Writing in the Dark

By Terrie Leigh Relf

The winter solstice is fast approaching on December 21, the shortest day of the year, when the sun will again begin to make its ascent toward longer days. While I usually bemoan the loss of daylight savings time, there is another part of me, that creative/intuitive part, that welcomes the dark.

Why?

It's not only because I love the horror genre and scanning the night skies for extraterrestrial cruisers; it's mainly because I write better when it's dark outside. I'm more focused, more reflective, more connected to my internal experience and all that signifies. Okay. I admit there are fewer distractions, or perhaps distractions of a different order: fires on the hearth, snuggly socks and all those novels I didn't read when hanging out at the café...Holiday celebrations. We "all" have our lists...

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people complain of the "blank--or black--screen" phenomenon. Some people refer to this as "being stuck," while others refer to it as "writer's block."   I've always thought of it as a tabla raza, a blank slate, a field of possibilities. It's an invitation for words to arise.

If you allow yourself to sit with a blank screen long enough, words will appear--as if by magic (note: this is an "ordinary" magic, and there's no hocus-pocus or other spells needed. Usually.). Call it a crying pond, if you like...We stare and stare at that computer screen, sometimes peering so close we can see our own reflection. (Perhaps the paper industry should invent a reflective paper for writers who prefer notebooks and journals to computers...)

But seriously, isn't winter a time of gathering into ourselves, of spending more time indoors rather than outside in the sun?   Doesn't it make sense that it would also be a creative time? A time to reflect on that which was illuminated during "brighter" seasons?

I know it's been overdone to the point of cliché, but bear with me...Winter time is like the dark soil within which we can plant the seeds, or ideas, of future fiction, poetry, and articles. While many of these may not breach the top layer of soil, fully sprout or blossom for months, the process, or life cycle, has begun. Writing is a perennial, an evergreen tree or plant, isn't it?   

Sometimes I feel that I'm a "night owl" during most of the year because there's that part of me that longs for winter's creative force. Isn't the dark energizing? Don't you feel that the moonlight quickens your creative petals to unfurl?  

Consider, for a moment, that winter is a time of power in its own right. Barring certain circumstances, you won't be prevented from writing--even if the electricity is off! Here are a few ideas to get you started! Who knows, by first thaw, you may have the first draft of a novel completed...

1. Explore your personal experience of the seasons and how this manifests in your writing. For example, do you write better when the wind is blowing and the rain is tumbling down? What about after first snowfall? When the sun comes out, the snow melts, and walking down the sidewalk is like riding a rollercoaster?

2. If you normally write during the day, try getting up earlier, before it's light, to do so. You could also try writing on in the evening, after dark. Do this for at least a week. Do you notice any difference in your creative output? In the types of ideas that you pursue?

3. Conduct research on climes that differ from your own. Situate a character--or characters--in this environment. How is their life different now that they're catapulted into the Land of the Midnight Sun? What about months of total darkness? There are actually studies conducted on these factors; of particular note, are sleep studies and space travel.

4. You love to read, right? Why not visit your local library and stock up on novels, short story and poetry collections?   Then there are also great books and zines about the writing process...

5. Take an online writing class. Join a face-to-face and/or online writing group or literary organization?

Before you know it--spring will be here! And as we "all" know, it is its own special time for writing...

Terrie Leigh Relf lives in the community of South Park in San Diego, CA.   In addition to teaching English Composition and Critical Thinking at San Diego City College, Relf is a free-lance writing coach, writer and editor. She pens "The Mistress of Rhetoric" column for The Espresso, San Diego's Newspaper for Coffee and Café Culture, and has recently moved her "Poet's Workshop" column from writersmonthly.us to MindFire Renewed ( http://www.mindfirerenew.com/ ), where she also edits FireWeed, a mini-newsletter. Relf is the poetry editor, etc. for WORD San Diego ( http://www.wordsandiego.com/ ),the "deputy" poetry editor for NFG--Staff With Attitude , and is co-editing Hungur, a vampire anthology, with L.A. Story Houry, through Sam's Dot Publishing ( http://www.samsdotpublishing.com ).   The Muse has definitely cranked up her treadmill machine...