Samuel Coleridge awoke from a deep opium slumber, grabbed a pen and paper, and scribbled down three stanzas that he says he composed in his dream.
At that moment, an unidentified person from Porlock interrupted Coleridge.
Once Coleridge made it back to his pen and paper, he found that the visions had vanished and he couldn’t complete the poem he had started.
The poem that Colerdige had written lingered unfinished for years, when at the suggestion of Lord Byron, it was published under the title Kubla Khan. It remains famous to this day, some two hundred years later.
Meanwhile, “the person from Porlock” has entered the lexicon as an unwanted intruder who disrupts inspiration or a moment of creativity.
If you ever struggle to write something, there’s a lesson hidden there in the story of Coleridge’s Kubla Khan. At least I think so.
I personally often write by “remembering” the finished product — before it is written.
Of course, this is a complete trick and a lie. But it works for me. It might work for you too. Here’s what to do:
Basically, instead of outlining or writing what you have to write, you pretend you’ve already written it. It’s there vaguely in your memory, as though you dreamt it.
So you grab a pen and paper, or more likely your laptop, and start furiously writing down whatever you can remember.
If you’ve already forgotten some part, just leave some XXXs to be filled in later.
The key is to get as much of your structure and individual words down as you can before your poem — or your sales copy or whatever — disappears into the darkness of the night.
And of course, beware of the person from Porlock. Any kind of distraction — whether checking your mail, doing a bit of research, or picking up your phone — can kill your visions. And then you are left with the hard labor of writing, instead of the easy act of remembering what was already written.
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