Don’t say it; don’t think it. Don’t recognize it in any form. The term does not exist, and can really damage your creativity as a writer—if you let it inside your creative brain. Talk about a virus that can spread—it’s THOSE words.
Sometimes, we are overwhelmed by life, and need a break—a walk, a drive, some mental get-away—to refresh and “get back into the Mode.” Stories are everywhere, and so is learning…. I love to drive across the U.S., anywhere outside cities, and story ideas roll everywhere—if you open yourself to them. Sometimes that learning to catch story ideas takes a little nudge.
For example, there is a weather beaten windmill somewhere in Kansas. It’s missing a couple “paddles” or whatever is the proper term. As I pass, the car’s tires on the pavement, the wind hissing, I think about whomever lived nearby, their hardships and lives, that windmill a marker that they passed. Just looking at anything, studying it, asking questions will churn up a story idea. If I am brooding over a story’s turning point, I take a long drive on an Interstate. Other writers cook or garden etc. I’m looking at my mother’s doilies now, stories popping everywhere—and one of them is surely to be woven into one of my books.
I’m basically an artist, this since my first oil set at ten years old. I’m still painting—when I’m not writing, and studying movement and form, which is basically a story on canvas. But I studied writing—this after many rejects, many oh, woe is me. My kids remember me lying on the couch, listless and covered by an afghan—and they recognized the signs of yet another reject. And I studied, not formal classes, those were not available to me at that point in life.
Back in time, I took a college course in computer programming. Bingo! Ever heard of a “flow chart”? That’s how a story moves, the old IF/THEN that happens, or in the case of a twist, it goes somewhere else. A flow chart has a starting point with lots of little IF/THEN deviations down the line to The End. Characters react or don’t, as expected.
For anyone at the presentation point, here’s a basic: If your story is not in good basic shape when presented to an agent, editor or reader, so far as grammar, spelling etc., chances are slim that your story will get a really good look. Or if you’re an “Indie”, will the readers enjoy your stories? Take a look at all the copy editor info in the rear of Webster’s Dictionary, and if a historical writer, be aware of when that word/that thing was created. If you are lucky enough to have someone read your work, i.e. a good editor, pay attention to every red mark—the reason for it. What a learning experience that was for me!
I really, really studied—alone, taking apart my favorite authors’ works, their phrasing, movement, etc. and one of the basic things I learned for my own writing was that my story began on the second chapter. I learned that the five senses had to be in that character, to make them live. That the main characters needed a surrounding cast, good or bad. Matching characters, their goals, speech, attitudes, build the main characters. How they dress, their backgrounds, what they revere or dislike, revealed in that touch or expression, creates a living character. A character treasuring an item will stroke it—touch is so important. There’s the old standby for motives: Revenge, Possession, and Escape, built into those characters. We’re talking DEPTH here, people. Layers on layers.
A beloved memory just popped up and I must share with you: I remember frequently how a NY editor sang to me—this to establish when to take a chapter break: “The farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell…” she sang, and demonstrated that is when you take a breath—that is when you take a break in the chapter or mood—as in story crafting.
Stories are everywhere in your journey as a writer, and if you work it—study and open yourself to what you see and hear—you’ll be there.
But. Big But here…. If you use writer’s block as an excuse, fall into that pit, those stories—or what turn to take in a story—won’t come. Don’t say it, give it life, but ignore it. Just erase those words and never return to them, and evade those who count on that excuse. Look. Study. Think.
While promoting my current trilogy, Fresh Start, the stories of 3 women heading for new lives, I’m looking at finishing other stories that have waited (most writers have library of unfinished works), or a new story. Each of these Fresh Start women have individual stories, backgrounds and lives, and I hope you will enjoy them. You get an idea, you build a story. You work it. Period. And you don’t use THOSE WORDS as an excuse. Don’t think them, don’t speak and issue them into the air and let them live. You know Those Words. Never again….
@caitlondon #romance #emotionalcontemporary #womensfriendship #kindle #bookbub #womensfiction #smallruraltown #emotionalread. JUST YOU: JUST LOVE: JUST US:
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Cait London 