Sure, it’s weird, it’s antisocial, but that’s what writers are. Think of it this way. The person you’re speaking with will regard the hiatus as strange but charming, not mind-poundingly normal. He may well decide: she’s a more interesting person than I thought.

“The author must keep his mouth shut when his work starts to speak.”
—Friederich Nietzsche

Copyright @ 2025, John Paine