Writer’s Block-Age

By P.A.Thompson

So, looking over my stories on CC, I realized that I’ve been working on my WiP for two years now. And I haven’t finished the first draft.

There are lots of reasons (excuses) for this. None of which are valid for just not getting it done.

I don’t outline, at least not this story. It started from a writing prompt and grew into a short story that grew into a novel. So, being a developmental (pantser) writer I didn’t think I knew exactly where the story was going. Okay, I was positive that I didn’t know where the story was going.

I’m a slow and thoughtful writer. I have to have the scene clear in my head before I can write it.

Summer. Time to work on the house and yard, and family visits.

After all that FUN interruption, I decided to set myself a hard goal, which I haven’t done before. And not just set a goal for me…but let people know about it. It’s called accountability! I have to write at least 500 words a day. I announced this on the Progress Report thread on CC and in the unofficial CC chat. It’s out there!

And I feel a sense of success…sort of…so far. The first three days I accomplished the goal and last night I failed. But I did put in a LOT of time and thought about where to go next and how. My WIP is closing in on the climax — lots of threads to untangle, lots of details to map — so it needs a lot of thought. I have some good ideas and I bounced them off my wife and received good feedback.

Maybe today 1000+ words.

On a related subject, I’ve always been a morning writer (and worker), but with setting a word goal for the day I found myself writing late at night the first night. My morning writing session hadn’t really moved me as forward as I’d hoped. That was an interesting switch.

Normally in the late evening I’m too tired to think, much less write. But that night, with the change in my setting, I got on a minor roll and cranked out the verbiage I needed. Verbiage not really being the right word, because I did useful writing.

The house was quieter, none of the usual distractions. The dogs were tired and slept at my feet, wondering why I was still up. The darkness of the night outside, along with night sounds that are calming as opposed to day sounds that are distracting. These all worked to enhance my writing environment.

I liked it. So I tried it the next two night. Success.

But last night, as I’ve said, I burned out getting words on the page, but I’m really okay with that because the time I did spend in my head, I spent it spinning out my story lines.

My point here, I think, is that sometimes changing your writing habits can help you break through whatever block you’ve run into.

Thoughts?

I’m Not Dead

by  Amber P.

Hello again. I used to never miss a blog day. Then I started missing a few here and there, and, one day, I stopped writing all together.

It’s strange how it happened. I was editing a second draft of my WIP, and I broke through some of the slow pre-climax chapters. I was in an editing frenzy, getting through a chapter or more per day, and I got right up to the climax. Then, the next day, I got up and had no interest anymore. I was right where all the crazy action, reveals, and betrayals started spinning one after another. It should have been the coolest part to write… so why did I suddenly not want to think about the novel at all anymore?

And it got bad. I didn’t want to think about the novel. I tried starting a fresh story to take my mind off things. The writing looked nice, the scene was interesting, but I fizzled out and lost interest in that, too. Then I stopped wanting to think about writing at all.

I need some more Advil…

Hi again!

I’m going to come clean — I mayyy have gone a little too hard on the fourth of July partying over the weekend. Not as hard as some, apparently, but I’ve still got myself a healthy patriotic hangover that would do the Founding Fathers proud.

USA! USA! USA! US… *THUNK*
(Photo courtesy of, appropriately enough, pophangover.com)

In other words… I… uh… I don’t have an article prepared. I had a topic I wanted to write about, but I’m going to save it for my next post because I don’t think I can do it justice tonight. Instead, I’m going to recommend that everyone read this article by Matthew Weiner, writer and producer of Mad Men. Even if you’ve never seen the show (I haven’t), it’s totally worth a read. He describes the setbacks and successes (spoiler alert: mostly setbacks) he’s encountered so far in his writing journey.

The closing paragraph in particular struck a chord with me:

“The greatest regret I have is that, early in my career, I showed myself such cruelty for not having accomplished anything significant. I spent so much time trying to write, but was paralyzed by how behind I felt. Many years later I realized that if I had written only a couple of pages a day, I would’ve written 500 pages at the end of a year (and that’s not even working weekends).”

Often, disappointment in our own writing output — whether it be in terms of quality, quantity, or both — can breed further procrastination. When we associate sitting down to write with feelings of failure and inadequacy, we train our minds to dread the process. That’s poison to creativity. It’s not always easy (okay, it’s never easy), but let’s try to be patient with ourselves. Let’s forgive ourselves for our less-than-productive days, and start our next writing session fresh. Our work (and what’s left of our sanity!) will be the better for it.

‘Til next time,
-C. Theuner

Writing Psychology

by:   Keith M.

