The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 22 September 2009

Writer's Digest, December 2006, pages 41 and 42 have an article by Elizabeth Sims with the title, "Start Me Up." The focus is on three different ways to help get yourself through slow times, blocks, bogged down writing that just doesn't seem to want to go. OK? Here we go...

1. Random sentence kick start

When you can't even get started, try this:

1. Go to your bookshelf, close your eyes, pick a book at random. Fiction, poetry, nonfiction -- it doesn't matter.
2. Open the book to a random page. Your eyes are still closed, right?
3. Now open your eyes.
4. Read the first sentence you see.
5. Put the book back.
6. Make that sentence the basis of what you write next. Just let it fly.

Don't worry about whether you're writing good stuff or throwaway, let it get your story going. See what it tells you about your story, your characters, their problems...

2. Spelunking your sewers

Dragging writing often means tired imagination. Adding a dash of nasty, some horror and fascination, can spice things up. So take a look inside...

"Think about something you did that was horrible and that you're not sorry for. That's powerful stuff. Write about it. Now think about something you did that was horrible and that you're ashamed of. There's power there, too. Think about writing a story about that shameful thing from a sympathetic point of view."

Pretend you're the school bully. Write about that. What made you mad? What made you act like that? What was your favorite way to make people hurt? Were you ever sorry?

Have you been someone's scapegoat? Who should suffer for that? How?

Write some answers to these kinds of questions, then go back to your work in progress. You'll probably see ways to deepen your characters, things that can add dynamic actions. Digging into your emotions, your experiences, your fears and desires can give you insights you can use to wake up that tired imagination.

3. Cross-cultural quarrel (a.k.a. the odd couple)

Flat dialogue, boring characters? Take some opposites, put them together, and let them argue. If you're in the middle of a work in progress, use characters from there. Take the ones that you wouldn't think would meet -- the drug dealer and the university professor, or whoever. Put them in a setting -- maybe they have a car accident, they're stuck at a bridge collapse, or they're just sitting together in a bar. Start an argument.

Sample questions? What just happened to you? What are you going to do about it? Why do you think you can get away with that? Who was the last person you kissed?

Or if your own characters are just too dull, grab some characters from somebody else's books. Again, taking them from very different worlds works best.

"How does all this feel? Disheveled and a little silly? Good! That's the point: to get your brain to a place where your inner editor gives up and leaves. When you get your writing going, keep it going. Press it. Be aggressive. When you stop, you'll feel confident about producing fresh work, because you'll have just done some."

Kick yourself with a random sentence, dig around inside yourself, and battling characters. Three quirky, fun ways to get yourself going out of the doldrums. Pick a sentence, dredge your emotional sewage out, and get those arguments going.

Write!