I’ve been kind of stuck lately. In a writerly rut. Not
really writer’s block, per se. You see, writer’s block implies that you’re
actually doing some kind of writing. I’ve been … dry. It’s in part due to major
life/family events, but some also just due to inertia. I haven’t been writing,
so it’s hard to write. Hard to start from a non-moving position.
So I thought I’d share with you some of the tricks and tips
and workarounds I’m using to jump-start, restart, reignite my writing. Hope you
enjoy them!
Book recommendation: Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine.
While this book is geared toward a student writer, I really
love the writing exercises she includes in most chapters. Plus she encourages
the writer to save what they write. Everything. Even the cruddy first drafts
and the times when the writer was just playing around. As it turns out, looking
back through some of my notes about writing, story ideas jotted down on a
thousand different sticky notes in every room of the house, and re-reading old
stories is another method of getting back into the writing saddle.
The Snowflake Method – I have had many projects start well
but fizzle later (usually at around the 2/3 point) and have concluded that lack
of planning (being a total seat-of-the-pants writer) was hurting me. So I’ve vowed
to do more planning. The snowflake method has always been a favorite of mine
for doing the big-picture story planning, gradually getting deeper and deeper
into the story as the snowflake evolves from a simple triangle into a fractaled
wonder.
This list from the good folks at Galleycat was an excellent
source of resources for me this week. I’ve tried trello (still tinkering), and
of course the snowflake method appears again. And that excel gods-eye view?
Absolutely earth-shattering for me. I need a fully formed idea before it will
be useful, but I plan to use this method for outlining scenes for my November
nanowrimo project this year. Highly recommend, particularly for any
screenwriters out there.
The Blake Snyder Beat Sheet was recommended by a writer
friend aware of my predicament. Blake Snyder wrote a writing book called Save
the Cat that is well-regarded in writing circles. I haven’t spent much time
with it yet, but I plan to use it as my next trick on the story idea I’m gestating
at the moment. Yes, I finally have a reasonable story idea! These things have worked!
Another cheat-sheet style is the 7 point story structure,found here on Chandler Baker’s website. Can you tell I’ve been looking for the
magic bullet? The reality is nothing short of putting pen to paper or fingers
to keyboard actually works to get me out of my slump, but playing with all
these various organizational tools and story structure outlines has been
invaluable to getting me reenergized and ready to write. Now it’s time to
generate some fiction, who’s with me? Here’s a writing prompt if you want to
play:
(using elements from Characters for an Epic Tale by TomGauld.)
The metal man faced the apparition, his faithful hound at
his side, and said…
