Writing As… (You Fill in the Blank) by Beth Barany

“Writing As…” metaphors…

Many writers wind themselves into knots, thinking writing has be done a certain way, or else they are a failure.

But what if writing could be anything you wanted it to be?

What if you could have writing be any kind of knot you wanted? (I like square knots for their symmetry.)

To switch metaphors, what if you could step into a writing costume and step out again into a new costume?

But why, you ask? Why would I want to do that?

Great question!

I have a few answers you can try on for size.

FIRST: WHY NOT?

The first answer is another question: Why not? Why not play with metaphors to see how else you could experience writing?

Let’s play!

SECOND: CREATIVITY AND PLAY AS AN ESSENTIAL HUMAN NEED

The second is: Writing is a form of creativity.

Creativity is an essential human need, in my opinion. (More here and here.)

Or at least feeling joy is, which is fundamentally the experience of play, in my experience.

When I was editing my second novel, an experiment in writing a romance, I was so tied up in knots about how it had to be that I made myself miserable.

Finally, one of my critique partners asked me, “Why are you banging your head against the wall? No one is waiting for your book. Why don’t you do something fun?”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled into my coffee.

Then I went away into my writing cave and asked myself, “What if… what if this was fun? Then what would I do? What if I didn’t have to be struggling so hard? What else would I do? What else would I write?”

After some reflection, and leaving the question alone for a while, the answer came to me.

I could use what I learned about writing that second book and resurrect a 3-page story I started years ago. I knew how now how to craft that story into a novel.

Third novel was a charm and became the first book, Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, in the trilogy of the same name.

THIRD: CHOICE

My third answer to why you might want to step into a writing costume and step out again into a new costume is about choice.

When you become familiar with a different relationship you could have with writing and with different ways writing can serve you, you have more items on the menu of life.

You have choice.

You can have more:

• Freedom.
• Flexibility.
• Resources.
• Fun.

Why not have some serious fun doing this thing you love, can’t live without, and need as much as you need oxygen?

To exercise your creativity as a writer.

To express yourself. And that is a fundamental human right.

BEFORE WE GET INTO THE MENU OF WRITING AS … WELL, ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE …

Before we dive into the list, take a moment to think about how you experience writing and note that.

Okay, let’s go!

AS YOU READ each of these “Writing As…” metaphors, step into one for a second to see how it feels.

Don’t worry. You can step out again, right away, if you don’t like it.

Or take an hour or a day and walk around in your life with it.

You may just notice how your experience of writing has expanded.

WRITING AS… METAPHORS

Writing as Business
Writing as Self-Expression
Writing as Meditation
Writing as Healing
Writing as Teaching
Writing as Entertainment
Writing as Self-Awareness, coming to discover and uncover oneself
Writing as Discovery
Writing as Trying out new realities, which is the purpose of story telling

We are story telling creatures. Can we really separate ourselves from that?

Writing as Alchemy
Writing as Transformation
Writing as Shaman Work
Writing as Art
Writing as Channeling
Writing as Choosing
Writing as Time Traveling
Writing as Acting/Directing/Producing
Writing as Play
Writing as Journey, as Adventure
Writing as Seeing, Observing, Noticing

YOUR TURN

Now that you’ve read this list, what would you like writing to be for you? Pick one of the above.

How can you try it on like a costume?

What else? What else do you see writing as?

Please share your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear and see and feel what writing is to you.

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RESOURCE

This list is inspired by Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark (Johnson), a book I highly recommend. While written by two linguists, you don’t need any linguistics background to understand two-thirds of this book and really get how language — all languages — are rooted in metaphor. Here I mean metaphor as the way in which one idea stands for another. When we say “Things are looking up.” We associate “up” with good, which is probably rooted in how when we stand so that we can better survey for danger from father away. Our language is rooted in our survival.

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ABOUT BETH BARANY

Hi! I’m Beth Barany, an award-winning novelist, master neurolinguistic programming practitioner, and certified creativity coach for writers.

Through my courses, programs, workshops and consultations, I specialize in helping writers experience clarity, so they can write, revise, and proudly publish their novels to the delight of their readers.

All my courses are packed with useful hands-on information that you can implement right away. I run an online school for fiction writers here and a 12-month group coaching program to help novelists get published here. I also offer consultations for writers here.