How to Beat Writer's Block

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Here's what works for me:

1. Shut down your computer.
2. Tell your brain you are NOT going to write.
3. Go and do something which prevents you from writing/typing your ideas, but won't involve any active thinking. Suggestions: scrub dirty dishes, have a shower, brush your teeth, go to bed and turn out the lights.
4. Relax and let your mind wander.
5. As the ideas start to flow out of nowhere, curse your inability to make notes.

When you finally get your computer back on, the words and phrases you end up typing are never quite as magical as the vivid movies playing through your head in the shower. Sigh.

The Writing Switch

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Isn't it amazing how the writing vibe can be switched on and off, depending on how much mental energy we assign to it. I've been so preoccupied with attending to urgent business in real life, I haven't really given my imagination permission to do what it must. It's been busy, but mainly trying to imagine my own unknown destiny.

A few nights ago I made a conscious decision I will devote more time to my writing. I then had some fun with research, sparking ideas to use in my WIP. I know I have to make some tough decisions before I can proceed with properly editing this book, but I feel as if I'm almost ready.

But do you know what I love, what reminds me I'm getting back in the zone? When I'm doing my teeth, as I was at the end of that evening, and my brain starts to innocently mull over my creations... then boom. Inspiration. The (possible) first scene for my next book* dropped into my mind. Granted I'm still editing book 1 but I don't argue with the muse. I hurriedly went to my notebook and scrawled down the bones of it, for fleshing out when I'm "allowed" to work on it. The first scene for my current WIP also came to me when my brain was supposed to be otherwise engaged, and I just knew it was a keeper.

A few minutes after that flood I wrote this blog post. Life has since intervened again, preventing me from typing it up! 

However. The switch is back on, baby. I know I must gift myself the time I need to finish what I started. 


*This book is roughly outlined already with quite a few scenes written out of order... what can I say... I'm a hopeless pantser!

You Only Live Twice

It’s Bond, James Bond season again. I have an album of the songs from the movies, and when I listened recently this song jumped out at me.


You only live twice
Or so it seems
One life for yourself
And one for your dreams

As writers, we can definitely identify with this. We live parallel lives in our waking dreams (at least I know I do!). As you live out your real life, at the same time your imagination is carrying on a fantasy... creating another universe, which can seem just as real – sometimes more so. If you have more than one story on the go at once, or even just multiple POV characters, it can seem like three or more lives!

It’s funny when you think about it – as you go about your business, no-one knows the rich worlds you are dwelling in in your mind, the characters you love as if they weren’t just figments of your imagination. It's a delicious secret, and though it may seem mad to others, perhaps this second life is what keeps us sane!

How much of your thought-life is in your real life, versus your second, writer's life?

Idea Murphy’s Law

I had an idea for a blog post the other day. I came up with a few sentences teasing it out, and I think I even had a title. I think it was when I was cleaning (myself or the house; I can’t remember). I thought there was no way I would forget it – that as soon as I next sat down to my computer it would flow out of me organically.

That was a couple of weeks ago. The idea didn’t come back.

This happens all the time with story ideas (both for my current WIP and new works). There’s the usual places like the shower or the commute, but sometimes it’s just impossible or downright rude to take note of random flashes of inspiration – say when you are having lunch with a friend, during a meeting at work, or in the middle of a painful beauty therapy session. The most torturous one for me is right before I drop off to sleep. What to do? I find myself repeating the idea over and over again in my head, but I have a terrible track record at remembering them later.

It seems like Murphy’s Law for new ideas. The more interesting the idea, the more inconvenient the time or place in which it drops into your head.

What is the most inconvenient time an idea has come to you? Did you manage to take note of it and/or remember it later?

Progress!

The last time I wrote about my WIP, I was stuck in the quagmire of writer's block. I just couldn't see where to go next: how to add complexity and higher stakes. It was a frustrating, scary place to be.

Now, I'm pleased to report I have pushed through, but not in the way I expected. I thought my quirky minor characters would fuel the sub-plots I needed to add layers to my main characters' journeys. I thought and thought and got nowhere.

The key is the villain
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Then, I was reading this article about mirroring your plot points, and a lightbulb went off. The section entitled "the bad guys close in" could be taken as a metaphor, but it got me thinking. I have some shady characters, and there is one in particular that causes trouble. His main action had impacted on a minor character (albeit a quite important one), and this action then ricocheted into the main characters' worlds. But then I thought - what if? What if this guy is actually a proper villain, who seeks to disrupt my hero's path whenever possible, and to use my heroine as an unwilling accomplice? What could he do, what would be the worst he could do, to destroy my hero's hopes?


