Unconscious Creativity: How I Wrote a Novel in Five Weeks

In 2001, I signed a contract to write four children’s science-fantasy adventure books with an impossible deadline. The contract required me to write about 200,000 words in six months—and I had never been that productive before. I wasn’t sure I could do it.

While writing, I abandoned plot outlines in favor of plunging in, imagining scenes, and piling up mountains of words. Along the way, the characters repeatedly surprised me. I wrote faster and more freely than ever before. I’m proud of the quality of those books (each is rated 4.6 stars on Amazon).

That experience launched me on an exploration of the creative process. I studied the insights of Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, John Steinbeck, and Madeleine L’Engle. They all attributed their uninhibited creativity to the power of the unconscious mind—our dimly understood storehouse of memories, fears, desires, and dreams.

Fast forward to early 2023. I was pondering a science fiction thriller about the extinction threat from super-smart artificial intelligence. Finally, on February 19, 2023, I awoke before dawn and wrote in my journal, “This book won’t let me sleep!” And I began writing Chapter 1.

I completed the first draft of the 50,000-word novel exactly five weeks later, on March 25. The novel, Its Name Is Legion: A Human Novel about Artificial Intelligence, was published in June 2023.

I wrote without an outline, heeding the advice of Ray Bradbury:

“Jump off a cliff and build your wings on the way down.”

Every day, I was “writing in overdrive”—writing “in flow.” Here’s the creative process I followed during those five weeks:

Step 1: Trust Your Unconscious

Imagination and inspiration flow from the unconscious mind.

“[I] allow my unconscious mind to control the course of the story.”

Ursula K. Le Guin

And Ray Bradbury kept a sign by his typewriter that read, “Don’t Think!” He told an interviewer, “I never plan ahead. Everything is always spontaneous and passionate.” Bradbury learned the unconscious approach to writing at age eighteen when he read Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer. Brande wrote, “The unconscious must be trusted to bring you aid from a higher level than that on which you ordinarily function.”

I have learned to trust my unconscious imagination. That’s why I was never blocked, never at a loss for words, during those five weeks.

Step 2: Set Ambitious Goals

The unconscious mind craves a challenge, so aim high. Set goals that require you to be more creative and productive than you’ve ever been before. Your goals should objectively measure your progress—a specific daily word quota, page count, or the completion of a chapter or story. Productivity quotas force us to persevere and produce.

No one enters the overdrive zone while doing something easy. Only when we accept a bold challenge can we experience the creative thrill of writing in overdrive.

Step 3: Give Yourself Permission to Write Badly

It’s okay to write badly at times. That’s what first drafts are all about. To write brilliantly, give yourself permission to write badly.

“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”

Jodi Picoult

Silence your inner critic. Stop striving for first-draft perfection. Shed your inhibitions and write quickly, with childlike abandon.

I call first-drafting “finger-painting with words.” When children fingerpaint, they’re creative and spontaneous. When you write in first draft, make a glorious mess.

Step 4: Write with Emotional Intensity

To enter the overdrive zone, you must be emotionally involved in your work. Haunted by the horrors of Nazi death camps, Elie Wiesel wrote Night. Enraged by social injustice, John Steinbeck pounded out The Grapes of Wrath.

I felt emotionally driven to write Its Name Is Legion. I poured everything I had into that novel, including my fears about the threat of super-smart AI. My emotional involvement drove me to write with speed and boundless inspiration.

What do you love? What do you fear? List your passions, then transmute them into compelling fiction.

Step 5: Relax

Ray Bradbury urged writers to adopt a mindset of “dynamic relaxation,” a state of being emotionally engaged yet so relaxed that we become one with the act of creation. “Relax and stop thinking,” he said. “True creation occurs then and only then.”

“Many things—such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unaffectedly—are done worst when we try hardest to do them.” Lewis relaxed by walking in the woods. He told a friend, “My imagination only works when I am exercising.”

C. S. Lewis

Stuck for ideas? Take a nap, take a walk, listen to music. Relax—then write brilliantly.

Step 6: Start Strong and Push to Completion

As you write, you’ll have doubts. You’ll question your talent, your plot, and your characters. Every writer has doubts. Successful writers ignore them.

I experienced doubts while writing Its Name Is Legion, but I refused to give them space in my head. I went to work—and I always found a way into the story. I willed myself to finish.

Your goal is not perfection but production. Write quickly, never analyzing, but simply jotting down the scenes in your imagination. Do this every day and you’ll soon have a reward for your persistence—

A novel that will astonish the world.

Jim Denney’s books Walt’s Disneyland: It’s Still There If You Know Where to Look, Your Writing Mentor C. S. Lewis, and his children’s fantasy novel Battle Before Time are all rated 4.6 stars or higher on Amazon. He is a member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America). Find him at WritingInOverdrive.com.