Ways Around Writer's Block

This last week or so I have found myself struggling to find the motivation to work on my latest project. It is not often that I’ve struggled with writer’s block in the past, so I’m not exactly sure how to address it. Writing this post is one strategy—at least I’m writing, even if I’m not working on my novel.

Schools of thought on the topic of writer’s block seem to differ. Some say you need to push through it; sit down at your desk at the same time everyday and try to squeeze out a thought. While others suggest leaving your writing aside and doing something else for a while, until you naturally feel the time is right to return to your project and carry on. I don’t know what I think. Having tried both of these approaches I’m still not sure.

At least I know I’m not alone. I read that Henry Miller had periods of time when he struggled to write a sentence and that when his partner came home at the end of the day they both pretended he’d been working productively all day. Even though he was sure they both knew he’d barely marked the paper.

Those times when I have felt blocked I’ve searched the net for inspiring quotes or reread favorite novel passages.  If you have any thoughts or strategies you would like to share please do.

Otherwise, keep writing!   

Excellent Books on Fiction Writing

There are a lot of books out there that offer advice on how to write fiction. I started collecting them years ago, possibly as a way of actually avoiding writing: I figured if I was buying books on the subject, even if I wasn't practising it, at least I was keeping a foot in the stream. I'm not sure the logic was sound, but I can tell you I have found some of the books extremely helpful, others less so, while many were a waste of time.

Granted, it does depend on what stage of the journey you are at, and on what you are looking for: Are you are looking for ways to begin or motivation? Are you looking for ideas about developing or improving your craft or technique? Are you looking for agents or publishers or are you keen to know what they are looking for?

Below is a list of books that I've found very useful and/or have seen recommended in a number of places.

For the beginner:

This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley; On Writing by Stephen King  (Both offer practical advice and motivation.)

For the already committed:

The Poetics of Aristotle by Stephen Halliwell; Story by Robert McKee; Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass; On Becoming A Novelist by J.C. Gardner; Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain; Rhetoric of Fiction by Wayne C. Booth; The Art of the Novel by Henry James; Fiction Writer's Handbook by Hallie Burnett; The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler; Stein on Writing by Sol Stein; Plot and Structure by James Bell; The Writer's Essential Tackle Box by Lynn Price; The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman; Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King; Revision and Self –Editing by James Bell

And, for the ready to be published:

Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents by Jeff Herman (Refers to U.S. market); Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2011 (Refers to U.K. market)

You can get all of these books from somewhere like www.bookdepository.com for around four hundred dollars, which is about the same price many book doctors charge for a manuscript appraisal. (I’ve paid double that for a manuscript appraisal and gotten far more useful information from the books.)

I personally think studying books like these, written by people who have spent decades writing, selling, and/or teaching how to write fiction, and making notes on what you can apply to your manuscript to improve it, is the best way (along with regular fiction reading and writing) to develop your fiction.

Hope some of this is useful.   

Fiction Writer's Inspiration

Why am I doing this?

This is a question I have often asked myself, in regard to a number of things, but particularly writing. And having looked into this a little I have found some interesting theories and surprising reasons why people write, as well as some really inspirational quotes on writing in general.

Here are a few sites I found interesting:

Why Do Writers Write?

Why Do Writers Write? NYTimes.com

Mark Coker: Why Do Writers Write?

"A writer writes not because he [or she] is educated but because he [or she] is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood."  Leo Rosten

And my favourite, from my daughter:

"When Daddy sells his book we can go on another holiday."

And here are are some quotes I found inspiring or instructional, or both:

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."  Mark Twain

"Write what you care about and understand. Writers should never try to outguess the marketplace in search of a salable idea; the simple truth is that all good books will eventually find a publisher if the writer tries hard enough, and a central secret to writing a good book is to write on that people like you will enjoy."
Richard North Patterson

"Only write from your own passion, your own truth. That's the only thing you really know about, and anything else leads you away from the pulse."  Marianne Williamson

Most of these and many other great quotes can be found here:

http://sites.google.com/site/amberdine/beginning

Keep Writing!

"You must want to enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price of disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any other artist you must learn your craft—then you can add all the genius you like."  Phyllis A. Whitney

Fiction Writing: Plotting Versus Pants-ing

When it comes to writing novels, according to what I’ve read, and from what I've gathered from my own experience, there are essentially two approaches: the first is to plot your novel from the get go, i.e. create a plot overview, indicating the three acts and the chapters and scenes that will compromise them; the second is to write intuitively, by the seat of your pants as it were.

