Doing Its Zone Thing

Fiction writing is a strange business. Any writer will tell you that. Publishing is even stranger, but to get something published you have to write it first, so it's that pastime that interests me most. 

Picture this: the late Rod Serling, standing on a dark, spooky set, frowning with great intensity into the camera and saying, "You unlock this door with the key of imagination . . . You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into … the Writing Zone."

He actually said that, except for the next-to-last word. And in all honesty, the Writing Zone is just as odd and mysterious as the one in Serling's famous TV series. (I re-watched the whole thing again, by the way, not long ago--all 156 episodes. I think my wife's still trying to recover.)

So. What, exactly, am I talking about?

It's hard to describe. The Zone (writing, not twilight) is sort of a feeling, or a state of mind, that we fiction writers sometimes reach during the process of creating a story or novel. It's a strange sense of comfort and familiarity and satisfaction, where the ideas pop and bang in the sky like fireworks and the words flow like honey, and you think Whoa, this is fun, I can do no wrong. It doesn't happen every time you sit down to write or plan to write, but when it does, it's great. John Simmons, in a piece he wrote for Writers & Artists, said, ". . . When I'm in that zone, I'm not always aware of it. It's a wonderful feeling when you realise afterwards that you've been there. I think it's part of the addiction of being a writer."

I think so, too. It's not only a concept, it's a real place--athletes know this--and I suspect every one of you writers have felt its magic at one time or another. And when you find yourself there, in that mystical wonderland, time seems to fly. Hours can pass before you know it, and when you look back at what you've managed to accomplish during that time, it's usually good.

So the obvious question is, how do you get there? Or if you've made the trip and returned, how do you make sure you can get there again?

I've heard a lot of writers' opinions of how to "activate" the Zone, and--as you might imagine--they're all different. Some people write at the same time every day, or at the same place, or accompanied by certain sounds or external inputs. When all those conditions are met, they sit down and try to let the creative juices flow.

It's almost like an attempt to enter a hypnotic state: different things work for different subjects. Timewise, I think I ease into my Zone most often in the mornings, when my mind's fresh (or at least fresher). That's probably unfortunate for me, because I'm a night owl and always have been--but that's just the way the mop flops. And whatever time of day it is, I have to first be loose and comfortable. And warm. I don't do anything well if I'm cold. One writer friend told me she does her most productive thinking in the bathtub, which I guess is fine if you don't drop your writing pad or laptop.

Locationwise, I probably do most of my writing writing right here where I am now, in front of a desktop Mac in my little home office. Some of my non-writing writing, which I guess could be called planning, is also done in this chair but most often it's done elsewhere, in other places that I find relaxing. My recliner in the den is one, our backyard swing is another. If we lived near a beach--we don't--I would probably do most of my story-plotting there, and would be even more worthless than I am now. 

Another thing that works for me, in terms of getting lost in my story thoughts, is physical activity. I like to walk (walk, don't run, like the old Ventures song), and during long walks ideas can blossom out of nowhere, to the point that I often walk a lot further and longer than I intended. (Once again, because I'm an "outliner," much of my writing process is thinking about the story before the writing starts. I usually spend twice as much time dreaming up scenes and plotting in my head as I spend actually typing words into the computer.) I don't know if I believe everything I hear about exercise and endorphins firing up the brain cells, etc., but I do know some of my most satisfying stories were born on the walking track, which in my case are our neighborhood streets and our thankfully big back yard.

This is digressing a bit, but one thing that's not part of my writing process is assigning myself a quota (a certain number of words, pages, etc.) and making sure I meet that quota during my writing session(s). That kind of self-motivation is something I don't want or need. To me, writing is more like play than work, and I'd like to keep it that way. My opinion only.

A quick word about surroundings. Unlike most writers I know, I think and work best without background noise, or even music. It's the one time that I prefer silence. Not so for other writers: some of my author friends say they think best with a lot of bustle and noise and activity going on and a lot of people around them. One of them says she does her best plotting while sitting at a table in a busy Starbucks. Not me. Unless it's the soft sound of waves going in and out, I like it quiet. Main thing is, do whatever works.

And, having said that . . .

What works for you? Do you write in the same place every day, and/or at roughly the same time of day? Do you like music or other external sounds while you're writing? Are there any places where (or times when, or conditions under which) you can't write? Do you set quotas for yourself, and keep going until you reach them? Does that make you more productive? How do you increase your chances of finding your way to your Zone?

Author Carolyn Wheat (How to Write Killer Fiction) once said, "Getting to that state, and staying there for as long as possible, is the key to writing success."

Smart lady.