back in the saddle, sorta

I have a very simple prosses.

Step one) Get on my bike. Go for a nice long ride while listening to music on my I-pod. Either Jazz or Weird Al, either one works.

Step two) Have a nice long bath while reading one of my favoret books. Normally I choose one with prose I really like, a plot I like and good charicter interaction.

Step three) Go to be early and spent about an hour with your eyes closed, thinking about whatever crosses your mind. Eventually my mind starts comming up with ideas, most stupid, but most really good. But the real value of this step is that it just gets you thinking

Step four) Get out of bed nice and early and start to write. Stop occasionally to go to the bathroom.

When I'm stuck, it's usually because I've screwed something up in one of the previous few scenes. So I print those out and take them far, far away from my computer (coffee shop is best) and hand edit them, and figure out what I screwed up. Usually it's because I've planted a plot seed too soon, or forgotten to plant one. Sometime there's an entire scene missing and I didn't even realize it.

Then I interview the POV character for the next scene. If that character doesn't give me enough info, I interview a different character.

Walking helps too. My best ideas pop into my head when I'm walking or showering. Unless I'm drinking wine after 11:00 pm, the computer is a deadly place for ideas.

Well Sunna, when you figure it out, please let me know. I have the first complete with no nibbles, all rejections. I have the 2nd complete with a couple of nibbles; 2 partials and a full out, but no real bites yet. I did get a very personal rejection from a publisher letting me know of things I need to polish up on, so I count that as a major plus. However, I'm almost at the end of the 5th and final for a WIP. What takes priority? Obviously, if the publisher had requested things to be cleaned up in #2 and resubmit, I would. But the email suggestion nothing that could even be misconstrued as a request for a revision. So, again, what takes priority?
But for the first book I wrote? I decided to trunk it for a while, or at least until I get my other ideas on paper and shop them around. I'll come back to it later, when it calls me.

I generally read something brilliant or something lousy. Both inspire me and spark my creativity.

Just keep writing until it rights itselfs.

There are several very practical things you can do, which I will accredit Robert McKee for organizing. They all have to do with RESEARCH:

#1 : Memory: Central question: "What do I know from personal experience that touches on my characters' lives?" Look into your own lives! There is a wealth of experience and emotion from those memories to draw upon.

#2: Imagination: "What would it be like to live my character's life hour by hour, day by day?" The single greatest tool for a writer- do not use sparingly, and feel free to guide it with such questions as above.

#3: Fact: GO TO THE LIBRARY. For example, if you're writing a book centered around family, go and look up books that have researched into the dynamics of family life. this will 1) confirm, powerfully, what you already know, and 2) give you insights beyond your experience

A word of warning however- even though these are helpful methods to stimulate your creativity, be conscious of the lure of procrastination. Use the research to feed your imagination, not put it off. These methods, by the by, are incredible de-stressers- not because of the inevitable pumping of endorfins, but because of the joy of getting somewhere.. of making progress. These sorts of approaches- diving into your experience, your imagination, and the near-limitless ammounts of research materials at your disposal brings down barriers like no nature walk or long hot shower can. Concentrate your efforts, don't procrastinate, and let your imagination roar.

This sounds maybe a bit woo-woo, but it has worked for me when I've been truly stuck: think about the particular problem that's vexing you while you're drifting off to sleep at night. You may not wake up with The Complete and Perfect Answer, but during the following day you may well have a really useful insight or two.

It's a way, I guess, of posing a question to the "back brain," which seems to be a particularly fertile and useful part of the brain in writers.

Zoombie said:

I have a very simple prosses.

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Oh my... Your process sounds like my ideal vacation. It just needs a beach.
If I ever have two days to myself I'm totally going to try it!

Stuck

Like Devil Ledbetter, if I'm stuck it's always because I screwed up earlier in the novel, and usually in the opening. I have to go back and find the spot where I did something wrong.

Swap between WIPs, maybe? One could act as a palate cleanser for the other so that when you go back to it, you feel fresher and better able to tackle any faults that are there - in fact you'd probably be better able to see the faults in the first place! Works for me, anyway. Most of the time. Sometimes I waste writing time dithering over which WIP to work on!

