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“When You are Having a Hard Time, See Yourself Objectively”

Today’s story teller is a mystery writer, Shusuke Michio.

In the article, he wrote about when a spider helped him to overcome writer’s block.

While writing a novel, sometimes he can’t move his pen not knowing the characters’ feelings that he’s been creating.

Onetime he fell in such situation, he went on the balcony to see outside view for a change, where he saw a spider swinging on an external section of air conditioning unit.

One spider’s thread was hanging down from the ceiling by the unit, and the spider was stuck on it swung by the air emitted from the unit.

Not being able to go up or down, how the spider got out of it?

It could cut the thread by itself, or stretch the thread to the ground, or contrary, climb up the thread to the ceiling.

Michio’s word

“The spider couldn’t find any of the ways because he doesn’t know that the situation he was in that time. I could find the ways because I was seeing it from away objectively but the spider is the one in the situation and doesn’t know what to do.”

Michio was watching what happened to the spider for a while but it was just staying there thrashing its legs.

“I felt like I saw me objectively for the first time in months.”

Applying the spider case into his writing, there are two ways that he can do; the first one is to keep writing while putting the characters’ feeling aside (stretch the thread to land the ground), or the second choice to go back to the beginning and read the story he has written so far (going up to the ceiling).

Which way is better? However, he found the third way.

“Neither way is right. Those will end up like the spider. I remembered that I am a human and found the simple third way ‘turn off the air conditioner’.”

“That is why I went back to the room and shut my pc down and briskly went for a drink.” LoL

The NIKKEI Jul/31/2009 by Shusuke Michio (writer)

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