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Abstract

ntentional journaling was how I found my intention beyond why I write. Like regular journaling, intentional journaling asks the writer to reflect. The difference comes in how the writer reflects and the purpose behind the reflection.</p><p id="ba37">For me, intentional journaling is all about the questions and visualizations. Where are you now as a writer and where would you like to see yourself? If people could say anything about you as a writer, what would you want it to be? What do you want to be known for as a writer? Think about the now, the past, and the future, digging with the question in your mind of what type of storyteller you want to be.</p><h2 id="2caa">Retrospective</h2><p id="01c7">If you’ve written a lot of pieces and have them available, read through them, paying attention to reoccurring themes. Are you trying repeatedly to tell vaguely similar stories? This is totally okay! Lots of creators tend to have one specific theme or topic that keeps coming up in their work and often times it’s connected to their intention behind why they tell stories.</p><h2 id="0c55">Creative Overload</h2><p id="12ef">This always makes me think about the training montage in Bring it On where the cheerleaders go through various forms of dance and cheer to find their distinct style. Doing a creative overload calls for the writer to dig into various stories and styles from comics to mangas and fairytales and folklores and myths and fictions and nonfictions.</p><p id="6101">Essentially the writer goes on a search for purpose by consuming as much story as possible. Many writers do this instinctively, just without the thought or intention. Use the consumption of story as a way to discover your own processes and pathways through craft.</p><h2 id="e8fe">Creative Draught</h2><p id="0036">The opposite of creative overload, creative draught is all about stepping away from creating any stories or consuming any stories. Simply live life with your mind and self open to the stories all around you. Which ones are you gravitating toward during your draught? Which ones feed you?</p><h2 id="2ae2">Creator Autobiographies</h2><p id="fe56">A lot of inspiration can be found by reading creators’ autobiographies from outside of writing. I particularly love reading or learning about the journey that many top chefs have taken to get where they are. The added space of not having it be a writer’s biography allows for me to realize that my creating is no different from other creators.</p><p id="1133">I read for the creator’s passion, intention, and calling. The things every creator shares even if they aren’t storytellers. I’ve also found creative breakthroughs and techniques from learning about how chefs have gone about discovering their unique styles and flavors.</p><h2 id="d95f">Experiment with Story</h2><p id="c856">Like the creative overload, experimenting with story requires the writer to experience different forms of storytelling. Instead of consuming, however, this method is all about actually trying out different forms. While you’re attempting to write your stories in different styles, do you notice that you tend to try and write particular types of stories?</p><p id="3ece">What stands out to you through your experimentation? What sticks and what leaves your writing process?</p><h2 id="acca">Change the Form</h2><p id="f592">Instead of writing all-new stories in different forms, transform an older piece or a current W.I.P to a different form. If you’re writing a thriller, what would it be like as a coming of age tale? By changing the form of your story, you’re forcing yourself to keep what is important about the story. Showing you what you’re trying to accomplish with the story.</p><p id="03d5">Do this with multiple stories and pay attention to the similarities that come up.</p><h2 id="d02c">Return to Your Origins</h2><p id="9b0e

