The Snuffling Mind: Curiosity as a Creative Tool
Following the Trail of Questions That Lead to Deeper Stories
Let’s begin here: You are not sitting at your desk, not staring at the page, not willing the words to come. You are moving. Wandering. Your mind is snuffling—nose to the ground, ears perked, following something you can’t quite name yet.
A scent. A shimmer. A glint of something buried just beneath the surface.
This is curiosity at work. It is the restless, nose-to-the-ground energy that drives us to follow what we don’t yet understand. It is the art of the slow chase, the deep dig. The willingness to ask what else? and why? and what if?
Curiosity is what turns writing into discovery. It is what makes a story feel alive.
The Instinct to Snuffle
We talk a lot about writing discipline, about showing up, about putting words down even when inspiration won’t. But what about the part that comes before the words? The part where you don’t know what you’re looking for, only that something is waiting to be found?
Curiosity is the writer’s wild instinct. It is the pull toward a sentence that doesn’t quite fit, the itch of a question that won’t go away, the gut feeling that there’s something more lurking beneath the obvious.
It is what turns a flat character into someone who breathes. It is what cracks open a predictable scene and lets the light in. It is the thing that stops you mid-step and makes you go back, sniff the air, and say: Wait. There’s something here.
Following the Questions
Curiosity isn’t passive. It’s an act of pursuit. A decision to not settle for the first layer, to keep digging.
Here’s your invitation:
Sniff Around the Edges – Take a scene or a character you think you know. Now, ask: What’s just outside this frame? What’s not being said?
Ask the Unexpected Questions – What does your character carry in their pockets? What do they smell like? What lie do they tell themselves? Sometimes the smallest details reveal the deepest truths.
Follow the Itch – If something in your writing feels off, don’t dismiss it. Lean into it. The discomfort, the curiosity, the unknown—that’s where the real story begins.
Play Invitation
Set a timer for 15 minutes. Choose a scene, a moment, a character, and start writing—but instead of moving forward, move sideways.
Ask five unexpected questions about the scene or character.
Follow the strangest, most surprising answer.
Let it lead you somewhere you didn’t plan to go.
Curiosity isn’t about certainty. It’s about the chase.
The Power of the Unanswered
Some of the best moments in writing come from what we don’t know at the start. From the moments we allow ourselves to wonder, to follow an idea not because it’s logical, but because it won’t let us go.
Curiosity keeps stories from going stale. It keeps characters from becoming predictable. It keeps us, as writers, engaged in the process—not just putting words on the page, but discovering something true along the way.
A story that feels alive isn’t one that knows all the answers—it’s one that is willing to ask the right questions.
The Reader’s Role
Readers feel curiosity the same way we do. They lean in at the right moment, hold their breath at the right pause. They follow the trail we leave, and if we do it well, they feel like they’ve found the answers themselves.
The best writing doesn’t hand everything over. It asks something of the reader. It invites them to wonder, to fill in the spaces, to feel like they, too, have uncovered something wild.
Your Turn
What’s waiting just outside the frame of your story?
What questions are you afraid to ask about your characters, your themes, your endings?
What happens when you stop pushing forward and start following the scent of something unexpected?
Sniff around. Dig deeper. Follow the question.
About Me
I’m Rena—a writer, teacher, and explorer of the questions stories ask us to follow. My work has appeared in Brevity Magazine, South Florida Poetry Journal, Five on the Fifth, New Flash Fiction Review, Headland Literary Journal, and more. Along the way, I’ve collected more rejection letters than I care to count—a badge of honor for any writer hunting the next story.
I’m also the Founder and Director of an International K–12 school in Costa Rica, where my love for learning and storytelling collide. My work is about helping writers stay curious, stay wild, and stay open to what they don’t yet know.
Let’s dig deep, howl loud, and keep the chase alive.