Progress
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The answer popped into my head, and then I was off, adding quite a few scenes to the second half of the novel, as well as a few pointers to lay the foundation in the first half. It sounds quite simple, to increase the antagonist's role, but I had thought that the book would be almost solely driven by the characters' internal journeys, with the external happenings just driving home their development. Instead, I can push them into increasingly desperate situations using intentional evil.

Plus, it's fun to write a villain... and doubly fun to see him get his just deserts.

So now, my novel has blossomed from 46,000 words to just over 60,000 words. I still have about 20,000 to go, but it feels good to be 3/4 of the way through. I know it still needs plot development, with tidbits that are yet to drop into my brain. But I feel like I will get there; no longer lost in the "what if I never finish" doldrums.

Here's what my structure looks like now (see the first version here). I've increased from 43 to 75 scenes. Act 3 is still looking a little bereft, but some of those scenes will be long.


My scenes, 3/4 way through

Have you experienced such a breakthrough, and how did you achieve it? Perhaps by studying the craft as I did?

Shiny-New-Idea-Itis

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I was in the bathroom at work, when suddenly a rather ordinary thought began to cascade into a string of increasingly interesting ideas, and suddenly I had a premise for a cosy mystery. Just out of the blue. I am focused on historical romance right now, have written contemporary in the past, and have never given mysteries a second thought - except that I read the blogs of some authors like Elizabeth Spann Craig, and as a tween I loved Nancy Drew. But I LOVE this idea and my excited writer's brain can't wait to think more about it, to start fleshing out characters and detailing plots.

Of course it does. It's no coincidence that this happens when I've told my brain it must sort out my WIP at all costs. Instead of grappling with the hard work, my brain just wants to play, to get back to the juicy stuff of planning and early drafting. Telling it that there's more fun to come with my WIP once we get over this hump in the draft is, apparently, not enough bait. It must distract me and tease me with the possibility of something new and exciting that might be THE BEST THING I'VE EVER DONE AND SURE TO GET PUBLISHED.

This disease, SNII, always strikes right at the moment when you can little afford to be distracted - right? (or is it just me) The temptation is so great to stop persevering through the hard yards of getting a draft done, and to enjoy playing. So I do what I always do - take notes, save them in my writing file, and wait for the excitement of the moment to wear off so I can concentrate again. My current WIP was one of those SNIs a couple of years ago, and I did dip into it every now and again (usually late at night when my brain was tired of the WIP-du-jour) before pursuing it earnestly for NaNoWriMo.

It's at times like this when I think: "I must be a writer". Surely only a writer's mind behaves this way. This time around I'm finding it really amusing that this genre flowed so organically from my mind. I find myself wanting to Google the title I came up with, to see if someone else has had the exact same brain wave before me - but that would just ruin the joy of these few minutes, and I can do that later. It reminds me of the time I thought of a book with magical elements which is also yet to be written - tremendous fun, but will take a lot of serious work when it actually comes to be written.

It does make me worry about defining a genre for myself if I do actually cross the hurdle of publication, but only a little. The right book will get me there - and I wonder what it will be?

Pushing Through

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So... long time, no blog. What with working through, and spending the statutory holidays with family or spring-cleaning, there hasn't been much writing going on either. But those excuses aren't really true. What I am experiencing amounts to a serious case of...

WRITER'S BLOCK

There, I admitted it.

Generally I've had no problem filling a first draft with potential scenes. I get almost to the goal word count, then have to fill in some stuff, which gets me past the word count, and then I trim some stuff.

This time it's different. My muse left the building sometime around November 25th, and it hasn't come back, except for a few small spurts. I'm writing a historical romance. I have the romantic plot down, basically. But my characters don't exist in a vacuum, and their world needs serious fleshing out. This is not supposed to be a category romance. I already have one sub-plot which seriously impacts the main one, but I was hoping for another (which will mainly affect my hero's journey). I know what type of thing I want it to be, but I don't know what it is. I have spent many hours wracking my brain. I have expected solutions to start dropping in my head the way they usually do (i.e. when I'm not at my computer), but nothing.

My brain has also been crammed full of travel research and planning, as we are off on a big trip in just over six weeks. That's real life - it must take priority. The fantasy world seems to have fallen off the margins of my brain.

This is why I only have 46,000 words, when I had intended to have 60,000 by the end of 2011. I am still striving to finish the first draft before we leave for our trip at the end of February. That's 5,000/week, including this one.

And how do I plan to get there? Purely by writing something... anything. I finished NaNo with just over 40k, and I have inched my way up to 46k a few hundred words at a time - fleshing out existing scenes, adding bits and pieces and occasionally thinking of whole new scenes. There are a couple of scenes I have scant notes for that I can expand on, but beyond that, it's all unknown territory.

I have to have faith in the process. Even just by working through some early scenes where we meet key minor characters, I have learned more about these people and gained some inklings as to what role they could play. No major insights yet, but I just have to keep going, keep pushing, until I can literally not squeeze out any more words.