Sometimes I feel like writing is something I can understand.  Like, not just . . . read written words and understand them . . .  well, I can do that, too . . . but . . . I mean, I feel like I know how to write, and what makes writing effective or ineffective.  I might need practice and more experience, but I understand the process.  I can grasp what it takes.  That makes it seem possible that I could actually someday become quite good at it.   Like anything else, it takes time and dedication.

Other times, it’s a total fucking mystery, and it seems like a totally pointless exercise to even try.  There is no “good” writing, there is no “improvement,” and there sure as hell isn’t any process that gets you to an endpoint where you have a finished, polished product.

My recent writer’s block (if that’s what you want to call it) stems from that.  I’ve got a novella that still needs revising and polishing.  I’ve made it through a couple of read-throughs, and I’ve received feedback from others who have given some chapters a look.   I’ve got some ideas for new WIPs, too.  Possibly some vehicles for implementing my idea of writing a more character-centered, non-action short story as a writing exercise like I mentioned in my last post.

Last Friday, I was very excited about one of these new ideas.  My mind kept playing around the concept, and I even started developing some characters.  I figured I should capitalize on this excited energy and get to work on it.  I was borderline giddy about the idea and how much promise it had.  I spent about 2 or 3 hours working on the world, characters, a few scene set-ups, and more characters.  By Monday, I was wondering whether there was a fucking point to any of it.

My personality is not usually this bi-polar, and doesn’t normally go to such extremes.  So, this seems like a totally strange reaction for me.  Granted, I am not trying to be a career-writer like some of my colleagues.  And thank God, because I’m quite certain I would starve.  But even for a hobby, I feel like I should be more productive than this.  I don’t need to be prolific, but at the very least I feel like I shouldn’t be repulsed at the thought of writing, or think that it is a total waste of time.

Or maybe that’s something that everyone deals with?   I tend to think not, but I suppose I could be wrong.

Don’t Fret—Plug in a Gizmo

by S.A. Spencer

The blank screen equals an empty mind. What to do when you can’t start a project, write a scene, develop a character, or face any other writing monsters with slobbering sharp teeth and a roar of foul breath emanating from the computer?

We’ve all been there. Don’t panic. Focus.

Time to dip into your writers’ tool box for your favorite power gizmo and plug it in. What are these gizmos? That’s up to you. Now, assuming you are learning your craft, you are taking classes, reading books and blogs on the art of writing, and getting feedback from your writing partners. (If you aren’t doing these, no wonder you’re panicking, but a different topic.) Some of these suggestions spoke you, tingled your brain, and put your universe in order as you read them. You’ve taken notes, highlighted them in your Kindle, put them in your Scrivener file, for later reference. (Again, if you haven’t, of course you’re panicking.)

If you’re like most people, your memory isn’t eidetic, so you forgot a few points. You know how to find it. The next time a panic attack grips your striated muscles as you face your demons, don’t go play golf or wash the dishes, or whatever you do to procrastinate. Plug in a gizmo.

It happened to me before I wrote this blog. I used “Now Write! Screenwriting Exercise: Write Cinematic Scenes” By Steve Duncan to transform my blank screen into a scene. Click on this link and go there.*

Tell me about your gizmos in the “Comments” section.

*No, I’m not writing a script. A crit partner awhile back suggested a book about script writing called Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder to help my novel. I thank him for that. In fact, I found Steve Duncan’s suggestions from a class on “Script Writing” by William Rabkin at my usual http://www.Ed2go.com, which I take at a huge discount through my library.

Writers hanging with Writers

By P.A.Thompson

Good or Bad?

My actual writing experience began by hanginaround with a few friends at the Matrix and getting sucked into participating in NaNoWriMo.

So, hooked I was (and am). Turned out the Matrix was the meeting place for the Lewis County Writers Guild (LCWG), and I joined that group. Soon after, their monthly meeting’s topic was: Read From Your Own Work. This consisted of getting up on stage at the Matrix, microphone and all, and reading a selection of your own writing.

“If you don’t have time to read…”

by     D.M. Gutierrez

 

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.  ― Stephen King

 

I haven’t had time to write. I’ve barely had time to read lately. So I have loaded up my audiobook players with books of all sorts and am plowing through them. I read all of Mo Hayder’s Jack Caffery series, from Birdman (no, not the award-winning (why??) movie) to Wolf (no, nothing to do with King’s The Talisman (which I started reading again)) and then zipped through Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects (good, but disturbing like Mo Hayder’s books).

