Recently I've found myself drying up during my writing hours. A few days ago during one of these times I picked up 'A Game of Thrones' and then put it down again to start writing because I felt inspired by George R. R. Martin's writing after just a few pages. Last night when I was writing and felt stuck I decided to take a break and read more of 'A Game of Thrones' but this time I analysed it and went to town on the pages of a chapter with a pencil and sticky-notes (Jon III, if you're wondering which chapter). I made notes on how GRRM makes his transitions from scene to scene and location to location, what he's doing in each section to introduce mood and display character's emotion, how he's gradually revealing more and more world building information through the character's memories. Of course these are all things we're aware of but rarely do I ever take the time to sit and analyse it like this to really pick apart what's making this book work so well. After this I went back to the beginning and did the same thing all over again with the opening chapter, since that's what I myself was struggling to write. I think when I'm finding myself stuck in a rut I'm going to keep coming back to this book and picking apart scenes like this - I find it really idea-inspiring and definitely motivating in terms of the quality of the writing craft itself...
What books do you turn to when you're drying up and need to give yourself a little boost? Are you into breaking it down on an analytical level to understand why the scenes are working so well or does just reading some of your favourite chapters/author's work get your creative juices flowing again?
Hugs
HaHs
What books do you turn to when you're drying up and need to give yourself a little boost? Are you into breaking it down on an analytical level to understand why the scenes are working so well or does just reading some of your favourite chapters/author's work get your creative juices flowing again?
Hugs
HaHs