I could just give up, but that would be heart-breaking. I know I've only devoted a few months to writing this project, but it's been an idea in some form for years, and I just adore some of the scenes I've written. Plus I think the hero and heroine I've created are pretty special (my humble opinion!). I really really want someone else to get to know them and root for them as I do.

Even just writing this blog has made me feel a bit better. Onwards!

Happy New Year, by the way. I have a good feeling about this one.

Planning Progress

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Planning for NaNoWriMo is progressing, somewhat. I have figured out a lot about the personalities of my two main characters, and I have a pretty good idea of how their relationship grows and changes throughout the story. My hero's motivations, stumbling blocks and growth are clear in my mind, my heroine's less so. I have a fair idea of the setting, though I've only just started researching beautiful English tourism websites and I'm going to enjoy finding out a lot more. I will also need to research a lot more around the little historical details that will add realism, and possibly spark plot ideas.

Speaking of plot, this is the main grey area at present. While I know where my characters need to get to, I'm a bit stuck in giving them things to do. I know this will come, but pushing it to come over 50,000 words in one month is a little daunting. I'm keen to have little (and a few large) secrets revealed, which surely do require some planning? The other main gaps right now are most of the minor characters. That, and names. But I think I'll write another post about that later.

However, I am pushing fear aside and gearing up mentally for NaNo. See the participant's logo in my sidebar? :-) I have the bare bones of several scenes written - those that just wouldn't leave me alone and I'm excited about. The challenge for me is the discipline to write all the scenes chronologically, without cheating and rushing through to the climactic scenes I love to write.

What will be the biggest challenge for you during NaNo? (apart from time constraints, obviously!)

Considering NaNoWriMo

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Everyone is talking about NaNaWriMo. For once I'm at a place with an MS (i.e. in the very early stages) where I might benefit from taking part. As you can see by the little counter on the right, I'm nearly 5,000 words into my new historical novel, with those words being a mix of scenes and outlined chapters from throughout the book (though mainly the first half). I could use some motivation and support to get into the nitty-gritty and get the thing really going.

I'm a little worried about having to be quite so consistent though, as I'm really more of a pantser. Sometimes I'll write like a crazy woman as scenes roll through my brain uninterrupted, but other times I'll need a few days or a week to mull over particular plot arcs or characters. The time away is required for the next bolt of inspiration to strike.

Before November 1 I'm going to attempt to do a more thorough outline, so that I have some kind of roadmap. The problem is that most of the time I get my ideas for future scenes as I'm writing, or in the mulling time afterwards. Plus sometimes when I'm outlining I can't resist writing scenes, and then I have to go back afterwards and fill in the gaps. Being able to say what happens throughout the whole book before I do any proper sequential writing is unlikely. It would be nice if my process could work that way, but I can't really see it working.

So I don't think I'll get near the 50k, but maybe 30k will be a good goal for me. 30k for 3 months and I'll have a finished draft. 

Apparently the next step is to register at the official site... but I'm not sure if that will be counter-productive, as the forums may just turn out to be a distraction? And I might feel like an under-achiever when I don't crack the 50k. If you've done it before, would you recommend registering? Have you "won"? Did you end up finishing and/or submitting the novel?

A Turning Point

I took a walk this afternoon at the far end of the neighbourhood and I took these shots.

It's funny, looking at them now, it almost seems like a totally different day - look at those heavy clouds as against the beautiful blue sky. But all I did was turn less than 180 degrees.

I'm at a turning point with my writing too. Totally I sent off the last query for my women's fiction MS. I am satisfied that I have queried widely enough, and I'm ready to move on.

So, what to move on to? I have a couple of dozen story ideas or scenes saved, which span many genres. There's about five that are clammering for my attention, and then one that's sticking in my head the most at the moment is the historical romance I was toying with over a year ago before I committed to the now-completed one. There are a couple of scenes I just loved, and I'd already outlined several chapters (but no way near enough to constitute a full novel). Moments between the hero and heroine keep overtaking my head. Like while I was walking, I had to keep stopping to jot down ideas on my phone.

I love this part. The dreaming and drafting. The "OMG I HAVE TO WRITE THIS SCENE DOWN NOW OR I WILL DIE!" feeling. While there's so much possibility, and I can take the story anywhere I want, and I don't have to worry about filling in the gaps. What's your favourite part of the writing process?

The other turn I'm making is (obviously) changing from contemporary to historical. Several years ago I would not have considered doing anything BUT historical. I was fully immersed in that world. Now I've been reading contemporary fiction, consuming author blogs, etc etc. It's going to be a major mind-shift to get back into historical (probably Georgian or Regency) mode. I've been sort of pushing all of that to the side, purely due to time constraints. And while it's daunting to consider catching up, I'm excited to get back to my first love.

