Ask the Readers: Do You Talk Too Much?

Creating

Ask the Readers: Do You Talk Too Much?

By Mindy Holahan

I keep a battered copy of Jack Heffron’s The Writer’s Idea Book on my desk. I reach for it whenever I’m at a loss for where to begin. While primarily a volume of prompts, Jack’s book also lays out his philosophy on writing. In the decade I’ve owned the book, there’s one piece of advice I continue to chew over in my mind…

Stop talking.

In the chapter “Enemies of Creativity,” Jack refers to ‘The Talker’ as particularly deflating to creativity.

“The Talker needs validation. The Talker would rather talk about an idea than confront its complexities, its obstacles. The Talker wants the glory but none of the hard work that really lies at the heart of creative efforts… Bringing in a third party is almost always a bad idea. The sense of intimacy and revelation are lost, and you end up making small talk. — page 16

Jack gives examples of several writers who zealously guard their work from discussion until it has been completed.

The reason I’m still thinking about this advice ten years after my initial encounter with it—you can probably guess—is that I’m a big talker. I have trouble keeping my mouth shut when ideas strike. I feel that talking can be helpful to free ideas that have gotten stuck somewhere between my brain and the blank page.

But every time I catch myself talking about an incomplete project, I hear Jack whisper “Stop talking!” in my ear.

This leads me to today’s questions:

Do you talk about your ideas or works-in-progress? With everyone? Only with specific people?
Can you think of a time when you talked all your ideas out before they hit the page/canvas/screen?
Do you feel that talking is destructive to or constructive for your creative process?

We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! For those non-writing professionals, please feel free to get specific about your craft and creative process.

Note: Writing isn’t the only creative pursuit that is susceptible to too much talking. Any creative professional may struggle with this experience. Hence, everyone is invited to join the discussion. The more the merrier!

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Image by C.G.P. Grey

About Mindy Holahan

Mindy's passions are writing and teaching people to use new tools, from technology to crafts. You can connect with her on Twitter, at MindyHolahan.com, and at her Make Cool Stuff column at The Nerdist.

FTC Disclosure: Some of the links in this article may be "affiliate" links, especially those to Amazon.com. AC will receive a commission if you buy the product through these links. We only endorse products we like.

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Comments

FJR

I so understand what you are saying here! I am the staunchest believer in not trying to formulate and describe my ideas/concepts/projects prematurely in order to present these to the curious. Young people in many educational settings for years were organized to do their initial thinking on anything and everything in groups, and only recently have schools again embraced the importance of “private think time” before sharing. I have seen the same thing in professional settings and on internet discussion forums- lots of prodding for people to articulate their earliest thoughts and directions..

For me it takes a while to move ideas around in images before translating to words. So the translation to words for the explanations to others reduced flexibility to think and revise combinatorially as I naturally do.
Missyparkcity

For me, it doesn’t feel right to show unfinished work I’m passionate about to others. I was glad to read that quote, because I wring my hands a lot, thinking, “I should let my friend read this and tell me if it’s any good.” I usually don’t though, because my goal, always, is to get at my most authentic voice. Having others provide feedback, well-meaning though it may be, usually just muddies my vision.
Jdplus6

Talking can help you in your thought process, but most of us don’t take notes in our conversations. We simply don’t remember our idea with the power it had when it first arrived. It’s better to have these conversations with ourselves, and have pencil and paper handy.
http://www.intunestudios.com Dave Mariano

I think it depends on how much you want the final result to resemble only you. If you want a song or a painting or whatever to scream that it was created by you and you alone, than I can see how this makes sense.

Otherwise, I think a 2-3 very caring, trusted advisors can help you make better things. As long as you can take opinions and not lose your identity, outside help can help you raise your own game.
http://www.mynotetakingnerd.com/blog Lewis LaLanne aka Nerd #2

I love what I learned from Napoleon Hill about this subject. He said . . .

“Tell the world what you plan to do, but first show them.”

“Don’t talk about it. Be about it.” would be another way to put it.

These sayings resonate deeply with me because I grew up hearing my dad always beating up on people who were what he referred to as, “No-show-Joe’s.” You know, people who talk a good game, but don’t walk it.

So, no, for me I’m a keep to my chest until the ball’s rolling kinda guy.
http://twitter.com/noodlesndoodles fathima

This is interesting… I’m not naturally a talker and prefer to keep everything to myself. I then happened to read several articles on how that’s actually bad for you. Apparently it’s better to get input from others, different perspectives, etc, And also serves as a motivating factor for you to complete what you’re doing.

I think it definitely also depends on who exactly you choose to speak to. Not sure which is a better option…
Eileen

Great post!! This is so true and I was just thinking about it the other day. I firmly believe that there is an inverse relationship between how much time I have been creating and how much I have heard myself tell people about what I am creating. Part of me thinks that telling someone about a project I am going to do provides some sort of built-in accountability, but it’s just the opposite: I need to channel the thing I want to say into a list of what needs to happen next on my project instead.
AJN

I was just doing this to a friend today (despite knowing better) and found myself drained and out of motivation afterwards. Telling friends about a goal only works with certain things and for certain people. Self-devised public humiliation because of unmet goals as motivational support should be used sparingly. Creativity is one of those things that you have to reserve energy for. Telling other people your vision of the end product not only drains your resources, it locks a visual end result in your mind. This limits the flexibility you’ll give yourself (consciously or unconsciously) to really enjoy and play with the idea and how willing you are to experiment, which is adverse to the creative process itself. This can also create a vague feeling of outside expectation that can lead to anxiety about the project, and worse, procrastination. I’ve practiced leaving the conversation to times when I really need input on something because I’m both currently working on it and I’m unsure why it’s seems unfinished. It gives you more metal space and boosts your self esteem because the end result is usually better than initially intended. It also gives the benefit of surprising yourself and sometimes others. I’m finding this sort of thing pertains to most goals. You have to mentally strip away your audience and avoid trying to create a real one.