Jeffrey Dahmer: I'm finding myself wishing that my creativity was a bit less like Cordy's visions...Ok, it doesn't hurt, but writing something always kind of starts off like "I see a girl and she's in trouble," as opposed to "I'm gonna write about (thing) (Thing) (Thing) Is that something a person learns, or is it something to do with the way I think? Will practice help?

erika, I'm not sure why it would be a problem, unless you think you're not an "organic" writer by nature. I mean, the story can flow from the original picture in your head; where it gets tricky is if you have trouble seeing the connections between said character's point A to point B, point B to point C, etc.

I guess that is the problem that the Cordy seeing the vision doesn't really have a Wesley to say "Then what happens?"(And pardon my pathetic metaphor) But I do have some trouble connecting my dots, yeah.

Have you tried sitting down, focusing on the image, and then freewriting for several minutes? It's amazing how much your subconscious will make up when you force it to.

P-C's suggestion is a good one. I also rec drabbling these days, to sort out a scene or a connection.

You're suggesting that if I sat with the picture a little longer instead of trying to "transcribe" what I'm getting as fast as I can, which is what usually happens, to be honest, the "picture" might be clearer. Am I right? Just trying to make sure I understand...

Transcribe exactly what you're getting, yes, but then let go. Stop, read what the scene is, and keep it at the forefront of your mind as you simply free associate from that starting point, not editing, not stopping, just going wherever your mind takes you, even if it makes no sense at all, the important thing is not to stop, not to take a breath and understand what you're doing, just let the words flow, and you'll have ended up transcribing what the scene was and will be.

If you want, I can send you a three-page freewrite and the story that eventually came out of it, which uses about five percent of the freewrite material textually, at most.

My thinking is that, if you're having trouble connecting the dots, you may be seeing individual scenes, which can cut the flow of the story itself.

Try thinking of it in these terms: you're on a journey. Eight hours a day, you're on a bus, going along the road. All sorts of shit happens out there on the highway, in the barns, diners, truckstops, to the small black birds, to the weather.

Any and/or all of these events, moments, personalities, movements, can at some point play a huge part as you go from beginning to end.

But if you're concentrating your interior vision solely, or almost solely, on what happens during the 90 minutes after you check into the motel for the night, then you're missing the rest of the trip.

I think you may be seeing scenes. So, free-write (as much language as you want, to fuill in the head picture) or drabble (impose the discipline of a precise word count, to get the nugget), some of those connections instead of merely concentrating on a single scene.

Because the invisible stuff out there having an impact is what makes the trip interesting.

Not a drabble, exactly, but a short poem I wrote awhile back that is relevant. Thought I'd share.

Persephone

Did Pesephone know
when Hades placed the pomegranate seed
on her tongue
what sweet temptations she would unlock
if she bit down?
And when her teeth closed
and he pressed his cold lips to hers,
did she feel the juices running down her chin,
or did she feel herself only
split
in two?

Jeepers, Kristin.

That's - damn, that's a corker.