Try This: Turn Off Your Radio
Discover more from Chuck Palahniuk's Plot Spoiler
Try This: Turn Off Your Radio
Drive time is writing time
This might seem obvious, but if you’re not already doing it, you should be…
I started writing fiction late in 1988, the same year I bought a 1986 Toyota four-banger pick-up. Two-wheel drive. Beige. The radio was busted, so every commute took place in silence. Every red traffic light. Every traffic jam. Driving became some of my most productive time to daydream and practice rephrasing lines for fiction. I was trapped going from point A to point B in silence, so the task of rephrasing a single sentence countless times wasn’t daunting.
Driving to work or home or the gym, I might get one sentence perfect. I could jot it in my notebook. That’s how whole novels get written. While writing Rant I came across boatloads of information about distance driving and brainwaves, road trips related to time slips — modern accounts where traveling folks happen across long-vanished towns or inns and interact with long-dead locals — and even how seat vibrations trigger theta and delta brainwaves similar to deep sleep. All fascinating stuff.
If you need downtime to daydream, turn off the radio in your car. Words and music compete for our attention, so give your mind a chance to wander.
Try This: Turn Off Your Radio
In the past when you mentioned having New Order music videos on in the background while writing, was it the editing of the actual videos or the music itself that was the reason why? I think it was the fast paced editing of the videos but please correct me if I’m wrong
I used to have music on everywhere, all the time. Then, I just stopped. Especially in the car. I usually have the windows down because I like to smell the air, but the engine and the wind are all I need. Couldn’t agree more.