Creative Momentum #1

Rocket-ships and Wrecking Balls

Creative momentum may be the most under-utilized tool in the writer’s toolbox. It has the potential to turn you into an unstoppable force, plowing through writer’s block and achieving your goals.

I’ve heard plenty of people talk about having momentum in their projects. But I’ve rarely heard people talk about how to build it or how to harness it. So, I want to do a series where we deep dive into momentum. What it is, how it manifests, how you can build it and more.

Let’s start today with the traditional definition of momentum. In physics momentum equals mass times velocity.

So what? How does that help me?

As an artist or a creator, you have a lot of creative mass, which means you have a lot of potential to gain creative momentum.

Think about what you can do with physical momentum. Cars take you to your destination, trains carry heavy loads, rocket-ships go to space and wrecking balls remove obstacles.

Whether your journey today needs you to shoot for the stars, or just get through your writer’s block, creative momentum is your friend.

Writing tip:

Something that helps me when I’m stuck, or I don’t know what to write, is to write all my thoughts on the page. I start by stating my goal, the thing I want to accomplish, then I write my obstacles and some of the things I’ve tried. From there, I let my mind go. I write anything that comes to mind, with the goal of finding a solution to my problem. The things I write initially will obviously need to be edited out, but it’s a quick trick to building momentum and getting around obstacles.

My wife does something similar when she paints and will sketch several thumbnail compositions to see why something isn’t working for her. So this idea can be adapted to any creative endeavor.

This is one of my favorite tricks, so we’ll come back to it later to discuss a few more of the reasons it works and other things it can be used for. I’ve put an example of how I use this at the end.

What do you do to get yourself writing?

On a personal note:

We finally got the results back from the EEG and my adventure buddy does not have epilepsy. He’s completely healthy and we’re very grateful.

He also had an adventure at the Houston Aquarium this week. His favorite part was spinning the ship’s steering wheel.

Momentum building example:

I need to figure out how the royals are able to contact Xenqa. I'm sure it's magical. But I don't want it to be anything like a mirror where there's a chance they can see her. Nor do I want it to be a book, because that's just overdone. But I would like for it to be two way communication, with some latency. So, some way of passing notes would probably be best. She could possibly be identified by her handwriting, but that might actually be a plus, I can play with that idea later. But what can she pass the notes through? Whatever it is, both parties have to have one and they have to be linked. What about a bottle? Like, the old message in a bottle thing? It’s an idea, but it could draw attention if anyone else sees it. Not necessarily a bad thing. I could work with that. But not my favorite idea. How about matching lockets? They’re small, don’t draw attention to themselves and I could use them to suggest a romantic interest between Xenqa and the old king. I think I’ll go with that for now.

Note: Please be patient with me. These are my initial musings from a worldbuilding/outlining/brainstorming session for my WIP “The Hearts of the Children”. If they don’t make sense to you, that’s ok. This is just part of my process for solving various problems with my stories. If you choose to use this method at some point, do it however suits you. You’re the only person who will ever need to make sense of it.