Options

">Why did you first start writing? Think back on those moments as far as you can and reflect on what drew you to telling your first stories. What made you return to them again and again? You can do this through old journal entries, school reports, emails, whatever you have at your disposal that allows you to look back on those moments. Use it to connect with your original intentions behind wanting to tell stories.</p><h2 id="e779">Creative Workbooks</h2><p id="4dce">There are a lot of creative writing workbooks out there that take the stress of coming up with a journaling routine away and provides the writer with a clear, guided path that’s usually led by someone who has already been where the writer wants to go. Some workbooks aren’t as helpful as others, so dig around until you find one that resonates with you.</p><p id="a5f7">I really liked both <a href="https://chrisorwig.com/thecreativefight">the Creative Fight</a> and <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/633345/creative-visualization-for-writers-by-nina-amir/">Creative Visualization for Authors</a>.</p><h2 id="1f7d">Analyze Your Favorite Stories</h2><p id="4412">Take a look at the stories that excite you, that make you want to be a storyteller, and try and understand what it is about these stories that touch you. Are there common themes or feelings that come up? Do you see yourself trying to recreate the same moments and feelings in your own work?</p><h1 id="1011">Further Reading</h1><div id="40ca" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-to-captivate-readers-on-the-scene-level-4ea52f2edceb"> <div> <div> <h2>How to Captivate Readers on the Scene Level</h2> <div><h3>Sell more stories, engage your readers, and create memorable pieces.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*AXw7_it6r5xh4wg54k83iQ.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="6845" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/free-writing-techniques-to-help-steer-your-craft-72c5b6da25ea"> <div> <div> <h2>Freewriting Techniques to Help Steer Your Craft</h2> <div><h3>There’s more than one way to write. Learn the various free writing processes and share your own.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*cP_iqedewlQLhnpgBVz0mg.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="f70a" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/3-success-markers-of-happy-creators-97289d641e9"> <div> <div> <h2>3 Success Markers of Happy Creators</h2> <div><h3>Are you on the right path?</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*WFeGQ1l_NiyLzmXeeEYNLA.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="8b4f"><a href="https://mailchi.mp/96c4fc187b6d/y3g98x12da"><i>Aigner Loren Wilson</i></a><i> is a queer Black Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer of America, Horror Writer of America, and Codex writer. Her work has appeared in and is forthcoming from Anathema, Tordotcom, Fiyah, Vice, and more. She is a Hugo Award finalist for her editing and is the author of <a href="https://hausofcrows.com/aigner-loren-wilson-books-games/">several speculative fiction books and games</a>.</i></p></article></body>

Creative Intent

The force that decides your future as a writer is waiting to be realized.

Knowing what your intentions are as a storyteller and writer allows you to embody story and your career in a way that moves past simply writing. It also helps you stay grounded in the world of publishing and writing.

When I first started writing, I just had this simple intention of writing good thought-provoking speculative fiction stories. And that’s what I wrote.

Except they weren’t all that good. I mean, they were good in the sense that they made me happy and I had people who liked to read them. But deep down, I knew that I was missing my mark. I tried writing different stories to try and find my way again.

While that helped me craft tons of stories and get a grasp on my voice, it didn’t help me find out what I was doing wrong on the page. There was a disconnect that I couldn’t understand. I did what every writing article told me to do. Learned everything I could. Still, I found myself unsatisfied with my work, disconnected from my process, and being rejected by every market I submitted my stories to.

So, I took a different approach.

I dug deeper into my why. Why was I writing stories? Simply put, I wanted to tell stories. Well, I was doing that, but I still wasn’t where I wanted to be or working the way that felt right for me. Past the simple, I discovered that I didn’t just want to tell stories, I wanted to provide an experience for the reader.

For you, that revelation might not seem any different than my first one of wanting to tell stories. Here, for me, is the difference, while my first intention (wanting to tell stories) allowed me to write freely, creating wild stories and having fun, it didn’t allow me to make a deeper connection with those stories or with what I was trying to convey in those stories.

My storytelling intention of writing experiences for readers goes beyond simply putting story to paper or any other medium. It affects how I convey that story, the craft elements and structures that are important and work for my stories, and how I go about living my life as a storyteller.

Let’s say, for example, your intention behind telling stories is to convey wisdom or teach lessons. Discover, research, and learn about storytelling forms that lend themselves to telling stories. Read work by storytellers who also had the aim to teach lessons with their works. Become a forever student and teacher in your life, keeping yourself open for learning moments.

Or you could have a whole different approach. Your intentions, your writing process, and your stories are your own. If originality and passion are things that you want to achieve in your writing, turn to your intentions.

Who are you for?

Not just who you write for, but who are you as a storyteller? What are your stories to you? What do you want them to be for your readers?

