Stephen King once talked about writing as being a kind of transcription, a thought I've often had myself but never really articulated. At the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, it is rather like listening to a voice inside your head (call the doctor, somebody!) and writing down what it says. As a writer, you need to be receptive to this voice, as it is easily drowned out by stuff; you need to tune in and in order to avoid all the hiss and static which gets in the way, it is probably helpful to have a quiet and private space in which to work.
This voice, this murmur, demands your attention, as sometimes it is difficult to hear. It also demands your respect -- you have to nurture it by reading eclectically and thereby giving yourself a wide sphere of reference so that you can tell when it strikes a duff note. You also have to learn to challenge it, so that when it is falling short you have the confidence to make it go back and repeat, and repeat, and then repeat once more.
I've often thought that when I'm writing I'm doing a great deal of thinking and imagining, but perhaps all I'm really doing is listening, straining to catch the elusive whisper that will send my fingers flittering over the keyboard like some crazed stenographer alone in the courtroom; perhaps this isn't creative writing at all, it's creative transcription.
PS Stephen King, On Writing - personal, outspoken, quirky and eminently practical.
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