Monday 4 April 2011

Notebooks and the Subconscious...

If you're a writer you're likely to have a notebook in your bag or pocket-and a pen or pencil to write with. If you haven't, why not?

Even non-writers need to make notes sometimes.

Though I admit that I do know writers who use their phones to send an e-mail with those sudden bursts of inspiration, or even use a Dictaphone.

While I was waiting for an appointment this morning I thought I'd review what moments of insight I'd jotted down in the past year or two but hadn't looked at - okay, I admit the notebook contains as many pages with notes relating to names and phone numbers, plus other non-writing associated scribbles, but there are a few ideas, dialogue from my characters, all mixed among snippets of overheard remarks or sights seen.

But I did come across something which ran to three and a half sides of A5, though sadly at the bottom of the first side the words became an indecipherable scrawl as I was having a hypo at the time (a hypoglycemic reaction- low blood sugars).

I was surprised because the words have no mental visual images associated with them- which usually happens when I get an idea- so my mind is completely blank about them.

Here's what I jotted down that I can still read...

In the beginning we'd never believed Felicity would return. Return to this house of purity and truth.
Truth.
Truth had never been the purpose. It had been the desire to resolve the truth of that photo.
That so revealing photo of  Mathew and Mark. So engrossed in a romance of love and desire that they...

Sadly I will never know the answer to what I was writing as from then on as it becomes unreadable.

Now that it is in my mind, my sub-conscious may start working on it and eventually I will find out who Felicity is. Who, or what Mathew and Mark are to her and what IS so revealing about that photo? And who is the narrator telling the story?

I'm a great believer in letting my subconscious work on writing problems while I get on with other things and it usually works.

If I ever find out the answers and/or write the story, I'll let you know...

Edited to add: I wouldn't normally use repetition  in the way I have above, that's just what came from my pen at the time.

4 comments:

Lexia257 said...

Interesting. Reminds me of the time I wrote a poem for TB's One Word Challenge and had no recollection of doing so until I read it on the forum.
I thought it was rather good too, so maybe sometimes the subconscious is a better author than the conscious ! Look forward to finding out what the "truth" of that photo is ... if it ever comes out :)

Carolb said...

I should add that I don't usually repeat words so close together unless there is a significence so I have to assume that whatever happens in the story the 'truth' bit is essential.
I think we do sometimes go into automatic and writing flows without really being aware of it, so it does come as a surprise when you read it back.

Rosemary Gemmell said...

I enjoyed this post, Carol. I've just been going through a couple of notebooks to see what I could salvage and the one I keep upstairs in a drawer beside the bed surpised me. I don't use it often and was astonished at something I'd written there ages ago, as I had no recollection of it! That must have been written at that stage between sleeping and waking when the subconscious might be more in charge.

Carolb said...

It is amazing what capacity there is in the subconscious Rosemary,it's only at times like this when we really look we see how much is there.
Perhaps all creative people have a more active subconscious than others...