Another thought as sort of a foot-note... stop to notice the world around you. As I was furiously taking notes on my iPhone while I strolled back along here...

... I almost missed the first ducklings of the season:

I do love me some ducklings... well any baby animals really! This was a lovely way to finish the afternoon.

A Time to Grow

It's spring here in New Zealand. Well, on some days it feels like it might be. All of our spring bulbs are awash with colour, and as the winter rains have started to drain from the ground we've begun to actively garden again. Weeds have popped up, some plants need to be moved, and a general treatment of fertiliser is required to give all of our plants a head-start.

One section of our vege patch is already sequestered by strawberry plants - the babies of last year's crop. They've been tentatively producing flowers and rather deformed strawberries for a couple of months now. I was watching a gardening show the other day and was a little surprised by their advice: take off all of the flowers in the early season. This will allow the plant to grow bigger and produce bigger, better fruit.

I took myself out to the patch today, and got busy with weeding. I looked at the lovely white strawberry flowers, and all the developing fruit, and ignored them for a while. Then when I looked closer, I noticed that many of the strawberries were in a sorry state. Some were quite flat, while others had lots of little knobs of them - a bit like a rooster's comb! I realised these are not going to be good strawberries for eating anyway. So, rational thought overtaking my nurturing instincts, I plucked the flowers and fruits from the plants with increasing courage. There was probably a hundred or more. I do hope this act of sacrilege does indeed result in healthier plants (not deceased ones).

A strawberry flower (right) and a baby strawberry (left). Both had to go!

As I stripped the plants, it got me thinking about where I am with my writing at the moment. I have queried a number of agents with my current MS, and while I've had some interest there's been no offers. I have a few more agents to query, including some "dream" agents, and while the rejection (or lack of response) will sting, I'm more ready for it now than I was a few months ago. I have all but accepted that this is not the MS that will launch me into publication orbit. And on one hand it feels like Groundhog Day, but on the other I know I've learned so much this time. I feel much better equipped to start with a new idea, more confident that I have the tools I need (or at least more than I had before) to execute it well.

Like the strawberries, I am in a growing phase. I could try to put work out there, but it won't be as good as the work I'll produce in the future. I know that even if I do get published eventually, I'll continue to improve with each successive novel. It's all about timing (and luck, of course). I need to accept that right now, I'm supposed to be growing. Later when I bear fruit again, I believe it'll be that much better for it.

I'm sure everyone's seen this video, but it helps me every time I hear this advice.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

(Scary) Shiny New Idea

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My brain is making the transition from pushing for publication of my complete WIP, to the creative thirst for writing something new. Little ideas are dropping into my consciousness, and I can feel my drafting muscle stretching, ready for a marathon.

At the moment I probably have about thirty bits and pieces floating around in my (digital) writing folder. Some are dialogue snippets, or character descriptions. Most are premises, a paragraph or more, and the tone is mainly commercial/women's fiction. I also have a 20,000 word expanded outline for a historical romance, 500 words of a book that could be YA, and 5,000 on the follow up book to the book I'm currently querying. I even have 1,000 words of story that could only be described as fantasy.

There is one new story that is shouting louder than the most. It grew in my imagination last week, after spring-boarding off another, more commercial and easy idea. I can't stop thinking about it, and I'm sure I'm going to have to make time soon to start actually writing it. The problem is it's not women's fiction... it might not even be commercial. I can't say for sure whether there'll be a happy ending or even a proper romance. The premise is slightly shocking. I suppose you could even call it "high concept". It explores morality and how good people can do bad things. It will probably told in alternating points of view, with many secrets revealed and twists along the way. I know how it starts, and a few hints of later events, and I've thought a bit about the characters - how they may have found themselves in this position, and why it's destroyed their worlds. Apart from that I don't have a plot. And my typical pantser instinct is just dying to jump in and start exploring this situation to see where it goes.

It will require a ton of research, and a heck of a lot of outlining and planning once I get going (I have to figure out how those secrets and twists should intersect and when), and it will probably be emotionally taxing. I don't know how I'd start the research or if I'd ever get the time. I'm going to be treading in areas of human experience I have not encountered in real life, and I might interpret these things incorrectly. I could really stuff this up and just give up half way through.

It would be a lot easier to just keep going with one of my 'brighter' ideas... to sail through on romance and commercial scenarios. But like I said, this idea just won't leave me alone. It's demanding enough head space to bloom into a real story. So I'm thinking I need to set aside a couple of hours this weekend to give it some air time in my frazzled mind. And who knows, maybe it will fizzle away once the initial creative burst is done. Or maybe it will completely hijack my life for the next year and I'll be in query hell again come August 2012.

Have you ever had a story hijack your brain... something completely different to what you thought you'd write? Have you had an idea really stretch you and work out as you planned?