I had little idea what the point of it was, but it was a trick that I could do.”
So John Sulston writes in his book, co-written by Georgina Ferry, The Common Thread, about the international scientific effort to map the human genome (and how private interests sought to sabotage the government-funded collaboration for their own gain; if anyone thinks the private company Celera in any way lived up to their hype that they would do it cheaper and faster, and wouldn’t try to patent genes or hold back information for profit, they need to read this book for the insider view).
Sulston is talking about the Baconian approach to science: gathering data without a hypothesis. He came up with a technique based on a new technology or method, and applied it just for the sake of it, with no preconceived notions in mind. In his case, it led fairly directly to sequencing the genome, quite the payoff.
Payoffs come in writing, too, when we are prepared to follow leads without worrying about other people’s expectations, what we thought we were writing when we started out, how commercial or mainstream the work is, and so on: when we write for the sake of writing, not to meet our preconceived ideas.
Especially in the early stages, a more relaxed, exploratory approach, can take the story in unexpected directions, throw up new characters, illuminate your theme, and let the creative juices flow. Gather words with no set destination in mind and who knows where it will lead.
That is not to say that the approach to science we learnt in high-school, establishing a hypothesis and checking all relevant data to see if the hypothesis is supported, doesn’t also have major benefits, and of course, setting a plot plan and systematically writing to it tends to result in faster, cohesive results. Decide the destination and make the words take you there (which is where this already shaky analogy falls down; bad, bad, science to make your data fit your hypothesis).
Creativity must be tempered by discipline; but discipline must be levened by creativity. I know many established writers advise many new writers to work to the plot plan, can’t write without a plot plan, but a) that approach doesn’t work for every writer, and b) every plot plan still requires that creativity at the start.
So if you don’t have an idea of the point of what you’re writing today, well, it’s a trick you can do. Keep doing it, and see where it leads.
