Kung Fu is not just a martial art – it’s a way of life, a philosophy that emphasizes discipline, patience, creativity, control, and forethought. All of these are just as important and valuable in creative writing as in Kung Fu. For students who want to get better at writing, the principles of Kung Fu can contribute to some major breakthroughs. So how can Kung Fu help you become a better writer?
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1. Patience and Persistence
Patience is an important element in Kung Fu as well. It takes years to be good at Kung Fu. There are countless forms to learn, and just like creative writing, you don’t always feel like doing it. You can’t expect to pick up a broomstick one day and do the two-person form without practising. Kung Fu shows us to keep trying, which also relates to creative writing. It doesn’t always come easy and it’s hard to get it perfect the first time. Kung Fu teaches the importance of sticking with it, and that success doesn’t come overnight.
Students should also wrap their minds around the concept that the first draft of something encountered should never be the last thing you write about a topic; revisions are the norm, and rewrites are where students learn to polish their ideas. Patience helps students view their work with some distance and a clear head, which makes for gradual improvement in ideas and writing. Patience helps students become more thorough and determined in their work.
2. Focused Mindfulness
Kung Fu’s greatest lesson is presence of mind, one that is equally important in creative writing. Distractions play havoc with flow, and also with focus, the ability to keep on task. Our students are endlessly distracted by social media, by pings and alerts from apps on their mobile devices, by any number of overwhelming stimuli in a world that has become noisy, overloaded and overstimulated.
Through the mindfulness practice at the core of their Kung Fu training, students learn how to concentrate on their writing. They learn to tune out extraneous noise and concentrate on the work at hand. When they bring that focused attention to their writing, they see that their thoughts and ideas emerge more easily and their work feels stronger. The students are more able to draw on their creativity because they have cultivated mindfulness. For those needing assistance with more complex academic tasks, using research paper writing services can be a helpful option to stay on track while continuing to develop their own writing skills.
3. The Power of Small, Consistent Efforts
And indeed, Kung Fu rests upon the principle that it is these small increments of practice over time that are the main path to mastery. This can easily be applied to creative writing. It is easy for students to think they have to write for long periods of time to get somewhere, but the need to steadily spurt – writing for 10 or 15 minutes here, half an hour there – can have as significant an impact as the long haul – if not more.
Indeed, researchers at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh have found that writers who devote themselves to regular but short stints of writing produced work, and proved less likely to suffer from burnout or distraction, than writers who sit down to write in longer sessions. In the study, 72 percent of those who adopted daily writing habits reported increased productivity. In contrast, only 45 per cent of those who wrote when they ‘felt like it’ indicated higher productivity.
If they work on making small, incremental steps, then they are more likely to write well gradually over time. Their sense of accomplishment will grow in a smooth, organic way. In contrast, if they feel that they are to become a good writer all of a sudden, they will sense the enormity of the task ahead and immediately become discouraged.
4. Discipline and Structure
Kung Fu is all about discipline and structure. You learn technique through a strict routine. And similar discipline can be good for creative writing. If children create a structured writing routine, then they can build on their previous work, and can create good habits.
Here’s a comparison of how discipline and structure can affect writing:
| Without Discipline | With Discipline |
|---|---|
| Writing is done sporadically, often based on mood. | Writing is scheduled regularly, leading to progress. |
| Ideas are unorganized, leading to frustration. | A clear outline guides the writing, reducing confusion. |
| Deadlines are missed or ignored. | Deadlines are met, promoting accountability and growth. |
By doing this in tandem with a regular regimen of intensive writing, the student is using his free time for what was once his main curriculum—the one that many of his peers have abandoned or never embraced. This does not, as in Locke’s time, stifle creativity. It actually enriches it by supplying it with a daily, self-disciplined scope of action for ideas to take root. Students who follow this advice will find that they are far more likely to finish projects and that the standard of their work will improve as they do.
5. Adaptability and Flow
One of the constant messages in Kung Fu is that you should flow with the chi and move appropriately to the environment. It turns out that this attention to staying in the moment, and being open to fluid adaptation, is a great asset in writing; you never know where your words will come from, or what story you will craft. Some stories are more challenging than others. Sometimes, writer’s block arises. Sometimes you have an idea in mind and it doesn’t work as you intended.
This encourages a sense of flexibility in students, where they are more likely to ‘go with the flow’ of their thinking. This also means that they’ll be more receptive to their own ideas: we find that students who write with an open mind will allow the narrative to develop, rather than force it into preconceived moulds. This flexibility also encourages students to welcome new ideas, and to find new ways of representing their subject.
6. Self-Reflection and Improvement
Kung Fu practitioners spend considerable time reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses and hone their ability over time. Creative writers can do the same. After writing a piece, a student should reflect on the writing.
What went well? What could be improved? Keeping track of one’s development allows the student to isolate what might need a bit of work. Perhaps their prose needs some tightening up, or their characters could be more developed, or their dialogue sounds stilted. With self-awareness always comes self-improvement and, according to Kung Fu philosophy, there is always, always room for improvement, no matter how skilled the practitioner may be.
7. Balance Between Effort and Rest
Kung Fu is about balance. Intense training for hours on end is always followed with periods of rest and recuperation. It’s the same with creative writing. Yes, students need to put in the hours at the desk, but there’s also a need to unplug and let the mind rest. If you’re constantly trying to write, write, write, you’ll end up burnt out, and your creativity will suffer.
The student can maintain his energy and enthusiasm with the writing if he rests enough to balance it. It is in the resting of the mind that ideas get a chance to ferment in the background, where they will often be most helpful to you, often leading to surprising or ‘enraptured’ creative breakthroughs. Balance is to Kung Fu, as it is to creative writing.
Conclusion
Kung Fu philosophy can certainly help students with creative writing by assisting them to develop a more meaningful, effective and enjoyable writing experience. These time-tried principles of Kung Fu philosophy include: patience, mindfulness, discipline, adaptability, self-awareness and balance. When a student approaches their writing experience (a form of combat) with patience, they let their creative energy flow more freely. When they approach their writing with mindfulness, they are more attuned to what they are doing and why. When they approach their writing with discipline, they have more control over their work and can become, and stay, deeply involved in it.
When they approach their writing with adaptability, they can more readily adjust to changing situations and stay engaged in the creative process. When they approach their writing with self-awareness, they can be less judgmental and more open to exploring their thoughts and ideas and to making their writing more meaningful.
When they approach their writing with balance, they are less likely to get overly excited or frustrated, and are more likely to experience the satisfaction of learning and creating. Creative writing is like Kung Fu. It takes time and requires practice.
