Writer’s Block – Guest Post

Today I have a great guest post from Terry Compton (a fellow Ink Slinger’s Anthology author – look for that to be released October first).

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Writer’s Block

Or maybe just a slight impediment

writer’s block can feel like a brick wall

That blank computer screen just sits there and stares back at you.  Words flit through your brain but not words that will make your next scene come alive.  What do you do to break this?  I’d like to share a couple of ideas that work for me and then see what others do.

I usually have two sorts of blocks; too many possibilities or the transition from the scene I’ve just finished to the new one in my head.  I should tell you that I’m a seat of the pants writer.  You know, the one who has an opening scene and a vague idea of where you want the story to go.  The characters then drag you around in their big adventure.  I don’t know if these techniques will help those who outline their story but anything is worth a shot if you’re not getting words down.

I’d like start off by saying that I learned these tricks at the local authors’ group.  I don’t know a dangling participle from a dangling worm.  Oh, wait, one of them has to do with fishing.  I do know about that, but back to the subject.  One of the members of the group has been involved in screen writing and other types of writing for over twenty-five years.  He says there is only one cardinal rule in writing:  DON’T BORE YOUR READER.  Now let’s look at my two problems with that in mind.

How can too many possibilities be a block?  Sometimes after your protagonist (or even your antagonist) has finished a task in your latest scene, it will seem like they stand at a crossroads with five or six different paths ahead.  Which path do you choose?  Should they go to the beautiful beach to improve their sun tan?  Maybe press ahead to the next task in their adventure, or do they need to meet the latest heart throb?  And so on and so on.

What I’ve learned is to go back to your storyline.  Where is your character going?  What is their driving goal?  Are they too exhausted and beat up to continue?  Do they need to go to that beach to recuperate?  I’m trying to look through the DBYR filter more.  My sub-conscious sometimes quits throwing ideas out and I suddenly realize its saying, “Ho hummm.  Borrrring.”  Consequency, it’s time to go back and move your character in the most direct route along the storyline to the end goal.

Unless you’re adding a twist.  Then maybe they need to go to that beach to get such a bad sunburn that they will be handicapped in the next part of their adventure.  Or step on that poisonous jelly fish that will leave them hopping on one leg as they continue.

Go back a few pages and look at where they have been and what they were doing.  Come up with something that threatens or impedes them but keep them striving for the goal they need to reach.  Look through the DBYR filter and follow what your sub-conscious is saying.

But what about that transition scene between completing the dangerous task and getting to the character’s big wedding two days from now?  How do you bridge scenes like that which are so completely different?

Look at your character.  What have they been doing?  What is their state of mind?  Are they totally exhausted and beat six ways from Sunday.  Maybe they need the rest but maybe not all they’ll need.  Maybe they find out there’s a general transportation strike that will keep them from their destination.  How can they make it?  Or go back to the jelly fish and sunburn.  How will they ever be able to function at the wedding without being able to wear clothes or hopping on one foot?

Are they exuberant and ready to go?  Then it’s time to add trials and tribulation to their lives.  Readers want to worry about your characters.  Can they make the wedding or is the former suiter going to lock the church so your character can’t get in?  During the transition, keep your character under duress and stress.  If they aren’t, put them there.  A reader (or your sub-conscious) worrying about your character won’t get bored.

DBYR can be a great filter for any sort of block.  Look at how many obstacles your antagonist, weather, outside forces or even character flaws can put in the way.  Make sure the character is trying their best to go in the most direct route to their goal.  Unless they need a side trip to add a twist to the plot, then make sure there is a logical cause for these things to happen.  If the character is going to the beach after stopping the bank robbery, why?  Did their boss send them away?  Did they get a reward?

If you’re blocked, think of a list of obstacles.  Keep adding to them each day and then put your character through the wringer.  Good-bye block, hello happy reader and sub-conscious.

What do you do to overcome your block?

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Terry Compton has raced stock cars, rode horses across the Scapegoat Wilderness, fished and hunted most of his adult life while working at several different jobs. He is an Air Force veteran and served in the Air National Guard for several years. He is currently the owner, chief welder and installer for an ornamental iron business where he has made several award winning metal creations and is now turning this creativity to writing.

