![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarker Original Posting Sept. 29, 2018
Writer's Digest, September 1993, on pages 40 and 41, has an article by Andrea Carlisle with the title Reviving Stalled Stories. The subheading says, "Stories falter and die for many reasons. But here's one technique that can rev up your imagination – and restart your story."
Andrea starts out by sketching a common problem. One day you're happily writing, and then suddenly… You're not. Why? Well, often it's just a lack of creative spark, what Andrea calls creative nourishment. And, she suggests, crossing may be the trick that gets you going again.
(No, not crossing the beams. And despite the cartoon at the head of the article that shows battery cables on a manuscript, it's not jumpstarting, either.)
"Crossing is the willful, playful bringing together of elements (characters, events, locales) that the writer may not have considered as belonging together." Mix it up! Toss together what didn't happen with what did, maybe some real people meet the fictional people, real locales, whatever. It's what if!
Andrea recommends take a story that stalled! Maybe it had too much personal meaning, or maybe there's too much going on. Something stopped you.
Now, let's start with the story that is overloaded with personal meaning. You may be having trouble turning real characters into fiction
In this case, "crossing begins with making a list of both the characters and the events in your story. You then analyze this list and brainstorm ways to bring in new energy – new characters, settings, or events."
Number one. List the characters, and the events. Next, toss in some possible changes, some new possible characters, some new possible locales, some new possible events. Do any of them seem like the transformation you're looking for, the one that makes the story move and happen again?
Go ahead, let your characters, your events, shift and change as the new circumstances and characters mix in. Don't get carried away! Try crossing with one new element, one fictional person, place, or event, and see if that gets the story moving again. Look for something that he was likely to force your character up against some tough problems.
On the other hand, you may have a story where there's just too much happening. In this case, start by deciding what the theme of your story is, what is the one thing that your story is about. Now, you probably have too many characters, locales, and events going on! So you don't need to add in new elements exactly. But, you do want to start by making a list. Who are all the characters? Get rid of the extras. Then list all the events. Again, cut out the extras. Finally, cross your main character with events and people that bring the theme out.
Finally, Andrea suggests that you might use crossing to generate story ideas. Pretty simple, really. Instead of taking your list of characters and list of events from a story that isn't working, start by just brainstorming a list of characters and events that are interesting to you. Then, cross that with more characters and events. Real and imaginary people meeting, events crisscrossing, see what it suggest to you.
"Before a story can come alive for readers, it must first live for you. Crossing offers a way to nourish the life you're creating. Before you bury another piece without honors, try challenging your characters with someone, someplace, or something new. Then watch your story take on a life of its own."
There you go. Add a little more spice to your stone soup, and see what happens!
Writer's Digest, September 1993, on pages 40 and 41, has an article by Andrea Carlisle with the title Reviving Stalled Stories. The subheading says, "Stories falter and die for many reasons. But here's one technique that can rev up your imagination – and restart your story."
Andrea starts out by sketching a common problem. One day you're happily writing, and then suddenly… You're not. Why? Well, often it's just a lack of creative spark, what Andrea calls creative nourishment. And, she suggests, crossing may be the trick that gets you going again.
(No, not crossing the beams. And despite the cartoon at the head of the article that shows battery cables on a manuscript, it's not jumpstarting, either.)
"Crossing is the willful, playful bringing together of elements (characters, events, locales) that the writer may not have considered as belonging together." Mix it up! Toss together what didn't happen with what did, maybe some real people meet the fictional people, real locales, whatever. It's what if!
Andrea recommends take a story that stalled! Maybe it had too much personal meaning, or maybe there's too much going on. Something stopped you.
Now, let's start with the story that is overloaded with personal meaning. You may be having trouble turning real characters into fiction
In this case, "crossing begins with making a list of both the characters and the events in your story. You then analyze this list and brainstorm ways to bring in new energy – new characters, settings, or events."
Number one. List the characters, and the events. Next, toss in some possible changes, some new possible characters, some new possible locales, some new possible events. Do any of them seem like the transformation you're looking for, the one that makes the story move and happen again?
Go ahead, let your characters, your events, shift and change as the new circumstances and characters mix in. Don't get carried away! Try crossing with one new element, one fictional person, place, or event, and see if that gets the story moving again. Look for something that he was likely to force your character up against some tough problems.
On the other hand, you may have a story where there's just too much happening. In this case, start by deciding what the theme of your story is, what is the one thing that your story is about. Now, you probably have too many characters, locales, and events going on! So you don't need to add in new elements exactly. But, you do want to start by making a list. Who are all the characters? Get rid of the extras. Then list all the events. Again, cut out the extras. Finally, cross your main character with events and people that bring the theme out.
Finally, Andrea suggests that you might use crossing to generate story ideas. Pretty simple, really. Instead of taking your list of characters and list of events from a story that isn't working, start by just brainstorming a list of characters and events that are interesting to you. Then, cross that with more characters and events. Real and imaginary people meeting, events crisscrossing, see what it suggest to you.
"Before a story can come alive for readers, it must first live for you. Crossing offers a way to nourish the life you're creating. Before you bury another piece without honors, try challenging your characters with someone, someplace, or something new. Then watch your story take on a life of its own."
There you go. Add a little more spice to your stone soup, and see what happens!