Don’t rely on inspiration when writing

As a writing teacher who teaches writing in many companies, public sectors, and universities, students often come to me to ask me questions about writing, and most of them are related to inspiration.

“Teacher, how should I collect inspiration?”

“Teacher, what should I do if I have no inspiration?”

“Teacher, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but I still don’t know how to write it?”

Questions like these, like the migratory birds that visit Taiwan every year, appear in various writing classes year after year.

Li Ao’s view on writing

Well, should writing rely on inspiration? Before answering this question, I inadvertently remembered a past incident of the literary weirdo Li Ao.

In September 2011, Mr. Li Ao once said this in an interview on Phoenix TV: “Someone asked me, Li Ao, who are you? Don’t rely on inspiration to write? I said I don’t rely on inspiration to write. I can write when I sit down. I asked him: Does a prostitute rely on sexual desire to receive customers? No, she does not need to be in heat to receive customers. If she relies on being in heat to receive customers, she is not qualified to be a prostitute.

Although these words may sound a bit vulgar, if you think about it carefully, they actually make sense. Especially if you expect to become a professional writer, you really shouldn’t rely on inspiration. The reason is simple, because if you are limited and constrained by inspiration, you may not be able to write anything even if you rack your brains.

So, to be on the safe side, please get rid of the habit of relying on inspiration.

Strengthen writing motivation through a sense of ritual

Of course, if you think about it and still feel that you need inspiration to write, I have a suggestion for you: in addition to constantly improving your writing skills, you can also strengthen your writing motivation by establishing a sense of ritual. To put it simply, through a series of preparations or adjustments in advance, you can quickly enter a state of concentration and devote yourself to a certain thing.

For example, the famous French writer Simone de Beauvoir (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/Simone de Beauvoir) has her own writing ritual: “I start with drinking tea. At about ten o’clock, I will start working until one o’clock in the afternoon, then meet with friends, and then at five o’clock, I will go back to work until nine o’clock. In the afternoon, clearing my mind is not a problem for me.”

And the American best-selling author [Stephen. Stephen King is used to doing these things repeatedly every day: he must take vitamins at a fixed seat from 8 to 8:30 every morning, listen to music of his own choice, and then start organizing manuscripts.

Through the establishment of writing rituals, you can naturally find the writing rhythm and style that suits you. Slowly, you can naturally develop the habit of writing, and even enter the flow of writing. This way, you don’t have to rely on inspiration!

If you are really interested in writing, or want to learn to write well, then I would like to suggest that you start from now on and try to get rid of your dependence on inspiration. Writing starts from the moment you pick up a pen or type on the keyboard, and have a good dialogue with your own soul!

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☕️ Invite Vista to have a cup of coffee

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