Hello all my fellow writers and readers! It is cloudy outside and no one else is home but me. The good side of that is I am a writing monster when it's like this! No writer's block could withstand a day like today. Yesterday I was talking to someone about writer's block and she she said that her problem wasn't that she had an idea but was stuck. Her problem was that she couldn't figure out what to write at all. She asked me how I found topics to write about. It was a good question. When I am staring at that blank page and know I want to write but nothing is rattling around in my brain, it is kinda sucky. I yell at the pen for not working. I rip out the page and wad it up even though nothing is written on it. I pace. Then I ultimately head to the fridge. That is what happens about 40% of the time. The other 60%? It's as plain as that blank page, I told her. Write what you know, and if you don't know it, look it up till you do. She said that she was screwed then because all she was was a housewife and never worked outside of the home. I couldn't speak for a moment. I am like, wtf? And yes I said it. I said, that is a bunch of bull. You are a cook, housekeeper, trouble shooter, child psychologist, chemist, accountant, manager, organizer, first aid expert, animal groomer and seamstress! Your only problem is being overqualified for most outside of the home employment positions!...OK, maybe I kinda went off on her a bit. lol. You have to understand that most people do not take their own life experiences into account when they should. I took a breath and told her that if all she did was write a two page account of what she did in a day from an outsider's viewpoint, she had a great short story. I also asked her if she had any good housecleaning shortcuts she used. She started spouting them off and I could tell that she was passionate about the subject. I not only learned some new tricks but knew she had a niche that would rock. When I suggested it, she lit up like a Christmas tree. Like I said, too many out there are wasting their potential because they don't believe in what is tied up in their gray matter. If you know about something, and it is something you are confident enough to do yourself, WRITE IT. If you know some about something you love, but not as much as you think you should, look it up and put some time in some research on it. What is the worst that can happen? You learn something new? Just do it. You will be happy with the results. Even if you decide not to publish it, you did yourself a favor just by learning a bit more about something you already enjoy. Good luck and happy writing.
Here you have your great story idea. You have it in your head how it is supposed to go and where its happening. You are set for that million-seller, award winning novel. Now you just have to get it down on paper, or word processor. Boom! You get to writing and the first character comes up. Your face gets that blank look to it and your enthusiasm fades. Who is this person? Where is he from? Do you have any background on him? How did he get to here? EEEEEEK! I will tell you this, sometimes, most of the time, you are not writing about a story. You are writing about a character, or several. Sometimes the character is so obvious that creation is easy. Joe Shmo is a mechanic who wins the lottery, or Jane Whatsherface moves to the beach into an old lighthouse. But is it this easy every time? Not on your life! If you go into your story without some sort of idea about your characters, it is like going cross-country driving without ever opening a map. The journey is slow and arduous. There w
Comments
Post a Comment