Think through the story from the point of view of secondary characters, as if it were THEIR story. Things become clearer, inconsistencies get cleaned up and new plot developments suggest themselves.

Work on novel 2 is what I do. I am editing novel 1 and it gets frustrating after a few hours! I just try to think about something else and put it away until I think of something brilliant.

sunna7kore said:

So I'm sitting here trying to refrain from obsessivly editing WIP 1 and thoroughly stuck in WIP 2, which got me to wondering:
What do people do when the current WIP is going nowhere? Give it a rest, try something new, drink rum & coke until everything makes perfect, glorious sense?
I usually end up writing a scene that isn't happening until much later, or just stepping back for a few days if that doesn't work; door # 3 not really being an option until the weekend.
Any little tricks to share? Let's hear 'em.

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No rum, just coke.


Seriously, I try to read something in the same genre that I almost surely know will annoy the hell out of me. The reason is simple: I end up trying to think of how I would have done it. Usually that helps me come up with ideas for my own story, though not always the story in the novel I'm currently writing.

One note on this though: I write Urban Fantasy. There is a lot of stuff in there that is similar, but executed in a slightly different way depending on the author. So it's pretty easy there to ask yourself how you would handle a certain situation in a different way compared to the original author.

So I'm not sure if this will actually work in other genres. I do remember seeing the 'rewrite a scene from another novel' tip somewhere else before though.

ccarver30 said:

Work on novel 2 is what I do. I am editing novel 1 and it gets frustrating after a few hours! I just try to think about something else and put it away until I think of something brilliant.

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This one I also tried to do. But then I got great ideas about novel 3 and about novel 4 and so on.

So now I have enough setting and story hooks to fill 6 novels, but I still have no clue how to fill in the details in novel 1

Michael, just keep asking questions. Take a scene you've already written, figure out how each person in it feels about it, how they got there, what has changed for them, what decisions they will make because of it... Not all the answers will be worthy of inclusion in your story, but it will light up a few bulbs for you.

Michael Dracon said:

This one I also tried to do. But then I got great ideas about novel 3 and about novel 4 and so on.

So now I have enough setting and story hooks to fill 6 novels, but I still have no clue how to fill in the details in novel 1

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Apparently you and I should be best friends. I also have novel 3 and 4 (which ARE related to 1 and 2) then A and B are in the back of my head somewhere... sigh!

I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but if you're used to role-playing: You usually leave things to the characters. Well, become those characters. Do what they would do. I find when I start doing these things, I start getting almost more subplots than I can handle.

Don't forget description. I personally prefer it in small dabs, little bits of sensory data that help anchor the reader in the scene. Think of what all the senses would be registering and include a couple of those details. Man takes woman in his arms: what does her hair smell like? As a conversation progresses, does one character find his eyes fixed on the crack in the wall? That kind of stuff.

If you're only up to 10K, it really does sound like you need more story though. What else can the antagonist do to throw a wrench in the works? Or what can the protagonist do to sabotage himself? Or, show us why secondary character thinks of the whole mess and what he plans to do to get involved. Have him do it. And not work out. And then that mess has to be fixed.

These are just suggestions, and not necessarily the best, but I hope it helps at least a bit.

Judg said:

I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but if you're used to role-playing: You usually leave things to the characters. Well, become those characters. Do what they would do. I find when I start doing these things, I start getting almost more subplots than I can handle.

Don't forget description. I personally prefer it in small dabs, little bits of sensory data that help anchor the reader in the scene. Think of what all the senses would be registering and include a couple of those details. Man takes woman in his arms: what does her hair smell like? As a conversation progresses, does one character find his eyes fixed on the crack in the wall? That kind of stuff.

If you're only up to 10K, it really does sound like you need more story though. What else can the antagonist do to throw a wrench in the works? Or what can the protagonist do to sabotage himself? Or, show us why secondary character thinks of the whole mess and what he plans to do to get involved. Have him do it. And not work out. And then that mess has to be fixed.

These are just suggestions, and not necessarily the best, but I hope it helps at least a bit.

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I didn't expect someone to answer while I deleted my reply. I made it into its own thread to not hijack this one.