When lighting a candle isn’t an option, should we curse the dark or learn to write with the lights off?
I’m not the only writer who is struck with wonderful ideas at the most inconvenient times. The more disciplined among us actually stop what they’re doing and write notes. I am not so disciplined, especially if it means getting out of bed or leaving my seat in the theater. As you might imagine, turning a light on in those situations is out of the question. So, I taught myself to write in the dark – not the whole novel, mind you, just a few lines of notes.
Your notepad should be small enough that your hand has a fighting chance to get across the page in a straight(ish) line. Put your thumb at the left edge, and your pen next to your thumb. Write. Move your thumb down the page about an inch (in case your hand moved farther south than you expected). Put pen to thumb, and write. Repeat until you’re finished, or you’ve reached the bottom edge of the pad.
Your first attempts at strip-writing may look more like cuneiform scratching, but practice will improve the legibility. You’ll also develop your own shorthand, condensing your ideas into the fewest words possible, and that will be a great help to you in self-editing. And if nothing else, you’ll have a new parlor trick to show at parties – which might just lead to a story idea after all.
I’ve tried recording tidbits of my dreams in the dark when horrors or other unpleasantness awaken me. Writing in the dark only works when my muse is at awake, not sleeping-on-the-job.
You’re right, Lani, but after awhile–and a bunch of scribble–I just decided to get my rotunda out of bed and Write It Down In the Light (in the next room). But it is fun trying to decipher the notes some Weirdo left me, in the night. Almost as much fun as keeping an invisible friend.