I’m not sure I believe in writers block. I think more about how hard editing is, writing is the easy part.
But that may be from my approach. Here is what I do, and most of you won’t like it.
When every I have an idea, I write it out, fast and horrible. And save it in my “dumb ideas” folder.
When I think I have a decent idea for a plot for a story, I start a new folder for it, and write wherever I can, even if it’s in the middle of the story. And I just write it. Even if it's just about the character, not the story. I just put all my thoughts out there and make sure I have them in writing so I can edit them later. And then I force myself to write something about it, every day, hopefully at least 2500 words a day, just write something. I try to think this belongs near the beginning, or end, or something, so I save it with a “001-100” number first and chapter title in the name I save it under that will at least remind me what it is, so I can go back later and adjust it.
I keep doing that, over and over, every day. Even if I know it’s garbage. I just write something about someone in the book or about the plot element I want. Every day, until I have at least 60,000 words somewhere in it. Usually, those ideas happen, and it's more than 60,000 words, so I keep going until I just can't think of anything. But I refuse to stop before that word count limit. I keep track of the WC in a spreadsheet, so I know the total of all the chapters I wrote.
Then, I stop and think about what I wrote. Usually, the plot and the important things will pop out to me when I consider them after writing a bunch of garbage. So then I outline the story, main plot, sub plots, and write up character resumes. They should all be completely clear now and it should work out ok.
After that, I can go back to edit, and not worry so much about writing anything new. It’s all there now, I just have to put it in order, and make it all fit. I think, well this guy's personality wouldn't have said this THAT way, I need to change it to how he thinks. I think, well I can't reveil that now, that comes later. I think I need to sprinkle in more queues to the thing that's building here, earlier. It's all about editing at that point.
It’s a LOT of work, totally inefficient, and sometimes I have to move who did what to totally different characters, cut out huge sections, and rewrite whole chapters. But at that point, I know what I want to happen, and how it has to work. So, even though it’s all editing and rewriting in the end, I can make it all work out like the final, clear vision I have of the story.
Like I said, not the best or most efficient idea. And it creates a huge amount of work to go through the process that way. But I’ve never had writers block when I do things that way. You just write, and write, and write, not caring if it’s crap. Then in the end, you start to crystalize what you want the story to be, and all you have to do is edit everything to make it work.
But, on the good side, I have each chapter in the folder, and I can move them around easy. And I can pull out good scenes and chapters from my "dumb ideas" folder and dump them into the thing I'm working on, and just have to edit the names, places, and things to make them fit. I usually end up with more, not less, in the edits, and the word count usually goes up, not down.
Often, I have to add new chapters, tie-ins, things that make it work. Totally new stuff. But at that point, I know what needs to be there, so I know what I want to write there, and there is no writers block involved at all, I just tie it all together.
Then again, the first few times I tried this were when years ago, and I still hate the stories. But I think that's because I didn't quite know how to put together an interesting plot back then. And I think, if I go back to them now, I might be able to rework them into something better.
So, good way to write? No. Efficient? No. But, writers block? No ;-)
But that may be from my approach. Here is what I do, and most of you won’t like it.
When every I have an idea, I write it out, fast and horrible. And save it in my “dumb ideas” folder.
When I think I have a decent idea for a plot for a story, I start a new folder for it, and write wherever I can, even if it’s in the middle of the story. And I just write it. Even if it's just about the character, not the story. I just put all my thoughts out there and make sure I have them in writing so I can edit them later. And then I force myself to write something about it, every day, hopefully at least 2500 words a day, just write something. I try to think this belongs near the beginning, or end, or something, so I save it with a “001-100” number first and chapter title in the name I save it under that will at least remind me what it is, so I can go back later and adjust it.
I keep doing that, over and over, every day. Even if I know it’s garbage. I just write something about someone in the book or about the plot element I want. Every day, until I have at least 60,000 words somewhere in it. Usually, those ideas happen, and it's more than 60,000 words, so I keep going until I just can't think of anything. But I refuse to stop before that word count limit. I keep track of the WC in a spreadsheet, so I know the total of all the chapters I wrote.
Then, I stop and think about what I wrote. Usually, the plot and the important things will pop out to me when I consider them after writing a bunch of garbage. So then I outline the story, main plot, sub plots, and write up character resumes. They should all be completely clear now and it should work out ok.
After that, I can go back to edit, and not worry so much about writing anything new. It’s all there now, I just have to put it in order, and make it all fit. I think, well this guy's personality wouldn't have said this THAT way, I need to change it to how he thinks. I think, well I can't reveil that now, that comes later. I think I need to sprinkle in more queues to the thing that's building here, earlier. It's all about editing at that point.
It’s a LOT of work, totally inefficient, and sometimes I have to move who did what to totally different characters, cut out huge sections, and rewrite whole chapters. But at that point, I know what I want to happen, and how it has to work. So, even though it’s all editing and rewriting in the end, I can make it all work out like the final, clear vision I have of the story.
Like I said, not the best or most efficient idea. And it creates a huge amount of work to go through the process that way. But I’ve never had writers block when I do things that way. You just write, and write, and write, not caring if it’s crap. Then in the end, you start to crystalize what you want the story to be, and all you have to do is edit everything to make it work.
But, on the good side, I have each chapter in the folder, and I can move them around easy. And I can pull out good scenes and chapters from my "dumb ideas" folder and dump them into the thing I'm working on, and just have to edit the names, places, and things to make them fit. I usually end up with more, not less, in the edits, and the word count usually goes up, not down.
Often, I have to add new chapters, tie-ins, things that make it work. Totally new stuff. But at that point, I know what needs to be there, so I know what I want to write there, and there is no writers block involved at all, I just tie it all together.
Then again, the first few times I tried this were when years ago, and I still hate the stories. But I think that's because I didn't quite know how to put together an interesting plot back then. And I think, if I go back to them now, I might be able to rework them into something better.
So, good way to write? No. Efficient? No. But, writers block? No ;-)
