I tried doing the same thing I suggested Chai to do-- to write a scene that I had a vague idea on how it would be. I tried doing so, but the result did not make me feel any better. Basically I tried writing just a rough draft. The "scene" started out slightly different than what I had in mind--I got new ideas while I wrote-- but other than that, I didn't get anything out of it. I can imagine the scene in my head, sort of write, but nothing that would be wordy satisfactory. What do you do when you can't seem to find how to describe a scene? Just try again in a different approach?
Any suggestions?
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4 comments:
actually, write what you are seeing even if it doesn't fit where you are in the story and doesn't fit the story. If you have some thoughts and feel you need to write them - write them and get them out of the way - when you edit later, you can remove the parts you know don't fit the story or improve them -- also those pieces you write but don't feel are good enough for the story you are working on may fit something else so don't get rid of them, just write them and if they need to go somewhere, they will find a home eventually - whether it is somewhere else in the current piece or another story - it will happen.
Another thing to do is - get a cheap kitchen timer - set it for 10 minutes, write like crazy during tht 10 minutes, then when it goes off, get up and do something for 10 minutes (again set the timer) just do something not writing related and when the timer goes off, come back and do the same thing again - just write like crazy - doesn't matter if you are writing fluently or not - just write - do this through several sessions (and you can do 15 minute sessions or whatever works for you) and you will find that those breaks away have you thinking about what it is you want to write or need to write and when you come back to do the writing you are writing what you had been thinking about while taking a walk or doing dishes or throwing a load of laundry in the washer or whatever you do for those 10 or 15 minute breaks
Something else a friend suggests is this - keep a "wild journal" - if you are drawing a blank on your current piece, don't write on it - instead pull out your journal and pick a random noun and just write on that noun for 5 or 10 minutes - whatever comes to mind on that noun and just write away - you never know what may spawn off from that few minute writing - a whole new story or something to fit into the current wip -
Not that I've followed this advice because I've only officially written one novel and that was done during NaNo (and a bit beyond - so it worked out - the story is completed)
NaNo style writing works too - set a goal of a number of words you want to write in a week or two weeks or a month (NaNo works on 50,000 words in 30 days - the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days during the whole month of November and although it is not a completed novel, it is better than half completed and getting to the end fo the novel will come soon thereafter) -- set your goal and just write, don't think about what you are writing about - if it is crud, so be it - all that will get fixed in the editing/revising/rewriting - that's what my friends tell me - don't worry about getting the most perfect piece down first, that isn't the goal - if it's not exactly what you had in mind, it can be removed - so keep track of what you are writing on a daily basis (set a daily goal to do 3 pages) and before you know it you have jumped over that block and probably written more than you thought and a lot of what you needed for the story to move forward -
hope these help - and I'm sharing some postlets (from the short mystery forum) with Chai and she is welcome to share with you - the president of the group is giving us some words of wisdom on the postings and they are quite informative - another perspective of things to do for different things - E :)
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I might just try all of these next week. Hope it helps. :)
Please keep me posted as to what works for you - remember we have to do what works for us and keep moving - E :)
Sorry I haven't seen this post earlier.
Elysabeth's gigantic comment, lol, is a lot of help, more than I can give you, really.
Let's see, what works for me when I am blocked...well, most people would say, "stay away from the story for a while and then come back to it." But this doesn't work for me. it makes me sad because I am not writing.
So, a couple suggestions:
1) try to write the scene the best you can, just try
2) try to approach the scene from different angles
3) try writing the scene from a different person's POV, and then go back to the original one and see what the new POV has helped you discover/figure out
4) the timer approach that Elysabeth said
5) Skip ahead to a scene you have more clearly in your head and write that one
6) Listen to music to inspire you
You know what, I was blocked for a while, about a week back. I didn't know what to write next. I knew that certain key things had to happen though. So, I decided, one character is going help my main character. I didn't know how. But I just started writing about that other character, and suddenly, the connection was there, and things were happening. I wasn't blocked anymore, because I had ideas that were coming from the new character.
So sometimes, the problem is that you are focusing on one character too much. Your brain doesnt feel like writing that character, or you feel like you dont have ideas for that character. So it helps sometimes to just pick another character, and write about them. Anything. I started writing about a lady who works in the palace kitchens, and now all of a sudden, it was my MC on the rooftop of the palace facing 3 magicians that could kill her. See? One kitchen lady has become the catalyst for important story events, just by simply writing the sentence, "I saw the kitchen lady that day."
So, sometimes it really pays off to experiment. It may feel scary, like jumping off a cliff into the unknown, but it can help.
Also, as you have done, talking to people about your troubles does help. Don't feel weird about approaching your dad, telling him the situation, and asking for suggestions. It's amazing what other people can come up with for your story that you might never have thought of. (we knows this from talking about Maugre, how much help you've given me).
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