Writing is so important to me. I love doing it . . . I love feeling that what I did is good. In a perfect world, I'd be able to feel that way every time I wrote; in an almost-perfect world, I'd at least be able to write something every time I felt inclined to.
But alas! this world isn't even almost perfect, and there are times when I simply. cannot. write! Here are some activities I did during a recent 'bout of block.
1. Write fan fiction. I surprised myself by doing this, as I previously thought I was a non-fan fict type. But lo and behold, this writer likes to write with another writer's people and places! It's really fun to give them your own twist; and I love "fixing" the things I would've done differently. Delving into character's quirks and making your own for them is also fun. And words come quickly when you're not wondering about what's coming next, or details of the plot or setting.
2. Immerse yourself in your character's world. Only one catch: do it in your world. This is really good if you're writing sci-fi or fantasy, but it works for anything. I'm pretty young and inexperienced, so my main character is going through a lot of things I do not fully know about. And that inhibition can really affect my want to write. So I get to know what she's going through by imagining what I would feel like in her situation. I filled up 10 pages of note paper with my being a part of a rebellion in my neighborhood. So much fun to write about, and it's amazing how authentic imagined feelings . . . feel. ;)
3. Write something off a whim. For me, this means writing without knowing exactly what I'm writing. I don't quite equate this with freewriting, but it's a little similar. I use the first idea for a character that comes to mind, stick her/him in a vague setting, and let it fly. It's exciting.
4. Don't write. Stop feeling obligated to wring out the words that just aren't coming. Read a novel, play the piano, take pictures, go swimming. Be inspired, but don't hurt yourself in the process. :)
~~~~
Hope these were helpful! How do you conquer block?
~M
~M
5 comments:
Thanks so much for the tips, Margaret!!
I agree. Once I was extremely stuck, so I just started writing about Ren and a talking dragon, which turned out to be her best friend dressed up. It was only a couple paragraphs, REALLY dumb, and when I finished, I wasn't stuck anymore! It was like magic!
Fan-fic can be SO fun!! I wrote something for Sherlock Holmes once. At first, I felt like a cheat, but it did get my creative ideas flowing!
Great suggestions! I've never tried writing fan fiction when I'm stuck (actually, I really haven't written much fan fiction at all), but I've done all the others. I love writing on a whim. :D So fun! A lot of my best novel ideas originally sprang from characters invented in a random scene from my notebooks.
And the "Don't write" tip really works. Since I'm into both writing and art, I tend to switch back and forth between them. On days when I'm stuck in my novel, I do some drawing or painting or photography. When my big art project is giving me fits, I go back to my novel and write.
Great tips :) I like writing movie parallels when I get fed up with my main novel. I also love writing those spur of the moment stories that seem so beautiful at the time... I've got a blog for them now. Had to put them somewhere!
-Gwyn
thanks for the tips!!
Post a Comment