ADD A MONKEY: A Writing Tip by Rebecca Entel • Cleaver Magazine

Rebecca Entel
ADD A MONKEY

Award-winning writer and artist Lynda Barry tells us, “When I start feeling too concerned that all the words I write be very smart and about something worthwhile, I find my urge to write replaced with an urge to draw monkeys.”

You can follow Barry’s lead literally, and when you start feeling the weight of being super smart and meaningful, sketch a capuchin. You’ll give your writing mind a break and loosen up in a way that can help you return to the page.

I find drawing particularly helpful for my writing. While it doesn’t create stress—I’m just doing it for myself with no pressure to make anything “good”—drawing takes enough concentration to provide a true break from my writing. I took some weekly art classes while writing my first novel, but more often I just doodle on my own, as you can see here:

You can also take Barry’s lead figuratively by taking a mini-break from your project to do something else trivial or irrelevant, then returning to your writing with less pressure to impress.

Or you can add a “monkey” directly into your project, so to speak, by introducing an unexpected element and allowing it to propel the piece forward. Something silly—or at least different in tone—can help bring new energy to an ongoing project.

Also recommended: Lynda Barry’s book Syllabus (Drawn & Quarterly, 2014) in which this monkey business appears.

Rebecca Entel is the author of a novel, Fingerprints of Previous Owners; stories and essays in such journals as Guernica and Literary Hub; and flash in Jellyfish Review, Copper Nickel, and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing, including a novel-writing course patterned after National Novel Writing Month; U.S. and Caribbean literature; and the literature of social justice at Cornell College, where she is Small Distinguished Professor. As director of Cornell’s Center for the Literary Arts, she oversees a Visiting Writer Series, workshops and events, a literary and art magazine, and an internship program. She also mentors in the PEN America Prison and Justice Writing program.