Writer's block and situational hypnosis are both real

[Amy-Strange]

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that said, I usually just smoke a bowl, and like Carl Sagan, I'd have more ideas, than time to write them.

Situational hypnosis is my term for a very weird phenomenon that I've encountered while writing my three novels.

I'm sure other writers have experienced this, but what happens is when I'm having a problem writing through a situation, I then put myself into that situation and write what happens next, one sentence at a time.

After I'm done, finding myself at home is shocking, but only for a second.

It's like I've hypnotized myself into being in that situation myself and coming out of it is like awaking from hypnosis?

Thoughts anyone?

Dave,
the Real AmyStrange,
dug.amystrange.org

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[Farmer-Rick]

1. Yeah, sometimes writing is like dreaming while awake and

writing it down.

It can be thrilling and sometimes leaves a hangover.

[Amy-Strange]

2. That's spot on...

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and it's so true, but it happens so often, you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but nope. It still shocks me for a second, every freakin' time, and yeah, it does leave a little bit of a hangover, like I wish I could stay there longer...

Dave,
the Real AmyStrange
dug.amystrange.org

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[Farmer-Rick]

3. I think, but am not sure, that Stephen King talked about it in his book on writing.

But he was so high all the time when he wrote some of his blockbusters, I' m not sure it was he that wrote about it.

So, I'm not giving you an original idea. But this is original....I always say there are 2 things that make me feel like I'm in the "zone" running and writing. Both activities make me feel almost high but I have to continually do them on a regular basis to get that feeling. Otherwise it just feels like hard work.

[Amy-Strange]

4. Are you talking about "Danse Macabre"?

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Yes, Mr. King liked to smoke the weed. I also do it. Carl Sagan also did it. We're in good company,

Dave,
the Real AmyStrange
dug.amystrange.org

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[Farmer-Rick]

5. Stephen King did more than weed

He said there were large parts of books he has no memory of writing because he was so drugged up. (He regrets it because he later learned to enjoy the writing itself without the need for drugs.) I don't recall what his poison of choice was but he implies he did a lot of different ones.

I found the book...still on my shelf....it's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. 2001.

I wrote a short fiction base on his challenge in the book. I never sent it to him.

[Amy-Strange]

6. You should send it to him...

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he really is a nice guy.

I tried to interview him in the 80s, but he was busy doing the first Creepshow, I think, and even sent me a handwritten post card explaining the problem.

It was cool that he did that,

Dave,
the Real AmyStrange,
dug.amystrange.org

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[mainer]

7. Two things: taking a boring drive or lying on the couch staring at the ceiling

It's helped me finish my 28 published novels. Sometimes you just need to zone out and let your subconscious work out the plot prolbems.

[Amy-Strange]

10. That's true...

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Many ideas and inventions were thought up while zoning out, or sleeping.

To me, sleeping is the same as zoning out, and sometimes, when I'm having a writing problem that I can't solve by smoking herb, I saturate myself in trying to figure it out, and then go to sleep.

The next morning, I'll wake up, and the problem will be solved.

It's really weird.

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[Apollo Zeus]

8. Used self-hypnosis and came up with a great mini series idea

I am scrambling to create a 3-minute trailer in time for this contest which puts it in front of streaming services for their consideration:
https://www.thetrailerfilmfestival.com/

The kernel of the idea was to set the stories of about 4 women and 4 men in the film business against the backdrop of 1924 when radio was emptying out movie theaters. I self-hypnotized, went to sleep and woke up with the idea 4x better than the day before -- make it mostly about the women and less about radio.

Found Alice Guy -- whose story is a bit early for my period but I may fictionalize and move a character like her into 1924.

[Amy-Strange]

11. Interesting...

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Some people say that we reason we sleep is because our brain needs that time to organize all the sensory data it received during the day, and I don't know if that's true or not, but it certainly would help explain the problem solving ability your brain has when you sleep.

When you're awake, your brain and imagination are pretty much confined to a certain way of thinking, but your subconscious isn't confined in the same way, and this always it to run free and invent things that aren't allowed when you're awake.

That's my theory anyway.

It's just too bad that we don't have an easy access to all that brain power, unless we're asleep, but it is interesting how dreams do that very thing, except it's done in some kind of weird code.

The brain just fascinates the hell out of me.

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[Apollo Zeus]

13. The new theory on dreaming is that it is a way to stay asleep

They used to believe that REM sleep was the deepest but studies showed that dreaming periods were less restful than non-REM periods.

Our brains are very concerned with visual input while awake but in sleep all of that brain power is freed up.

A friend of mine quit smoking using hypnosis -- every other method had failed him. He was so impressed with the results that he learned to do hypnosis for his patients (he was a Nurse Practitioner). I have used self-hypnosis to ignore annoying sounds. It works in part because you want it to work.

[Joinfortmill]

9. Interesting

I've written four mystery novels and haven't experienced that, but it's sounds like a very productive way to solve the what the hell happens next problem.

[Amy-Strange]

12. It works for me...

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but later, when I re-read what I wrote, I'd actually wonder where the hell I got the stuff from, because it's almost always brilliant, but that part might just be my ego and not based in reality.

Only the reader knows for sure.

Sometimes, I think I'm channeling Ernest Hemmingway, because I like writing short simple sentences, without a whole lot of details, just like he used to do. Not only that, but he also liked cats, and my books are about a talking one.

When I say details, I mean things like describing how someone looks, where they live, their furniture, cars or neighborhood.

I'll read books like that, but I personally don't care if someone's living room is furnished in a Louis the Eighteenth style or contemporary urban, whatever the hell that is.

For some reasons, a lot of authors like to describe a character's skin as sallow, and I'm always wondering where all these people with gray greenish yellow skin are, because I've never seen one.

I'm a boomer and raised on TV, and that's probably where I got all that need for instant gratification from.

Even so, I still actually have read all 1,000+ pages of War and Peace, and it's the best example of what I mean by too much detail. It's a wonderful read, but the author takes pages and pages to describe something that would only take one paragraph today.

After reading 200 pages, I gave up and watched the movie with Henry Fonda, and the rest of the book was actually easier to understand and read.

Sorry for rambling, but can you please tell me the name of the four mysteries you wrote?

I'd be interested in checking them out.

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[NoRoadUntravelled]

14. I'm so glad I came across your post and this excellent thread.

It's all been inspirational.