INTRODUCTION
Human beings are complex animals that have the gift – and the curse – of multilevel consciousness. We have our immediate consciousness, which processes everything in the moment; and on top of that, we have the subconscious and the unconscious, processing things that we’re not even aware we’re processing.
Our brain is constantly processing these different levels of consciousness at the same time, and regardless of our maturity and wisdom, it’s impossible to process everything all at once. Sometimes, you have to help your brain out.
Writing is the best form of therapy, and I will never claim otherwise. Writing helps take intangible thoughts and feelings and turns them into tangible objects we can work with. It sorts and organizes everything in the immediate consciousness, extracting hidden things lurking in the subconscious. There is nothing more healing than words.
The problem is, people really suck at explaining how to use writing for therapy. They often just tell you to “journal” which means far too many things and ends up meaning nothing at all.
In my experience, there are four ways to use writing as therapy:
- Fiction writing
- Memoir writing
- Poetry
- Mind-dumping (aka journaling)
I want to talk about each of these in detail. First, I want to discuss how to use fiction writing as a form of therapy.
But there are actually a lot of ways to use fiction writing as therapy, and if I don’t break this into sections, this blog post will be 20 pages long. So I want to break up fiction writing as therapy further into 4 methods:
- Imaginary conversations
- Real conversations
- Allegorical characters
- General fiction as therapy
I want to go through each one of these methods individually. So today, we’ll talk about writing imaginary conversations as therapy. (Make sure to subscribe to my email list for the upcoming segments!)
THE METHOD
You know those fake arguments you have in your head while you’re in the shower? Or when you think about meeting an untouchable celebrity and how your first conversation would go? Or when you think about what you would say to a family member if they were still alive? We’re going to take all those unsaid words and put them on paper.
Why you should do it: Putting these conversations down on paper gets them out of your head. All those unsaid words, emotions, and frustrations are taking up space in all levels of consciousness. These conversations probably even manifest themselves in your dreams. We’re going to purge them.
Step 1: Decide who you’re talking to
One of these characters will be you. Maybe the character will be one facet of you: your anger, your weakness, your pain, your maturity, your strength, whichever you decide. It can be a positive or negative facet, but the important thing is that it’s you.
Now you have to decide who you’re talking to. What conversation are you dying to have? Decide who it is. It can be a person you know, a person who has already passed away, a stranger, a public figure or celebrity, or even another facet of yourself. (Want to talk to your younger self? Go for it. Want your anger and wisdom to duke it out? Feel free.)
Step 2: Decide on the setting
This is more important than you think. A conversation at an amusement park will have a much different outcome than a conversation in a graveyard. Each setting sets the mood of the dialogue.
- For dark, heavy emotions: graveyard, hospital, funeral, prison, caves
- For nostalgic, bittersweet emotions: your childhood home, kitchen, playground, a place you loved to go to as a kid, a place you’ve traveled to
- For romantic or happy emotions: gardens, beaches, cafes, rivers, bonfires, wedding
- For sexy or sinful emotions: casino, hotel room, pool hall, night club, criminal hideout, office, closet, yacht
- For stress and chaos: airport, subway or train station, amusement park, overcrowded city, desert or tundra
- For hope and healing: mountains, church or temple, forest, lakes
- And more ideas: farm, airplane, kayak or water rafting, cliffs, tent, car or truck, park, penthouse, etc
Of course, you can change the mood of any of these places to suit your scene, but the setting will be important either way. It helps to make the setting somewhere you have been before, somewhere personal. Remember this is for therapy, so the more personal the elements are, the better.
Step 3: Write the scene
Now you have your characters and setting. Start the conversation. It doesn’t matter how you start and it doesn’t matter if you know how to end the conversation. In fact, don’t plan anything out at all. The idea is to purge everything out of your conscious and subconscious, so let both of them do their jobs naturally. Write down whatever comes into your head.
Your imaginary conversation might be rather odd or clunky in your draft, and might be total garbage as a piece. That’s fine. The point isn’t to sell it or to become famous off of it (unless you want to spruce it up and send it out later), but the point at this time is to just work through a situation in your head.
Make sure to write more than just dialogue. Write physical mannerisms. Write internal dialogue. (Don’t worry about sticking to a POV in this exercise, or any other writing craft element for that matter.) Write in environmental sights, sounds, smells, etc.
Allow yourself to write out all those unspoken words, all those things you wish you could say or do.
As for the ending? It will come on its own. That’s the job of your subconscious, not you. So don’t worry about where to start and where to end. Just write down the first line your brain conjures and then stop when your brain stops conjuring. That’s it.
Not sure where to start? Let me give you a few exercises:
- What is something you wish you could say to your mom or dad?
- Confess your feelings to someone you never got to confess to.
- Talk to the first person who broke your heart.
- Which famous celebrity would you like to meet? How would your first meeting go?
- Give advice to your younger self.
- Write out an argument between yourself and someone who disappointed you.
- Think of the people you saw this week – strangers and vague acquaintances – and write out a full conversation with one of them.
- Choose one negative part of your personality (anger, greed, lust, bitterness, envy) and have it converse with a positive part of your personality (wisdom, patience, love, gratitude, joy, honor).
- What is something you’ve always wanted to say to your boss or coworkers, past or present?
- Write about having a meal with someone who has passed away or who has removed themselves from your life completely.
NEXT
Coming up, I’ll talk about writing out real conversations as a form of therapy.
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