Often times when writing fiction, you’ll find yourself in a spot where the next step isn’t apparent. If you have an outline, it might give you a vague direction, but the next scene or character action is a mystery. For those writing from the seat of their pants, this usually stops you dead in the water. Momentum is lost while you drift along, wondering why the muse has abandoned you.
When you encounter this situation there’s a lot of advice on how to beat it. Raymond Chandler recommended "When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand." Some tell you to go back to your outline and play with the pieces like chess. Others say keep hammering out words till the story tells you where to go.
Like I mentioned in my previous post (Unfocused Life, Unfocused Blog), it feels like things have stopped dead in the water for me personally and creatively. My man with a gun lives in North Carolina, so a cross country trip is out of the question. If life had an outline I could refer to, I think things in general would be much easier. So that leaves me with option three, keep hammering it out.
For the month of October I’m going to try something new. To get over this hump and hopefully start moving things in the right direction, I’ll be post 3 times a week for the entire month. The general idea is Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but as long as it’s 3 times on separate days between Sunday and Saturday, I’ll have met my goal. Maybe a jackhammer of words will break through wall, allowing me to see where I’m going creatively or maybe the words themselves will reveal to me what I’m missing with my own two eyes. Either way, something’s gotta give.
Now that my goal has been released into the wild, feel free to follow along and see if I discover what I’m looking for. If you’re going through a similar journey, how are you working through it?
Related posts: (Auto Generated)
- Writing Goals Saying you’re a writer is not the same as being...
- How Do You Drive Yourself If The Tank’s Out of Gas? As you can tell from the tumbleweeds around here I’ve...
- The Dust Settles I wasn’t sure what to expect after writing my last...
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Very good. Everything moves in steps and everything is preparation for the next step.