Is it Vacation or is it “Method Writing?”
Week 3 of living like a novelist
Most of us have heard of method acting, but is “method writing” a thing? It’s possible that’s just a rebrand for “character research,” but method sounds more hardcore.
For week three of living like a novelist…
I had to get a bit creative. I was on vacation and knew I wasn’t going to be writing, but I didn’t want to fully give up on the plan. Thankfully, my novel is going to have a fair bit of adventure so I figured this trip (dreamy Belize 🏝️🥹) was a perfect opportunity to put my characters in the jungle or the ocean and capture some authentic emotion. I was a bit worried that thinking about my book was going to take me away from truly experiencing my vacation, but it actually had the opposite effect. I felt more present and more aware of my surroundings.
On the mainland, as I walked through the jungle, I took some deep breaths and tried to savor the scents. I looked from a branch to the canopy to tiny pools of water to collect the varying colors. When I was on Caye Caulker, I shut down my eyes and listened to the sounds all around me. I realized I was truly noticing and remembering my environment rather than just going through the motions. I also paid more attention to how people talked and wrote down a few vocabulary words that I absolutely adored and want to use in my book.
When people talk about romanticizing life, I think this is what they mean. How fortunate that it doubles as work for my book 🦋
What I’ve learned
Living like a novelist really means whatever you want it to mean as long as you’re making progress with your novel
Part of what makes writing easier (at least, easier for me) is having good experiences on which to draw. It doesn’t have to be travel, but it needs to be something that pushes you out of your daily comfort zone
Paying attention to life is more challenging than it should be, but the little details really are delightful
I am no match for Belizean sun (I need SPF 200)
Have you used travel to shape your writing? Drop your favorite travel location/source of inspiration in the comments 👇