Figuring Out Your Intentions as a Storyteller

I can’t tell you what your intentions are. I can’t even tell you what types of intentions to look for. All I can tell you is that you’ll know it when you find it. When you strike upon your intention and begin creating stories and living in accordance with it, it’ll resonate through you. What I can do to help facilitate you finding your intentions is give you ways, techniques, and tips on trying to pinpoint it.

Intentional Journaling

Intentional journaling was how I found my intention beyond why I write. Like regular journaling, intentional journaling asks the writer to reflect. The difference comes in how the writer reflects and the purpose behind the reflection.

For me, intentional journaling is all about the questions and visualizations. Where are you now as a writer and where would you like to see yourself? If people could say anything about you as a writer, what would you want it to be? What do you want to be known for as a writer? Think about the now, the past, and the future, digging with the question in your mind of what type of storyteller you want to be.

Retrospective

If you’ve written a lot of pieces and have them available, read through them, paying attention to reoccurring themes. Are you trying repeatedly to tell vaguely similar stories? This is totally okay! Lots of creators tend to have one specific theme or topic that keeps coming up in their work and often times it’s connected to their intention behind why they tell stories.

Creative Overload

This always makes me think about the training montage in Bring it On where the cheerleaders go through various forms of dance and cheer to find their distinct style. Doing a creative overload calls for the writer to dig into various stories and styles from comics to mangas and fairytales and folklores and myths and fictions and nonfictions.

Essentially the writer goes on a search for purpose by consuming as much story as possible. Many writers do this instinctively, just without the thought or intention. Use the consumption of story as a way to discover your own processes and pathways through craft.

Creative Draught

The opposite of creative overload, creative draught is all about stepping away from creating any stories or consuming any stories. Simply live life with your mind and self open to the stories all around you. Which ones are you gravitating toward during your draught? Which ones feed you?

Creator Autobiographies

A lot of inspiration can be found by reading creators’ autobiographies from outside of writing. I particularly love reading or learning about the journey that many top chefs have taken to get where they are. The added space of not having it be a writer’s biography allows for me to realize that my creating is no different from other creators.

I read for the creator’s passion, intention, and calling. The things every creator shares even if they aren’t storytellers. I’ve also found creative breakthroughs and techniques from learning about how chefs have gone about discovering their unique styles and flavors.

Experiment with Story

Like the creative overload, experimenting with story requires the writer to experience different forms of storytelling. Instead of consuming, however, this method is all about actually trying out different forms. While you’re attempting to write your stories in different styles, do you notice that you tend to try and write particular types of stories?

What stands out to you through your experimentation? What sticks and what leaves your writing process?

Change the Form

Instead of writing all-new stories in different forms, transform an older piece or a current W.I.P to a different form. If you’re writing a thriller, what would it be like as a coming of age tale? By changing the form of your story, you’re forcing yourself to keep what is important about the story. Showing you what you’re trying to accomplish with the story.

Do this with multiple stories and pay attention to the similarities that come up.

Return to Your Origins

Why did you first start writing? Think back on those moments as far as you can and reflect on what drew you to telling your first stories. What made you return to them again and again? You can do this through old journal entries, school reports, emails, whatever you have at your disposal that allows you to look back on those moments. Use it to connect with your original intentions behind wanting to tell stories.

Creative Workbooks

There are a lot of creative writing workbooks out there that take the stress of coming up with a journaling routine away and provides the writer with a clear, guided path that’s usually led by someone who has already been where the writer wants to go. Some workbooks aren’t as helpful as others, so dig around until you find one that resonates with you.

I really liked both the Creative Fight and Creative Visualization for Authors.

Analyze Your Favorite Stories

Take a look at the stories that excite you, that make you want to be a storyteller, and try and understand what it is about these stories that touch you. Are there common themes or feelings that come up? Do you see yourself trying to recreate the same moments and feelings in your own work?