Toward a Methodology of Discovery Writing: What Does Discovery Writing Look Like?

Envisioning a methodological structure to discovery writing can help us feel more confident about process.

One of my 2021 projects is to develop a methodology of discovery writing, as there’s not much out there about how to do it. Discovery writing has the potential to be a powerful technique for intuitive writers, and it was only after I started working on intentionally developing my discovery writing skills that I felt like I came into my own as a writer. As I work toward understanding discovery writing through doing it, I’m simultaneously conducting a survey of the research literature on it, and I’m sharing what I learn here on this blog. In my last post in this series I discussed the difference between “classical” and “romantic” writers, and which is more likely to find value in discovery writing (you can find all my posts on discovery writing here). Today I will be discussing what discovery writing actually looks like in a broad sense, as having a picture in your mind of what discovery writing “looks” like can help you feel more confident in the process.

The act of doing discovery writing can feel unstructured, and the result of it can also seem to lack structure – for example, intuitive writers who use the technique often struggle with conceptual aspects of writing projects, like plot. Discovery writers often struggle to trust their process because it feels so…undisciplined and unbounded. It requires a relinquishing of control over process that is very difficult for people socialized into rational/analytical approaches to, well, everything (as we all are in modern societies). Having a mental picture of the discovery writing process, a view-from-above of how it’s done, can give the writer a sense of methodological structure. This may not be necessary for some discovery writers, but speaking for myself, I have historically lacked confidence in my writing method because it doesn’t look like the “preferred” rational approach to writing: the linear, conceptual style espoused by most writing advice resources. Most resources out there on discovery writing present it simply as a technique, rather than its own methodology on par with rational methodologies.

Discovery writing is more than just the writing part of it. It is actually a mediation between writing and mental processing. Picture it as a spiral. Neither writing nor processing comes first, or rather, either can, but for the sake of this visioning, let’s say you write first. You create a scene. Then you mentally process what you’ve written. This can happen consciously, but is usually unconscious. Then you write again, then you process, and so on. You are constantly going in and out of a flow state in which the writing occurs (I will be exploring both processing and the flow state in future posts). This processing isn’t an intentional thing – it happens at any time throughout the day and generally can’t be forced. It can happen while we’re sleeping or in the shower. Processing results in a better understanding of your characters and story, and whether or not you are consciously aware of that better understanding, it is what comes out the next time you sit down to write. So the two main parts of discovery writing are writing and processing, which are iterative and mutually constituting.

The challenging part is the mediation between the two. While some writers may be able to sit down and let their processed stuff come out just like that, I’ve always struggled with a feeling of resistance. It’s difficult to enter the flow state of discovery writing, when you lose conscious awareness of your surroundings and the passage of time. This is the state in which writers feel that the words are writing themselves, and it is the very essence of discovery writing. It feels great to be in that flow state, but getting there is deeply challenging for anyone who has difficultly relinquishing control and feels distrustful of letting the subconscious take over. Which is probably most of us. What is needed is a buffer zone between regular life and discovery writing time. This is where “writingrealm” and “fictionworld” come in.

I came across these terms in an article* by the Dr. Charlotte Doyle, a scholar of psychology and the creative writing process. She interviewed five fiction writers on process, and noticed striking similarities between them. All described entering a kind of cognitive mode prior to writing. So they would leave regular life and enter this cognitive space, the writingrealm, before entering writing time, i.e. fictionworld. Doyle calls writingrealm a “distinctive sphere of experience.” It is defined by three very specific feelings. They are: solitariness and singularity; a self-conscious sense of self-as-writer; and a purposeful, yet receptive, will-to-write. Note that these are feelings. While some writers may only be able to feel solitary in a space where they are alone, other writers feel that sense of singularity, of being-alone, in a coffee shop. The sense of the self-as-writer is that deep-seated feeling of inhabiting the identity of writer, of you and writer being one and the same. The will-to-write must be both purposeful and receptive, because the purposefulness is only meant to take you to the moment of beginning to write. From there, you must enter a zone of receptivity.

I find that when I am feeling resistance toward entering fictionworld, the discovery writing flow state, it helps immensely to first enter writingrealm. For me, this is both a physical space and time - my office at night, with just one dim bulb on over my chair - and a mental space and time - the feeling of solitariness, singularity, being-alone and intention+receptivity. Envisioning this as a buffer zone, a sort of green room to the main stage of discovery writing, mentally prepares me for that stepping-off-the-cliff feeling of letting go and merging into the stream of discovery writing flow. Give it a try, and see how it works for you! In the next installment of this series, I’ll be taking a look at fictionworld, so stay tuned!

*Doyle, Charlotte L, 1998. “The Writer Tells: The Creative Process in the Writing of Literary Fiction.” Creativity Research Journal 11 (1): 29-37. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1101_4 (I unfortunately haven’t been able to find an open access version of this article).