Accidental genius solves all plot problems

I am often impressed by my own accidental genius.

Wait. What?

Accidental genius is one of the great joys of writing fiction. And you have already encountered it.

When something I “just made up” during the flow of writing back in chapter 3 suddenly becomes pivotal to the story in chapter 15, I grin like a maniac and type like a fiend.

“It’s happening!” I cry. “It’s really happening!”

The best part about these things is that they appear to be oh so carefully plotted out. “Readers are going to think I’m brilliant!”

And a thousand writers will lie right to your face and say they thought and thought and thought and weighed detail after detail and assembled their novel like a Swiss watch. And yes, they did put that in on purpose and it relates to the theme of “urgency” as it applies to the human condition in the twenty-first century blah blah blah blah.

They did no such thing.

I love when my subconcious mind—the creative mind I mention in nearly every post—delivers its genius up to me like a gift. I still give myself credit, because if I didn’t sit down and write every day and remind myself to relax, it never would have happened.

In his book Creating Short Fiction science fiction grandmaster Damon Knight teaches that we must learn to “collaborate with Fred.” Fred is the name he gives to the creative mind. He instructs writers to give Fred a story problem at bedtime, sleep on it, and chances are you’ll see it in a new light.

We don’t have to “puzz and puzz until our puzzler gets sore” (Grinch reference!) We simply need to let the same genius who stuck in that chapter 3 detail to realize you’re waiting for him or her to tie a couple plot points up.

All the accidental genius needs from you is to keep writing.

“Write. Don’t think. Relax.” —Ray Bradbury

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