Hey everybody! So recently I've been in a writing slump, and, climbing out of it, I realized it probably would be a good time to talk about it.
What is a "writing slump"? It is when you literally do anything else you can (Seriously, I reorganized my entire kitchen, bathroom, and my room is cleaner than it's been in months) in order to avoid writing. Then when you do get yourself to sit down at that desk with your laptop, alphasmart, typewriter, pen and paper (pencil?), whatever you use to draft your novel or short story, you find you have "Writer's Block", and can't pump anything of good quality out. Don't worry, I've been there too (see above), and I know how it feels. Oh my word, do I know how it feels. Well, worry not! We'll get you climbing out in no time.
So how do you get INTO a writing slump? A few ways. One, don't write; get out of the habit of writing daily and just stop doing it, letting your manuscript simply sit there for days, even weeks on end. Two, you come to a halt in your writing where it's really hard to write the next part; I've been here too, don't worry. Places like I don't want to portray my character as the big meanie (because he's my baby!) and have to go through this mental process where I tell myself he HAS to do it to move the plot along. Or maybe your character is in a really hard situation and now YOU have to think of a way out while using the "Q factor". Three, you just get lazy and want to take a break from writing, but this sort of relates to no. 1 above.
So I really want to expound a bit on number two. What is the "Q factor"(Taken from James Scott Bell's book, "The Art of War for Writers")? The Q factor is based on James Bond, 007. He has a friend that he just calls "Q" that at the beginning, middle, SOMEWHERE in the movie, Q gives him his gadgets. That way when he pulls out a laser knife, dangling above a pool of sharks near the climax, you know and don't question where the thing came from. I firmly believe that "Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating." (from Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling), and as such, my characters end up in a lot of trouble that I have to think of a non coincidental way to dig them out, and let me tell you, every time I hit one of these spots, I have to fight the writing slump blues.
Now, for the getting out part. This part there are a few options that help in the final battle, but overall it just leads back to your main antagonist (not literally). Just like your character, the thing that motivated and antagonized them to get on this road is the thing they have to go back and face, but along the way the character gets upgrades, preparing them to meet the thing that beat them in the first place. It's like Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride. He confronts his main antagonist, but he wasn't strong enough and failed, then he went and became the best sword master (Actually, a Wizard, the rank beyond master, but that's another subject entirely) in the world (aside from Westley), then came back and killed his main antagonist. In essence, that's what you have to do. You were beaten by one of the three things listed above, and you can do as many writing exercises as you like, but in the end you will need to face that scene, or getting back into a habit of writing.
So, what are some methods to gear you up to fight your main antagonist? Lets take a look:
1. Find little writing prompts around the house and sit down and write a page about the prompt. Not only will this give you material to use for later, it gets your writing muscles exercising again. What do I mean by "find little writing prompts"? Simply that. I'm at my desk right now, and I look ahead and see what's on it, I find a plastic mic, sticky notes, pens, watercolor brushed, organizer boxes, kleenex, etc. What kind of prompts can I get from that? Lets take the plastic mic and write a scene with it. Make it as crazy as you can (Not about the plastic mic, just about something you see some whereabouts). For instance, I would probably have a machine going and the main character takes the plastic mic, the only thing on hand and nearby, and he/she has one chance at this. They take the mic and toss it, and it misses, bouncing of an obstruction. It flies straight up in the air, hanging for a millisecond before plunging back down and slamming down on the concrete. (No coincidences, remember?) Every thing is over now, the MC has lost, and then, they wake up from a fitful sleep, drenched in sweat. (No, I DO NOT make a habit of having everything be a dream, I'm against it, but I couldn't think of anything to do in one sentence and I'm giving you advice, not a story)
2. Take five minutes and write everything you can about a character, setting, or plot point. Only one at a time, mind you. This gets you all hyped up about it, and excited to get writing again. You remember why you started the story, and it's helpful in getting you ready to face the antagonist.
3. Take a moment and drag your book back to the plot board. (Kicking and screaming, if you must). See if there are any new angles you can explore, or expound. I recently added a forest, and that's kind of big, so it helps. This also gets you excited again. (I'm getting hyped just writing about getting hyped)
4. Write. *Gasp* yeah, I know, right? This is where you face the antagonist and just do it. Just write your story. Especially if it's just the first draft! Because the first draft is where you dump everything onto paper, and the second draft is where you rearrange and cut and add and stuff. You can write your character learning they can fly and come back and change it later. Throw Murphy's Law (Anything bad that can happen, will happen) at them. Throw the most wild thing you can at them to add spice. Then don't worry about it! You can, and probably will, come back and change it later. Or you can write sensibly, but where's the fun in that?
So what do you guys think? See anything I missed? How do you get out of writing slumps? Let me know in the comments section!
Viola June HFA-DGN
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