The Secret to Writer’s Block: Misfit Inspiration - Post Two

The Sweetest Inspiration: 

How to Use Food to Sense your way Through Writer’s Block When Describing a Specific Scene

Humans have five major senses that we use to examine the environment around us: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.  All but the last one (usually anyways) are heightened during one glorious and common daily activity:  eating.  Food can be an important part of one’s culture, history, and tradition.  The smell and taste of food can even evoke long lost memories from childhood.  So why not use the taste of food to break through your writer’s block?  

Now, you may think that I just mean that you should dive into an extra slice of pizza or indulge in that chocolate cake you’ve been eyeing, and sure that may kick start your creative juices.  But why not use food in relation to what you are writing as your inspiration?  Some foods and smells are inherently linked to certain past experiences, situations, and events.  You can use your five senses to unlock your ideas from your food inspirations.

Here’s an example of what I mean.  When I was writing Arriving Through Time, I encountered writer’s block when trying to describe a scene that took place at a circus.  I couldn’t really figure out how to write what I was trying to get across and I didn’t like any of the dialogue that I was coming up with.  I googled pictures of the circus and even listened to some “circus songs” on youtube.  Nothing worked, until I started flipping through old pictures of mine, trying to find something that would spark my imagination.  I came across a picture that I took in Tokyo, Japan.  The picture was of the most amazing cotton candy clouds that I had ever seen.  The cotton candy had been shaped into enormous mushroom shaped pillows of pinks, blues, and greens.  It was like someone had decided to take cotton candy and make art out of it.  The looks on the kids’ faces indulging in the delicious snack were not disappointed.  It was then, looking at that picture, that I had an epiphany...and a craving to match. 

So, the next day I picked up all the essential circus foods that I could find from the grocery store:  peanuts, popcorn, and a bag of cotton candy.  It was the cotton candy that did it for me.  I hadn’t had cotton candy in at least ten years, but the first bite brought back a wave of memories.  The texture combination of being both fluffy and sticky at the same time, the smell of sugar and bubble gum wrapped into one, and the dissolving sensation that’s unlike any other food on the planet: it was cotton candy.  

I was thrown back to when I was eight years old and my mom brought me and one of my brothers to see the circus.  I don’t remember much about that trip.  I do remember that there were peanut shells all over the ground and that there were elephants that I thought were fifty feet high.  I also clearly remembered the smell and taste of that cotton candy.  I didn’t even realize it until I tried it.  That food memory stimulated my writing flow again and I was able to work on and finish that scene within the week.  It was like the cotton candy woke something up in me and set me in the direction that I needed to be placed. 

So why not use your food senses to wake up something in you?  Here are some ideas to help:

• Are you writing a scene that relates to something in your past?  Is there a certain food typically found in that place like the cotton candy at the circus?

• Is there a favorite food or something from your childhood that you haven’t had in years?  Everyone has a certain food that their family makes on holidays or a favorite dessert for their birthday.  It never hurt to ask for a family recipe and cooking can be a great writer’s block breaking distraction as well.

• Peruse your local grocery store for food ideas.  If you are staying away from the grocery store right now, Amazon sells boxes filled with snacks from the decade of your choice.  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=80s+snack+box&crid=1IMT15YNIXSY3&sprefix=80s+snack%2Caps%2C174&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_9 

Why not try something delicious in an attempt to get those creative juices flowing? 

So, the next time that you feel like writer’s block is keeping you from developing your scene, try some yummy inspiration instead. 

I hope that these ideas help you to break through! 

Found a great source of inspiration that worked for you? Let me know!

Still getting writer’s block?  Tell me how I can help!