You can dress yourself for success, they say, and according to the fashion world you can dress yourself happy. Have you heard of "enclothed cognition"? (See a short video here about an experiment that proved that what you wear can influence your mental process directly, and change how you think, feel and function.)
But what has this got to do with your writing process?
As writers we must embrace (and at least try once!) anything that supercharges the creative juices and make them flow abundantly.
The psychology of clothes, the mysterious power you can harness by wearing (or not wear) a particular outfit, have nudged creativity in writers for decades.
For writers and scientists alike, nothing is more important than imagination. Simply put, if you can dream it, you can write it. Watching how you dress, treating it like a mood "diet", I believe, will reward you with a robust imagination body.
“The most beautiful world is always entered through imagination.
- Helen Keller”
A woman born both blind and deaf, filled her life with images and sounds, by relying on imagination - she was Helen Keller. Helen 'heard' using vibrations and 'saw' with movements. She became an accomplished writer and found ways to tune into her imagination, into her creative core and famously said that, "The living word awakened my soul, gave it lights, hope, set it free!"
Helen allowed herself every opportunity to delight in a smorgasbord of creative avenues and so should you.
I believe 'dressing up' your body, your room and your mind is an important part of discovering story, of setting words free. Inhibitions have no dwelling in the writer's heart.
Here are MyTop3 mood diet tricks ...
STEAMPUNK
This retrofuturistic subgenre of science fiction has long captured my imagination. Although I do not write in this genre, I possess various ephemera, inspired by industrial steam-powered machinery and energy. From my steampunk keyboard, where I may as well be forging steel or mixing dangerous chemicals, up to my leather goggles, which I wear to protect my eyes as I drift above my story from my steam powered airship named the "Stormlight Whisper", I'm ready to capture dark romance and a side of technology. I gasp for breath as my undercut lace and bone corset cups my plumpness and welcome the moment when it sends my creativity into overdrive. I dress my darkened writing room with a single candle and watch it sway to the tune of "Shadows in Silence" by Enigma. Who needs drugs right? Listen here.
NOTHING BUT HEELS
From exotic scenes to the obligatory love scene, the task can be daunting, but less so, when you dress, or not dress, the part. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was authored by a man who said he could not be himself if he wore anything more than air - Victor Hugo.
Famously, Ernest Hemingway wrote standing up, and in the nude. Benjamin Franklin said he liked taking "air baths" while he wrote.
There's something exhilarating about setting your body (and mind) free from the confines of clothing. It's even better when the sun licks your skin or when a winter's cold, during a full moon, nips.
Your birthday suit channels your inner sensuality, it soothes your spirit out of all the chains you've used, to anchor it down.
For this peculiar mood, I wear skin and heels.
Why heels? Well... Fifty shades of Louboutin is everyone's "one red thing of desire". (Okay, a red Porche is also rather likeable.)
I have an entire sizzling playlist dedicated to this mandatory temper. It features songs like "Consensual Worlds" by Delerium. (You must in fact, have all the songs ever produced by Delerium - it melts inspiration, like a special kind of chocolate, into your ear.) Listen here.
Draping a fragrant scarf over a lamp is the only source of light you need to write romance.
THE ROBE
When I was sixteen I won a competition, the likes of which I don't want to discuss, but the prize was a substantial amount of money for a kid who had to work for pocket money. The first thing I bought was a kaftan.
This loose muslin robe has been with me for over 39 years and it still fits. It is my mainstay when I need comfort and confidence. I have since acquired many others, always seeking the perfect one.
Made popular during the Ottoman Empire these garments served as symbols of royalty and were worn in especially warm climates. (However, if you wear it with an overdress or coat, it's as persuasive on cooler days.)
If kaftans have been around for so many years, we can safely assume that they have special powers. They are a kind of therapy.
It's all in the movement of the material around your legs as you strut your stuff. The freshness and gentle caress should be long enough to sweep the ground you walk on, why not?
Mine is probably inspired by Morocco with autumn colours set against a slate grey background. The calming natural feel and liberating blowy sleeves, helps me float through tough parts of any story. I imagine that a silk kimono will inspire a different luxurious feel.
The fact that I had bought the robe for myself as a child is thrilling and a reminder that "I can". Wearing this trusty garment reminds me that I'm not really free until I stop trying to please everybody else. It speaks of my authentic self.
I could be on an exotic trip with a Touareg tribe through the dessert on my way to a mysterious rondevoux with a Sultan or I'm solving a crime at the Louvre - there are no limitations to where I go in my mind.
I enjoy listening to "Beautiful Minds - Concentration Ensemble" or even the more upbeat "Paint me like a French Girl" by Breaklaw (Listen here) to help me power through hard paragraphs.
Lately, I'm depending on "LoFi", a genre of music which means "low-fidelity", where you can hear small imperfections or what are deemed "mistakes" in the recording, mixed with familiar sounds like papers shuffling. The gentle rhythm rocks and lulls my anxiety and reminds me that "control" is the enemy and not the goal.
Why be in charge of creativity? Let it overpower you, surprise you and manipulate you.
Several white candles, rocks and stones from faraway places, white roses and on the rare occasion, a fine red wine, sets my mood.
Comments