Terry loves to read science fiction, westerns and mystery stories. Some of his favorite authors are Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Andre Norton, Poul Anderson, Robert Heinlein, Louie L’Amour, Zane Grey and Anne McCaffery. He is currently learning about ‘indie’ authors who are publishing e-books.

Terry currently lives in Montana with his wife and a dog who thinks she is a short furry people.

New Year Changes

I stepped into the New Year with trepidation as I awaited the installer of our new television and Internet provider to arrive. Is it not funny how these small-life changes can throw us for a loop?

Well, it did for me. Change was in the air and was it really going to be better as the new carrier suggested? I was apprehensive. We had used our previous providers for many years and were happy with both until recently.

I awoke at 5 a.m. to a blistering-cold morning of one degree. Would he come as promised on this chilly day?

But he arrived and got right to work. A pleasant man who knew his business. Within a couple of hours, I looked at my living room, where wires had stretched for years beside my couch and now I could clean behind it. Besides that, I no longer had to lock our downstairs-bedroom door to keep the cat from playing with the wires in there.

I also no longer had to fret over the modem. Would I have to restart the computer or unplug it today? Relief swept over me. I never realized how all these years these items gave me such anxiety. Now, I felt liberated and in the process I have better television with the program I missed and a faster Internet.

As the man said as he grasped the wires: “What I have in my hand is old technology.” He was right. I needed a change.

This also is true of authors. We get into our grooves and routines and forget to try new things. Last year, I tried something new – the anthology, Bride by Arrangement, with Ruth Ann Nordin. This endeavor allowed me to reach a different audience through my story, She Came by Train. Ruth Ann Nordin and I plan another anthology – a follow-up on last year’s – and my goal is to write book two – a follow-up on Courtships and Carriages – in the Great Plains series.

In addition, I am excited about writing again. I renewed that interest after the busy Christmas activity. I needed a break. Winter also puts you in the mood to write and sit by a fireplace, if you have one. I have one close but not near enough to curl up on a sofa and write. However, it does keep me cozy and keeps my fingers warm enough to type even if my work is gibberish at times. Ha! Ha!

It also makes for a great time to clean up your office and get rid of old files and rearrange your office. Without that modem sitting next to my computer, I was able to wipe away the dust where it used to lie and even that small step gave me pleasure.

When you throw away your old calendar, make sure you replace it with something inspirational to keep you excited about writing. I replaced my office-wall calendar with a calendar portraying a variety of paintings, including January’s winter scene with gray skies, cardinal birds perched on a white fence with a church in the background. The scene fills me with peace and awe in the Creator’s majesty.

Well to wrap up, remember to embrace the future and the change it brings, and I wish you the best in your 2015 writing career. God bless.

Stuck For An Idea?

We’ve all been there at some point or another. We want to write, but nothing comes to us. Everything that does come to mind seems trite, boring, maybe even repetitive or used up. At times we stare at the blank page for hours on end, willing an idea for a story or a poem or an article to come to us. When nothing comes, we doubt ourselves as writers and we wonder if maybe we’ll never have a good idea again.

The good news is, there are ways to get the creative juices flowing again. And none of them involve sitting in front of a computer or notebook for hours hoping an idea will just pop up. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Instead of worrying about the problems you are dealing with, psychologists recommend finding something else to focus on. It’s not entirely clear why, but when the mind is unfettered and is free to roam or hone in on something other than a problem you’re dealing with, a solution often presents itself to you just when you least expect it.

When I’m stuck for an idea or experiencing writer’s block, I do anything but focus on the problem at hand for hours at a time. I’ll work on a blog post or another story. I’ll watch TV or read a good book. And if ideas don’t come after all that, I often find just going about my daily life is an inspiration. Some of my best ideas for stories occur during the semester. While at work or in my classes, a random thought, sometimes related to my coursework or the project I’m doing and sometimes not, will pop into my head and grab my attention. From that thought I can develop an idea, which turns into a story or article of some sort.

