Much advice about getting words on the page and finishing a manuscript will recommend at some point to “banish your inner critic!” If you’re critiquing or editing as you go, the theory goes, you’re also inhibiting your imaginative self, the parts that will come up with the fantastic ideas.
I’m an editor in my day job, and I do a lot of wrestling with the issue of ignoring the Inner Editor—at this house she’s paying the mortgage, so we don’t want her to go on permanent leave. Eventually, that’s who’s going to convert this shambling bramble pile of a first draft into a fabulous novel, so the trick is to be able to change gears, not banish entirely. Here are some concrete tricks and a bit of theorizing that I’ve used to help get in a creative groove.
First, some analysis: think a bit about what brings out your censorious side. What conditions does your critic like? These may be times of day, a room of your house, certain topics? Is critique a part of your job, part of a particular activity? At this level of combat, do your writing in the opposite of these conditions. If you do editing work in Word, write in Word Perfect. Edit at a desk? Write at a table, or on the sofa, or in a hammock. Until you get good at talking to your Inner Editor, practice avoidance. (more…)
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