This is not to say that you can’t do both, but I think writers tend to do more of one than the other. I would say I fall into the second camp. Or at least I always had. With the short stories and novels I’ve previously written I usually had no idea where they were going from one writing session to the next. This has not really been a problem, except that I’ve had to make sure I have a pen and note book handy on the bedside table to make the connections between strands of character development and plot, when they come to me at two o’clock in the morning. As a matter of fact this approach worked very well with Leaving Town because of the nature (stream of consciousness) and genre (literary) of the novel.

However, I am now almost thirty thousand words into the first draft of a thriller (my first) and I’m sensing I’m rapidly wearing out the seat of my pants. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure if I don’t do some overview plotting soon my boxers are going to be on public display.

As what I’ve written previously have tended to be more literary stories, I’m now realizing that genre affects the approach you take to the work, or at least determines which approach is more likely to bring results (completion) in a reasonable time frame.

So whether you are a plotter, or a seat-of-your-pants-writer, I wish you luck. And suggest that at some point, particularly if you experiment with other genres, you might need to play for the other team. Even if it’s just off the bench (for the unsure this is football parlance, as in Barcelona FC, for a short period of time.)

Keep writing.

On Fiction Writing (and Reading)

Stephen King, in his excellent book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, talks about the importance of reading for an author. Specifically, he makes the point that if you want to write, you can't afford not to read. And, he offers a suggested reading list near the end of the book. What struck me when I first scanned this list was the variety of novels included.

It seems that a varied diet of reading matter is as important to an author as a regular (preferably daily) routine of putting pen to paper (or finger tips to keypad). Having spent a number of years collecting books about writing, I have noticed this point is made in many of them. And over the years a number of writers I have spoken to, or heard speak, have also mentioned the importance of reading.

If you are reading this and thinking that's pretty obvious, I agree, but I think that what's not so obvious, initially, is that reading as writer is somewhat different to reading purely as a reader—or it should be.

For a start, as a writer when you read, you need to be analysing, or at least taking into account, the way the writer has used language to take you on a journey. You need to ask questions: How have they have used the building blocks of fiction: words (especially nouns and verbs) and sentences (simple, complex, compound, fragments)? What decisions have they made regarding choices of setting, narrative voice (or narrative point of view), character construction and development, story and plot development, and style (including use of simile and metaphor)? What are the effects of these elements individually and collectively?

The writer’s decisions determine the quality and nature of your journey as a reader. And so it will be with the choices we make, so we need to be sure our choices are informed.

So read, read, read…

And keep writing.

Fiction Writer's Doubts

I recently had a conversation with a writer friend, who is working on his second novel. His first, a YA novel, was published a couple of years ago and has done well. Both in terms of sales and critical appraisals. He was very honest and told me he was losing confidence in his ability to complete his next book. And, he wondered, if the first one had been just a ‘fluke’.

I reminded him of what he’d achieved with his previous effort and tried to encourage him. Ultimately I’m sure he’ll get past this patch and write another great book. But what struck me was the crushing self doubt he was feeling.  

Even though I’ve read about ‘second book syndrome’ I'd thought that sort of doubt in your ability to 'just finish the thing...' was an affliction of the yet-to-be-published-debut-novelist (i.e. me), and that when you'd had some success in terms of getting a book out there, a lot of that doubt would lift like morning mist.

But not so.

Maybe self doubt goes hand in hand with writing. With any thing that involves putting yourself out there. And maybe that’s a part of what makes it so hard, and ultimately, so rewarding.

And maybe, it’s out of that conflict between self doubt and self belief that the whispers of creativity come.

Maybe.

Keep writing.

Why Blog When I Could Write Short Stories or Novels?

One of the reasons I was reluctant to start a blog, was that I thought, it's taken me this long (never mind exactly how long) to get serious about my writing, and, if I divert my energy into something else now, like a blog, I may find myself naval gazing online, instead of working on my manuscript.

But at this point I think setting up this blog about my journey as a writer, and hopefully helping you a little bit with yours, has had the opposite effect. And, I feel as if I'm actually taking another step in convincing myself that I'm serious about this path I have chosen. I think putting our goals and dreams out there, where they can be buffeted and damaged, is the only way (we and) they build strength, resilience and momentum.

I have a friend who at the age of seventy six recently got her first piece published—she's thrilled and now thinking about starting work on her first novel. Seeing her writing in print for the first time has given her the confidence to move forward.

And moving forward only takes little steps. One after another.

Keep writing.