A great example of this happened in class a couple of weeks ago. During a discussion, one of my classmates made a comment about the Soviet Union in World War II and about D-Day. What he said so captivated me that it ended up being the foundation for a series of novels taking place in a dystopian communist nation (no idea when I’ll write them, but the fact is, I wouldn’t have been able to come up with them if I hadn’t been in that class on that day having that discussion and hadn’t seized on the thought when I least expected an idea to come to me).

Plenty of other authors are able to come up with ideas the same way, whether by taking classes, working, volunteering in the community, or finding some other hobbies or interests that occupy their time and allow the creative processes in their brains to do what they do naturally rather than being forced to produce something. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you try finding story ideas this way.

And if you do have an idea while pursuing this method, I highly recommend writing it down immediately. I write down all my ideas so that I don’t forget them, which Im prone to do. I even bought a little notebook the other day so I can write down ideas as they come to me and then put them down on a list on my flash drive when I’m at a computer so that I’ll remember them when I want to write them. (I used to just write on the back of my hand, but I’m kind of tired of seeing a bunch of ink scribbles covering my left hand.)

Author Fun: Random Title Generators

Have you ever stared at your manuscript, or your outline, while making a face like this:

Gollum plays the riddle game with Bilbo via The Hobbit

If the answer is yes, then welcome to the club!  the other day I was emailing with an author who joking said, “I wish they had book title generators” and I thought, “I’ll bet they do!” So off I hopped to google and – Guess what! – they do!

 Fiction Alley generator: For this one you need to input words and it will rearrange them into several titles. Yes, you could do it yourself, but it’s still kind of fun.

Warpcore SF generator: this one gives you both a title and a series name, but you only get one. To get another you need to hit the back button.  Still pretty fun.

Random title generator: This one gives you six at a time, and actually came up with some pretty compelling titles. There are some mature content words involved occasionally.

Fantastic Random title Generator: This one also has six titles at a time, as well as links to a Romantic Title Generator and a Sci-Fi/Fantasy title generator.

Adazing Title Generator: Fill out eight “questions” (such as protagonist occupation) and it generates titles – you can even “save” titles you like!

I had a lot of fun generating random titles, and even made notes of a few of them. But, beyond entertainment, what value does a title generator really have? For me it helps me to think “outside the box” – or rather outside “my” box, so to speak.  It actually suggested “Children of Petals” to me which, while it wouldn’t work itself, led me to think of Children of Shadows (Shadows being a word I have collected on my “good words for titles” list). Would I suggest straight up using one of the generated titles? Sure, why not, if it fits your story.  And even if none of the titles do, it’s a great way to kill twenty minutes.

How do you come up with titles or what are some of your favorites that someone else has written?

Writer’s Block: 9 Tricks to Recovery

For those of us who’s very survival is based on our ability to write the next word, the dreaded Writer’s Block is one of the most feared malady of a writer’s life. It is that point when you are tired, when have no interest in your work and future work only seems to make it worse, and when doing your work becomes harder and harder to do until you don’t even want to see it again.

Writer’s block is like a virus, once you contract it, it can become debilitating and if not treated, difficult to recover from. Over the 14 years I’ve been writing I’ve pricked up a few tricks to keep myself from catching writer’s block and recover from it when I don’t catch it in time. They might require some fundamental changes to your routine depending on your life.

9 Tricks to Recover from Writer’s Block

1) Take a vacation. This one is my favorites, but this one doesn’t mean that you have to leave the state, go camping, or plan an elaborate retreat. (I don’t know about you, but a vacation doesn’t mean the same now that I’m older as it did when I was a kid.) It just means that you step away from your work. You can go somewhere else, go to a café with a friend, take your kids to the park, be lazy, get some house or yard work finished, watch a movie/TV/Anime, walk around, relax, take a drive, and/or read a book. Sometimes just a change of scenery can make all the difference.

2) Take care of yourself. This is one I need to work on. There are never enough hours in my day, and I’m constantly going from one project to another without stopping to breathe. I’m learning that I have to take care of myself and my talent, I’m healthier physically and emotionally, which makes me better able to be cope with stress, be happy, and less likely to burn out. Sometimes taking care of ourselves just means taking a step away and relaxing.

3) Accept Failure. Not only is no one perfect, but what fun is perfection. Failure is where you learn and grow. It is the stick by which you can judge your progress. And one person’s failure, can be another person’s success…or at least the path to success.

