Writing Intuitively - Intuition Defined

Right now, intuition is telling me to do something writers are taught never to do: open a piece with a dictionary definition. My rational mind is screaming, Don’t do it! But I’ve learned through experience to trust these intuitive nudges. So here goes…

Intuition (ĭ
'tû-ĭsh'ən, ...Right now, intuition is telling me to do something writers are taught never to do: open a piece with a dictionary definition. My rational mind is screaming, Don’t do it! But I’ve learned through experience to trust these intuitive nudges. So here goes…

Intuition (ĭ
'tû-ĭsh'ən, -tyû-): The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; a sense of something not evident or deductible.

That was tough, but following intuition almost always pays off for me—sometimes in unexpected ways. Intuitive feelings are a natural part of the human experience—they happen to everyone—but in Western culture we’re trained to suppress them in favor of a rational approach. The rational mind is great at organizing and learning from experience, but it’s limited to computing information it’s already received from the outside world.

The intuitive faculty taps into knowledge of a different kind, related to less finite aspects of ourselves, such as creativity, higher purpose and personal growth. It’s another way we have of accessing information, and to ignore it is to limit the very experience the rational mind is so adept at processing. Sometimes the rational mind discards intuitive knowledge so quickly, we don’t realize we have it at all!

You know that pang in the gut that says it’s time for a new job? That internal nod that lets you know you’ve made the right decision? That nagging hunch that keeps you writing in a direction that seems to make no sense? Hello, intuition. The rational mind might rebel against it, but when we listen to those impulses things tend to work out for the best, even if we don’t immediately understand how or why.

Intuition tells us what feels right and true in the moment. If we listen, it can guide us to insights that are unavailable to the logical mind. It can infuse our writing with energy and creativity, and make those agonizing decisions that determine the course of a project easier to make. Ever hear a writer say her characters tell her what to do? Or that the novel “wrote itself?” These writers allow intuition to lead them, trusting it will take them somewhere, and use their rational minds to smooth the path.

I don’t mean to suggest that intuition is infallible. 400 words into this article I’m still not getting any love from that definition. But my intuitive gambles often pay off in unpredictable ways. Maybe when I shelve the dictionary a postcard will fall out and solve a problem in my novel, one my rational mind has been banging its head against. Or maybe the definition itself, so orderly and precise, is saying that intuition and rationality are most powerful when they work together. This feels closer to the truth, and I think I’ll investigate the idea further in my next column, about writers and intuition.

Until then, read Shakti Gawain’s excellent book, "Developing Intuition." It’ll help you wrap your mind around this mysterious faculty that we all possess.