Last week, I did a reading at Glad Day Bookshop for Brockton Writers Series(click the link for pics). I read from two of my books, The Camino Club and Pride Must Be A Place.
I thought I would share the blog post I contributed to the Brockton Writers Series blog prior to my appearance. Here it is in its entirety.
Walking My Way into Creativity
One thing you should know about me is that I perform feats of magic simply by walking.
One of the novels I plan to read from at the upcoming Brockton Writers Series at Glad Day Bookshop is The Camino Club. It’s the story of a group of delinquent teens who literally walk across Spain as participants in a youth diversion program. Think The Breakfast Club, only with a much more diverse cast. And instead of spending one Saturday in the school library, my characters spend weeks walking across Spain together.
There’s been a number of studies in recent years looking into the link between walking and creativity. This is something I have always sensed intuitively, but never really thought all that much about. Until, that is, the day I brought my backpack to Spain and walked across the country on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.
When I set out on the Camino in May of 2014, I did so with the intention of brainstorming The Camino Club. I put faith in the concept of the link between walking and creativity. While I walked, I gathered all the ingredients needed for a novel—characters, scenarios, plot, everything. Essentially, I walked the story into existence one footstep at a time.
As I walked, my creativity took on a life of its own. It felt as though I was in some kind of hyper-intense creative mode for the entire duration of the trip. In the quiet moments on the path—when I wasn’t meeting and getting to know people from all over the world—I walked and talked my way through the entire novel. I didn’t write much down. I was certain the movie-in-progress that played out in my mind’s eye would remain intact for later. I created a tapestry and I carried it with me until the walk was complete, confident the ideas that formed would come back to me once I sat down in front of my laptop back home in Toronto. I was certain of it.
The walking worked! By the time I was ready to write the novel, I knew exactly what it would look like. Every step I had taken on the Camino de Santiago was another word, another sentence, another paragraph, another chapter. All I had to do was type it out.
Two years after Spain, I would once again resort to walking to help me complete a novel. I wrote most of Pride Must Be A Place at that year’s Muskoka Novel Marathon. As this 72-hour novel writing marathon is a sit-down event, I was left with some creative struggles with the story. I knew exactly what would cure the problem. Having incorporated walking into the creation of The Camino Club, I was ready to explore this device again.
Once the marathon was over, my partner Michael and I spent a week at his sister’s cottage. Together, we walked mile after mile after mile as we discussed Pride’s plot problems and worked out all the kinks. By the end of the week, the novel was completed. Walking had once again propelled my creativity. This experiment was even better, as I had someone beside me every step of the way. I bounced ideas off of Michael and he bounced them off of me. While walking, we both had some amazing creative moments that eventually took the novel in new and exciting directions.
With this full week of walks behind me I had confirmed that, for me, foot-meets-earth is the creative path to novel writing I require. Whether I’m struggling or just working out my next novel idea, I take to the streets or the trails and I walk my way through. I find it doesn’t matter if I’m in nature or surrounded by concrete and glass… the walking stimulates creativity.
What I discovered about the link between walking and creativity is that freeing myself up from the impetus to write everything down actually helps with the creative flow. I can sense the ideas swarming in my head as I walk. It’s like I leave the desk with an empty glass, and the further away I get from the keyboard, the more the glass fills. Soon, it’s overflowing and I’m ready to write again.
The best part of walking with creative intent is that it promotes divergent thinking. This means I’m free to go madly off in all directions. I can generate copious different concepts and explore each one while walking. For me, walking promotes the “what if” of creativity. Whether I do it alone or with someone else, I find that the more my feet take me away into a walking adventure, the more my think-tank fills with ideas.
Last year, Michael and I walked all of Paris. I carried with me the kernel of an idea for a young adult novel set in Paris. As I walked the streets of Paris, the novel was the ghost at my side, willing itself into existence by the power of my own two feet. I’m getting that novel down on paper now. If I ever get to the point where I’m not sure how to continue, I’ll just take a step outside and go for a walk. I might even bring Michael along with me. He’s my perfect “what if” walking companion.
Do me a favour and bookmark the BROCKTON WRITERS SERIES website. Support them by attending their bi-monthly events at Glad Day Bookshop. And support Glad Day Bookshop while you’re there.
Here are links to the two novels in the piece:
KEVIN CRAIG 