My daughter, who happens to be an excellent writer, was telling me she does some of her best writing when she’s either waking up or falling asleep.
She said for some reason, ideas come to her at those times she’d never come up with during the day. Not only that, she said these ideas often come out not as random fragments, but as well crafted, fully developed narratives which again, she could never duplicate in her waking hours. When she’s trying to fall asleep or trying not to wake up, her mind starts spinning out these narratives and she can’t stop it. She asked me if all this sounded weird.
And I said yes, it does, but not for the reason you think.
Turns out, I knew exactly what she was talking about, because the identical same thing happens to me. So now I’m wondering — do you experience this as a writer, or when you’ve got a problem to solve that’s weighing on your mind? Is there a time of day or a mental state during which you write or think at your best?
Why do some minds work at their best when you’d least expect it — when barely awake?
Photo – Morpheus and Iris, by Pierre-Narcisse Guerin
Hi Brad,
I generally try to work on my blog two or three days per week for about one and a half hours in the morning before work in addition to two or three hours during the evening.
I find that I am able to think much more clearly during the early morning sessions, and these short sessions are considerably more productive than my evening sessions.
Moreover, those early morning sessions help to put me in a positive frame of mind, and help so help to increase my enthusiasm at work during the morning.
But, the early morning sessions do have one drawback – by late afternoon, I find my energy levels depleted, and so those early morning writing sessions increase my required caffeine intake on affected days.
Cheers
Andrew
Andrew, I also prefer to write in the morning and actually find it almost impossible to write in the evenings. What about trying an hour a day in the morning and skip the evening work?
Me, too. I think my writing often goes more smoothly when my internal filtering system is snoozing. You know, instead of pouncing on every word or carelessly-chosen phrase. “You’re going to say THAT? (snort)” That sort of thing really puts a damper on your creativity. But if you wait until the inner critic is tired, you can sneak stuff past her long enough to at least get it on paper.
Brad, I agree with Deb. The ideas flow freely when we are relaxed and the inner critic has fallen asleep(or is not awake yet). During the waking hours we quickly become consumed with lists,tasks and protocols never allowing ourselves to simply think and create without interference.
You might find this interesting as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia. Check out the Cognitive & Affective Phenomena. We actually discussed this at my research study today!
Kim, there are a ton of fascinating ideas in that hypnagogia link – never heard the term before. I hope you have an opportunity to investigate the phenomenon further!
Hi Brad – this is brilliant that your daughter is experiencing this. It sounds as though she’s going to be a great writer.
My perfect time is when I wake up. I try to begin writing straight away, as this is when I produce my best stuff. If I don’t – I think great thoughts, but it doesn’t come out as well on paper if I try to write them down later in the day.
Thanks for an interesting post. I experience a similar phenomenon I call the “hair dryer effect.” Something about going through the routine motions of getting ready for the day (showering, brushing, drying my hair, etc.) allows my mind to work on other things. I’ve formed whole sections of grad school papers and come up with some exciting ideas for work, all while I’m blow-drying my hair. It’s gotten to the point that I keep a pad of paper and pen in the bathroom drawer so I can pounce during arguably the most productive part of my day.
Oh, yes.
If I start thinking about work-related schemes, I’ll never fall asleep, but ever since I was a kid, I’ve gone to sleep at night running stories through my head. I’ll often work out some great dialogue or figure out how to get my characters out of that dungeon cell as I’m going to sleep.
Every now and then, I’ll stay in bed in the morning working on a scene too. The scenes don’t always end up in print, but hey, they entertain me at least.
Soulmagnet, I wonder how many others experience The Hair Dryer Effect (great name). It’s a gift that you can make such good use of your time. For whatever reason I can’t think like that while doing my routine, though once in a while I get the proverbial inspirational idea in the shower, out of the blue. But that’s a different phenomenon, don’t you think?
Lindsay, There must be something about this state of hypnagogia (check out the link from Kim) that stimulates the creative part of our brains. Maybe writers are especially susceptible to its effects? I hope you haven’t had too many sleepless nights.
Cath, Sounds like your writing brain works like my daughter’s and mine. Do you write down the ideas that come to you later in the day, or do you wait until the next day when you know they will come out stronger?
Also, I’m not sure if you’ve started reading The Brain That Changes Itself, but there’s a chapter that explains how our brains continue to work on problems and the like even when we’re at rest, or occupied with something else. The book gives a much more fascinating explanation!
Me morning writer, too. I save all the other stuff for the afternoon. I have a good friend who prefers to later hours. Although I am more chatty with my husband in the evening, it doesn’t put me in a writing mood or compel me to come up with ideas. However, great ideas can strike anytime and I always have something nearby to write down my ideas… even a cell phone qualifies as most come with a memo application.
Meryl, Seems like we have a morning crowd here. You mention cell phones … I’ve sent voice mail messages to myself to record ideas on occasion, as a last resort.
I can’t tell you how many times I have had the most amazing narrative float into my head as I lie in bed and I just have to get up an write it down. I can never repeat it in the morning if I don’t and I find that very furstrating!
It didn’t take me long to realise that I could recreate this at will. So now if I have a difficult concept that I want to simplify before I write it down, I go to bed!
Amanda, That’s an interesting reverse engineering technique! I wonder if other writers have tried that.