“The other feature common among those familiar with this experience is the movement into a kind of “meta-state” where ideas come more quickly, as if you’re tapping a source that makes it significantly easier to achieve your task. You develop a facility for the thing you are doing because you’ve unified your energy with the process and the efforts you are making. So there’s a real sense of ideas flowing through you and out of you; that you’re in some way channeling these things. You’re being an instrument of them rather than being obstructive to them or struggling to reach them.” (Ken Robinson Ph.D. and Lou Aronica, The Element)
Writing Exercise: Unlocking Flow Through Character and Voice
Key Writing Techniques Illustrated in the Quotation
1. Harnessing the Flow State in Writing – Strong storytelling emerges when the writer fully inhabits the scene, allowing ideas to flow organically rather than forcing predetermined outcomes.
2. Unifying Character, Voice, and Action – When a writer is deeply engaged, character voice and narrative movement align seamlessly, making choices feel inevitable rather than constructed.
3. Channeling Intuition Rather Than Overthinking – Instead of meticulously planning each sentence, the best writing often comes from surrendering to the rhythm of the story, trusting the subconscious to lead.
500-Word Writing Prompt
Write a scene from the perspective of a character in an altered state of mind—not necessarily due to intoxication, but because they have been overtaken by an intense emotion, an obsessive thought, or a moment of deep clarity. Let the narrative voice reflect their psychological state and allow their actions to unfold naturally, as though you are simply transcribing what must happen next.
Key constraints:
• Do not outline before writing. Begin with only the character’s state of mind and let the scene take shape as you go.
• Maintain momentum. If you get stuck, free-write in the character’s voice for 60 seconds and return to the scene without stopping to analyze.
• The prose should reflect the character’s altered perspective, whether through rhythm, sentence structure, or sensory detail.
Example setups:
• A pianist in the middle of an improvised performance, experiencing a state of pure flow.
• A scientist on the brink of a discovery, thoughts racing too fast to contain.
• A person lost in grief, memories overtaking the present moment.
• A child lost in play, the imaginary world becoming more real than reality.
Evaluation Criteria for a Strong Response
Strong responses will exhibit a sense of momentum, where the language and structure reflect the character’s mental and emotional state. They will avoid self-conscious writing and instead feel as though the scene unfolds naturally. The voice will be immersive, pulling the reader into the character’s experience rather than merely describing it.
Weaker responses may feel overly controlled, with sentences that lack the urgency or looseness of real thought in motion. They might rely too much on exposition instead of embodying the moment through sensory and internal detail. The piece may feel like an exercise rather than an organic discovery.
Follow-Up Questions for Workshopping & Revision
• Does the rhythm of the sentences reflect the character’s mental state, or does it feel disconnected?
• Where does the language flow naturally, and where does it feel forced or self-conscious?
• If you had to continue this scene without stopping, what would happen next? What feels inevitable?
• Did the character’s emotions or perspective shift by the end of the scene? If not, is the moment of flow static rather than transformational?
Recommended Reading
“The Depressed Person” by David Foster Wallace – A story that immerses the reader in the protagonist’s obsessive and recursive thought patterns, demonstrating how language and rhythm can mirror a character’s mental state.
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson – A novel that taps into a dreamlike state where experience and memory merge fluidly, demonstrating how writing can embody a character’s altered consciousness.
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