4) Join a support group or Find a Writing Partner. A writing partner can help kick your ass into action and keep you motivated.

5) Be careful of criticism. We need to learn to handle criticism as writers, however, during the creative process you don’t need a critic sitting on your shoulder. Let your creativity have free reign at the beginning stages and criticism at the later stages, once you have revised and edited your work. Another tip, give your work to someone you can trust to give you an honest opinion and constructive criticism (this means they don’t just tell you what is wrong, but also what you did right).

6) Find your balance. Don’t overload yourself with too much work. Take a break. Explore new venues. Change topics, scenes, and even genres. Spend time with your family. Whatever you need to do to find balance in your life and your writing. Even if that means taking a little more time to write.

7) Explore your reasons. Writer’s burn out for a reason, figure out why it happened to you. Every situation is different. Try to identify the problems and work to improve them. A good way to do this is through guided journaling or free-writing. Figure out what matters to you and how to get it. Remember, writing about problems is a different process than talking it out or thinking about them.

8) What’s your motivation? Are you an extrinsic motivator or intrinsic motivator? If you are an extrinsic motivator, then you are motivated by things that come outside of yourself, deadlines, other people’s evaluations of your writing, or the need to pay the electric bill. However, if you are a intrinsic motivator, then you are motivated by things inside you, challenges you make for yourself, self-made deadlines, finding pleasure in your work.

9) Change it up. The best way I’ve found to overcome writer’s block is to write something just for you. Trying different forms of writing. Maybe write in another genre.

Creative people hit the point eventually where they feel tired and can’t find any interest in their work. If you have experienced writer’s block and wish to add anything, please comment. What are some ways you have employed to recover from burn out? Or keep yourself from falling victim to writer’s block?

What is Writer’s Block? And how can you avoid it?

There might come a time in your writing career that you meet Writer’s Block. Say hello to the symptoms. 😀

You’re drained. There comes a moment in every writer’s career when they’ve pushed themselves so hard to accomplish things that their mental and emotional self can’t keep up anymore. You tire easily and can’t see yourself writing another word.

Writing no longer holds your attention. There will always be those moments when you are working on a story or article and you realized that it no longer interests you. But writer burn out is when you start to lose interest in your work and you can’t see yourself continue with anything else.

The thought of writing fills you with dread. Working becomes harder and harder. Writing becomes stress in overdrive. You get sick just thinking of the blinking cursor on the page.

The good news, I have 6 Tips to Help you Avoid Writer’s Burn Out.

1) Do something active. If the words refuse to come, doing something active can help to reboot your mind or give you a chance away from your writing to think about it. Take a walk, exercise, or do some housework.

2) Explore new topics or styles of writing. You can also change topic, stories, scenes, or even genres. A change of scenery, even if it’s just in your writing, can help stave off writer burn out.

3) Schedule one or more days off each week. This mini vacation will not only allow you to catch up on the house or yard work, but give you a break to renew your batteries and keep you from overworking yourself.

4) Take a break. You can take a spend some time with family or friends, 10 minute break, a reading break, a stretch break, meditate, take a nap, or watch a movie.

5) Don’t overload yourself. It can be so easy to take on more than we can handle. Between the writing, promoting, blogging, other jobs, housework, and social networking, it can be too much if we don’t space it out. Scheduling when to do something and giving yourself app time to accomplish it can keep stress at bay.

How do you ward off writer’s block? What to do when you already have writer block?

Tricks to Recovering From Writer’s Burn Out

First, I want to define burn out for those who are new to the discussion. It is that point when you are tired, when have no interest in your work and future work only seems to make it worse, and when doing your work becomes harder and harder to do until you don’t even want to see it again. Burn out is like any virus, once you contract it, it can become dilapidating and if not treated, difficult to recover from.

There are a few tricks I’ve learned over the years to keep myself from catching writer burn out and recover from it when I don’t catch it in time. They might require some fundamental changes to your routine depending on your life.

