At the writing program I just chaperoned for, one of the getting-to-know-you exercises we used on our first night involved asking each other questions that we had written on slips of paper. One of the questions that really got people thinking was one I'm proud to say I wrote: "When was the last time you were completely lost?" You could interpret "lost" to be whatever you wanted, whether spiritually, geographically or mentally, and some of the answers were very interesting. It made me convinced that everyone, but especially writers, need a time of feeling lost every now and then. Here are a few reasons why you should get lost, how it will help your writing, and how to do it yourself.
Challenge Your World.
Winston Churchill said, "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened." That's a very true sentiment about the way we perceive the world and how much we try to preserve our view of it. To entertain challenging thoughts about religion or politics or other big ideas is frightening, because we might become completely lost in the thicket of confliction notions. If you've always believed in a God, for example, you might feel lost if you start wondering whether there really is one. But this kind of wondering is good for you. Your story will not be compelling if it is a smug little lecture on how things are. Readers want the questioning and wondering agony that getting lost entails.How to get lost in this way: read the religious text of a religion that is foreign to you. Ask yourself why so many people believe in it.
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