In this episode I share how baking bread is a useful metaphor for writing a first draft. Both bread making and playwriting are an illusive combination of raw materials, method, mastery and luck. The final outcome depends on factors we can't even see.
The writing process can be illusive. It can be hard to find language to articulate your experience. So when we grasp onto metaphors that mirror the creative process, it can give us new insights into our craft and help us speak about our writing.
I speak about:
The ingredients - the humble raw materials we want to transform into a cohesive draft.
Similar raw materials will behave differently depending on context.
Activating the yeast - a live organism that gets things going. Yeasts ‘aliveness’ is key. What small piece of life are you delicately incorporating into this draft?
Kneading the dough - working with the materials to shape them into a smooth, silky dough. This takes work. There’s a physicality and effort involved at this part of the process.
The word ‘fiction’ and ‘dough’ share a root word that means to shape by hand.
Let the dough rest - once you get the texture you're after you need to step away so it can rest. The dough won’t rise unless you leave it alone. This makes a key piece of the puzzle is time. Time to let things happen. Time to let the yeast come to life.
The environment in which you rest your dough matters. The context affects the process. The skills of the bread maker is to be sensitive to this, and adapt and adjust to the environment.
Kneading the dough again - intuiting the exact moment to begin working with it again.
Letting the dough rest again - going back and forth between kneading and resting depending on what you’re making.
Baking - not wanting to put your work into the world half baked, but there is a risk of leaving it in the oven so long that you over cook it and it gets burned. Timing is key.
Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my about page or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.
If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.