9 Tricks to Help Recover from Writer Burn Out

1) Take a vacation. This one is my favorites, but this one doesn’t mean that you have to leave the state, go camping, or plan an elaborate retreat. It just means that you step away from your work. You can go somewhere else, go to a café with a friend, take your kids to the park, be lazy, get some house or yard work finished, watch a movie/TV/Anime, walk around, relax, take a drive, and/or read a book. Sometimes just a change of scenery can make all the difference.

2) Take care of yourself. This is one I need to work on. There are never enough hours in my day, and I’m constantly going from one project to another without stopping to breathe. I’m learning that I have to take care of myself and my talent, I’m healthier physically and emotionally, which makes me better able to be cope with stress, be happy, and less likely to burn out. Sometimes taking care of ourselves just means taking a step away and relaxing.

3) Accept Failure. Not only is no one perfect, but what fun is perfection. Failure is where you learn and grow. It is the stick by which you can judge your progress. And one person’s failure, can be another person’s success…or at least the path to success.

4) Join a support group or Find a Writing Partner. For more information look up support groups or read my article on Writing Partners at http://stephanniebeman.com/articles/the-writing-buddy-system-by-stephannie-beman/

5) Be careful of criticism. We need to learn to handle criticism as writers, however, during the creative process you don’t need a critic sitting on your shoulder. Let your creativity have free reign at the beginning stages and criticism at the later stages, once you have revised and edited your work. Another tip, give your work to someone you can trust to give you an honest opinion and constructive criticism.

6) Find your balance. Don’t overload yourself with too much work. Take a break. Explore new venues. Change topics, scenes, and even genres. Spend time with your family. Whatever you need to do to find balance in your life and your writing. Even if that means taking a little more time to write.

7) Explore your reasons. Writer’s burn out for a reason, figure out why it happened to you. Every situation is different. Try to identify the problems and work to improve them. A good way to do this is through guided journaling or free-writing. Figure out what matters to you and how to get it. Remember, writing about problems is a different process than talking it out or thinking about them.

8) What’s your motivation? Are you an extrinsic motivator or intrinsic motivator? If you are an extrinsic motivator, then you are motivated by things that come outside of yourself, deadlines, other people’s evaluations of your writing, or the need to pay the electric bill. However, if you are a intrinsic motivator, then you are motivated by things inside you, challenges you make for yourself, self-made deadlines, finding pleasure in your work.

9) Change it up. The best way I’ve found to overcome writer’s burn out is to write something just for you. Trying different forms of writing.

Creative people hit the point eventually where they feel tired and can’t find any interest in their work. If you have experienced writer’s burn out and wish to add anything, please comment. What are some ways you have employed to recover from burn out? Or keep yourself from falling victim to burn out?

Writer Burn Out

The Symptoms

1) You’re drained. There comes a moment in every writer’s career when they’ve pushed themselves so hard to accomplish things that their mental and emotional self can’t keep up anymore. You tire easily and can’t see yourself writing another word.

2) Writing no longer holds your attention. There will always be those moments when you are working on a story or article and you realized that it no longer interests you. But writer burn out is when you start to lose interest in your work and you can’t see yourself continue with anything else.

3) The thought of writing fills you with dread. Working becomes harder and harder. Writing becomes stress in overdrive.

6 Tips To Avoid Writer Burn Out

1) Do something active. If the words refuse to come, doing something active can help to reboot your mind or give you a chance away from your writing to think about it. Take a walk, exercise, or do some housework.

2) Explore new topics or styles of writing. You can also change topic, stories, scenes, or even genres. A change of scenery, even if it’s just in your writing, can help stave off writer burn out.

3) Schedule one or more days off each week. This mini vacation will not only allow you to catch up on the house or yard work, but give you a break to renew your batteries and keep you from overworking yourself.

4) Take a break. You can take a spend some time with family or friends, 10 minute break, a reading break, a stretch break, meditate, take a nap, or watch a movie.

5) Don’t overload yourself. It can be so easy to take on more than we can handle. Between the writing, promoting, blogging, other jobs, housework, and social networking, it can be too much if we don’t space it out. Scheduling when to do something and giving yourself app time to accomplish it can keep stress at bay.

How do you ward off writer burn out? What to do when you already have writer burn out?

Tune in next week for Recovering from Writer’s Burn Out.