This guest post is by G.G. Vandagriff.
Can butterflies do somersaults?
Where did that thought come from? Have you ever noticed that just before you fall asleep, your mind leaps from ordered thought into a realm that makes no earthly sense? From there it is but a step to your dream life.
Natalie Goldberg, in her wonderful resource for writers Writing Down the Bones, calls this part of us our “monkey mind.” She claims, and I agree with her, that our best, most original writing comes when we are in touch with thoughts in the realm of my butterflies doing somersaults. These are also “morning thoughts.” Therefore, doing writing exercises first thing in the morning, spilling out your monkey mind into your exercise notebook, will often lead to a completely fresh take on the book you are writing. Your characters will grow in complexity and freshness.
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When I am writing and become stalled, I know this: I need to go deeper into character. That is always the answer that yields a . It often changes the direction of my book completely, but that is good if you write character-driven fiction.
In order to go deeper into character, I must access the subconscious thoughts of those who people my books. Getting into their monkey minds—the intuitive leaps they make—is exciting and refreshing. It is the serendipity in the writing process. I love to be surprised by my characters.
For this reason, some of my best writing occurs at midnight after I have shed the days’ concerns and schedules. My mind is most creative when I am just on the edge of sleep—either first thing in the morning or last thing at night.
I am trying hard at the moment to get deeper into the mind of a new Regency romance heroine. I have decided that she is a painter with a passion for the Italian Renaissance (like I am!). So, in order to give reality to this part of her life (i.e., show not tell), I went to the Internet and pulled up the National Gallery of London’s collection of one Italian Renaissance painter that I love—Sandro Botticelli. I took my favorite painting from the collection—Portrait of a Young Man—and putting myself in the mind of my nineteen-year-old heroine, I described it on a page of notepaper by hand. As a painter, different things would impress her than the things that impress me as a writer. It was an interesting stretch—a change of point of view. When I have her pointing these things out to my hero (who has never studied a painting in his life), I believe it will carry my reader inside her head to share the vision she is so passionate about. (By the way: It really is an extraordinary painting!)
This kind of “split personality” exercise is truly beneficial to our writing. In The Duke’s Undoing, my latest release, my heroine is a writer. So I have a novel within a novel. To take the writer into that heroine’s head, I had to write a few paragraphs here and there from her point of view. What were the influences on her writing style at that time? Most likely, she would have been very melodramatic, as the bestselling women’s novels at the time were Gothics. Even though she was trying to have an original voice, she still would have been influenced by their style. It was great fun to become an early nineteenth-century writer for a few minutes here and there.
The more you can become your character, the more authentic the character will be. Sometimes this can be painful. In my award-winning epic, The Last Waltz: A Novel of Love and War, my heroine had to endure the torturous reality of World War I. I was sunk so deeply in her vision, that the world about me became dark and depressing. How was I supposed to bring my poor heroine some hope? Some peace? How was she to go on? As I pondered this over and over, I finally saw a ray of light shine through the darkness. A voice in my head said, “You cannot bear this alone. You were never meant to. Remember that death is not the ultimate tragedy. The ultimate tragedy is not doing what you were born to do.”
As far as I was concerned, that was a miracle. These serendipities are what make me love being a writer. More than love it! I am passionate about being a writer.
How to tap into your monkey mind, or the monkey mind of your characters:
- View a painting from your or your character’s point of view and write a one or two page spontaneous story about it.
- Listen to a piece of music doing the same.
- Read the first line of a novel or a stanza of poetry and do the same.
- View a landscape and do the same.
Have some fun with your characters for company! Enjoy!
Tell me your opinion: What exercises do you use to get into your characters’ minds?
About the Author: G.G. Vandagriff is the author of thirteen books, a magazine columnist, and a guest columnist for the Deseret News. Her latest book, The Duke’s Undoing, is her second indie publication, available on Amazon. She loves visitors to her website.
