Nina asked how one goes about turning off an internal editor...that nasty critter who sits on your shoulder saying things like "that line stinks," and "do you really need all those 'thats' in there?" and proceeds to sing "Ya, ya, I'm not hearing ya!" when an author tells her to shut up and just let her write it, dadblame it.
I welcome any and all suggestions, and I daresay Nina will, too. Internal editors are like ticks who dig into your skin and sometimes have to be burned out. Neater methods are appreciated!
My methods may only work for me because my process is pretty loopy. I try to turn my internal editor off for the first draft of a book. Sometimes, just to get into the head of my character, I'll turn the protagonist loose on the page where s/he can rant and ponder until my head is inside their head, and then I let it rip. Once I'm inside the story, I'll often write to instrumental music to keep the nagging left side of my brain occupied. Or I'll write in longhand while lying sprawled on the floor or a lounge chair, since I seem to access my subconscious kinetically.
But once that first draft is in the computer, my internal editor digs in, and I can sway so far to the dark side that I'll even sit there trying to eliminate that last tiny word of a paragraph that wants to sit on a line all by itself. I might mention that my IE is nuts.
The Taunting Sky
8 hours ago
