Our Subconscious

Hello friends,

I’m a discovery writer, which means, while some books needs research or a bit of advance world building, I mostly start with a character or an idea and allow the story to flow from the back of my brain to the keyboard. This keeps writing fresh and fun for me, and allows me to be surprised or delighted at where the characters wish to go. Even when I feel inspired to jot down plot points in advance, once the characters get involved, most of those notes don’t last for long.

Yesterday, I posted on social media “There’s nothing quite like finally figuring out which of your suspects is the killer when you’re almost at the end of writing the book!”

Most people laughed, and asked if it was the butler or Professor Plum from Clue. But one author wrote something along the lines of the final act of a mystery being a struggle because of all the re-writing they had to do when the killer was finally revealed.

I realized I don’t have that trouble. Why? Because my subconscious has cleverly seeded in clues for several suspects throughout the novel. All I had to do was follow the seeds my subconscious had dropped on the path.

Sure, I needed to do a smidgen of what television people call “ret-con” or retroactive continuity, but it did not take me that much time and effort. I looked at my notes, clicked back to those earlier chapters, and beefed up some clues. I changed a character’s hair color and removed some tattoos in order to match the new information my brain had surfaced, and off I went to the final chapters!

This has been true of so much in my life. I’ve trained myself to listen to intuition and those crumbs from the subconscious. I’ve allowed stories to unfold, trusting my brain and characters to get where they need to go. I’ve turned left instead of right on a walk and found someone who needed help, just at the right time for me to assist. I’ve also seen the results when I don’t follow my intuition and it’s caused delays or real trouble as a result.

This has made my life easier because I’m not constantly fighting against the grain. Oh, I’ve had my own setbacks, and in other realms, I fight plenty! But mostly? I think part of my sense of good fortune comes from the active engagement with the non-rational parts of my self.

How about you? Do you listen to your intuition on a regular basis? And how often do you pick up the seeds or crumbs your subconscious has left on the trail?

best wishes - Thorn

For paid subscribers (and/or Patreon supporters): This month’s creativity sprints are on 4th Saturday—the 22nd—instead of the 15th because I became calendar-confused! Write me if you do not have the link.

For everyone: I’m continuing posting my video series on perfectionism over on YouTube. If you struggle with perfectionism at all, I hope it is of help: Kicking Out Perfectionism.