RomanceEverAfter

The Writing Craft/T.A. Stone

What do I enjoy most about the writing process?

The writing process has several steps, but I’ll just address a couple of them. Above all, the greatest enjoyment I get from the writing process is from the crafting—the creation of a piece of writing that is well-formed and well-crafted. I tell people I work with my hands, and it’s true. I get great satisfaction making—from an idea—a finished work that’s as well put together as it is entertaining.

There have been a slew of other "good things" in the process, but it was especially rewarding when my peers began acting like fans. Most recently, this occurred at a mystery conference. During a conversation near the bookseller’s table, a fairly well-known mystery writer with several books to his credit ever so discreetly picked up a copy of CLOSE TO HOME. As we chatted, he began to thumb through the book. I could tell his intention was to be polite; after all, CLOSE TO HOME is published by a small, independent publisher—and we all know about "those" books.

I could barely suppress my grin when he started acting like a reader. He glanced at the cover, then flipped the book over and perused the back jacket. The conversation faltered, and for once I did the wise thing and kept my big yap shut. He opened the book, read the first line, got caught up in the first page, and the conversation died—he was hooked.

I let him go on for a few pages, then touched his shoulder and asked "may I sign that for you?"

Other double-edged compliments have been the complaint phone calls I’ve received. One was a from sweet little old lady who read CLOSE TO HOME and complained that she stayed up all night with the book, oversleeping the next morning and missing her bridge game. The second was from a woman in a nearby town. After reading CLOSE TO HOME one evening, she locked all her doors and windows and stayed up all night watching for murderers lurking about.

I didn’t much enjoy that phone call—but I did enjoy knowing my work had an effect!

What recommendations can you suggest for dealing with writer's block? Have you ever dealt with writer's block? If so, how do you overcome this obstacle?

There are two schools of thought on writer’s block. One says that sometimes creativity fails and you have to take a break. The other says that writer’s block is an excuse not to work. No other profession has to deal with being "blocked." Ever hear of firefighter’s block? "Sorry, I can’t extinguish that blaze today, I’m blocked." I don’t think so.

But every writer knows that there are times when not only do you not feel like writing, but that it’s torture to get out not just a sentence, but a word. Everything sounds wooden and trite, and you’ll do anything--even housework-- to avoid confronting the blank page.

For most of us, writer’s block comes when we’re drafting—when we’re trying to create something out of nothing. The key is starting—getting something to work with that you can revise later.

My own experience is that solid planning is a good tonic for writer’s block—it gives you something to start with. If you have not an outline, but rather a detailed "scene list" (an technique taken from screenwriting) that you have grown from first a one paragraph, then one page, then four page, then ten or twenty page treatment of your story, you are much less likely to suffer writer’s block. My presentation "Making it Move: three things screenwriting can teach fiction writers" covers this. I took the technique from my screenwriting training and experience, and for me it has made those awful times when the words won’t come fewer, farther between, and less empty.

I don’t believe in creativity exercises to break a block. Who has time for those and for writing? I believe in going back to your work. If you’re blocked, go back to your plan. What happens next? Simply write that out (tell it), and in the present tense. And next? And next? Now take those "telling" sentence and be more detailed, but still tell. When you have "Marsha arrives late back at the farm, only to find the barn ablaze and the animals trapped inside. She risks her life and is burned rescuing them," you have the basis for a powerful scene.

When you can tell your whole story, you’ll find it easier to write moving sentences, paragraphs, and scenes that show a reader what’s happening. So if a writer finds she doesn’t know what to write next to get where she’s going, maybe she should revisit—and take a closer look at--her roadmap.

T.A. Stone - 3>>> (continue)