I then moved on to Tana French’s detective series, starting with In The Woods (which was riveting, and now I’m reading the second one, The Likeness, which is slower but still good). I’m also reading a MG/YA reader called The False Prince, and Stephen King’s Revival. All these books were recommended to me by friends who write and who write (and read) in all different genres.

“I have a dream”… and it involves PoV.

By P.A.Thompson

Actually, the tense is incorrect in the title. I had a dream last night that gave me the idea for this post.

But, to go back off topic, the title of this post gives me another idea for another post. I could write about the dreams of all of us unpublished authors. The dream of this and that and other fantasy’s we all live by. Rich and famous, loved and adored, snooty and condescending… or at least published and someone other than friends and family have bought your book.

And now for something completely different, back on topic.

How to Flash People

By: A. Whitt

I am now sharing Tuesdays with my partner in crime Kathleen ‘Swat’ Sawisky as we attempt to live up to the unattainably high standards set by the regular Crackin’ the WIP bloggers and try not to get crumbs on the couch.

I’ve been flashing for a couple years now. It started innocently enough, I saw the opportunity and thought I can do that. I didn’t strut forward, chin held high, instead I crept, uncertain, anxious over how I’d be received. And you know what? I’m glad I did. I won my first flash fiction contest and it stands as one of the best experiences of my writing career to date. The flash fiction contests I partake in generally require you to write a story in 100 words or less incorporating 5 prompt words. I was surprised at all the benefits that came from writing 100-word stories. Like twitter, it forces you to be concise and cut every ounce of fat. It also teaches you what a story is: you need a beginning, a middle and an end, you need at least one character, and you need to establish setting. Here are my tips for getting the most out of your flash fiction:

• Put concept before prompt words. I had been toying with the idea of writing a story about a blind locksmith when I encountered a contest with the prompt word click, that would be easy to fit in and even if some of the other words were trickier (shoulder, beautiful) I knew I had the right words for my concept. Some of my best pieces have came from bending the words to fit a great concept.
• Use an unusual MC. If the character is going to drive your story, make sure you pick a good one. I’ve written from the perspective of a graffiti artist, a bug, and even a book.
• Set a firm tone. Voice can be hard to maintain in a 80k novel, but you should be able to absolutely nail it in 100 words.
• Use strong verbs. Did they step forward or did they creep? Did she take his hand or did she seize it? Every word counts and they should all drive home your vision as hard as possible.
• Flip the prompt words, particularly if you’re participating in a contest. If you get words like dark, lock, and escape, the last thing you should be writing about is a prison. Everyone else is writing about a prison. Instead try a light-hearted piece about a three-year old with locks of dark hair who’s trying to escape from daycare.
• Use secondary definitions. Like ‘lock’ of hair above, or consider using ‘lock’ as a verb, she locked her fingers together. Everyone else will be picking locks and locking cells and you’ve set yourself apart.
• Practice metaphors and similes. Flash fiction is perfect for this. When you get a word that doesn’t fit into your story try using it figuratively. Once I had the word snowman, in a story that was set in a hot summer day. I used it to describe a character as ‘cool as a snowman’.

Flash fiction allows writers to master skills that can be extrapolated out into larger works. It’s a great forum to test out a concept, discover a great metaphor, or practice voice and mood. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and flash someone.

What If …?

by S.A. Spencer

What if…? A great question to use to craft your premise — what your book is about.

In Steve Alcorn’s book, How to Fix Your Novel, he suggests the following template for your book’s premise: “What if a (flawed protagonist) (encountered some problem) and had to (overcome the flaw) to (solve the problem)?”

He gives an example of the premise of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: “What if a young boy who lacked confidence in himself faced an evil power and had to believe in himself in order to defeat it?”

That’s how I created the premise for my WiP, Electric Minds: What if an uncertain young man discovered he must embrace his destiny in order to free his enslaved planet from its king and had to gain confidence in order to defeat him? Now I have my protagonist’s inner and outer journey.

It’s a great question for more than the premise though, since it can generate more ideas for your novel. For example, in Electric Minds, what if a human genetic mutation created a new species? What if the new species enslaved humans? What if a group of humans and non-humans left Earth for freedom, but crashed on an inhabited planet? What if the Earth king’s son was on board?

The companion question is, “and then what happened?” Well, he enslaved the whole planet.

It’s a great way to generate ideas when you’re first conceiving your story. What if…? for the whole story, what if…? for Act I, II, and III. And then what happened? to complete scenes within acts. Make sure your answers relate to the story question, character motivations, and scene goals .Use these questions to make a loose outline or a detailed one. These are good questions when you are stuck in that long Act II, or anywhere else along the way. 

What if you asked, “What if…?