Friday, November 23, 2012

Five Ways to Write When You Really Don’t Want To


Happy Friday! I hope all my American friend had a great Thanksgiving and are lolling about, fully sated and doped up on turkey. I'm buried in edits in preparation for releasing The Pollyanna Plan next week (yay!), so I'm delighted to welcome Evie Hunter, author of The Pleasures of Winter, to the blog with some great tips on how to write when you just don't want to. 

Over to Evie!

If you’ve decided to start writing your novel in November, you should be more than a quarter way through it by now. Eeek. I can hear the screams of struggling novelists.

I meant to, but  didn’t have time
The cat was sick
My story ran out of steam and now I’m lumbering into middle muddle
I’m stuck on one part and can’t seem to move beyond it.
I’m still staring at a blank screen

As writers who have faced a crazy deadlines (104k in five and a half weeks)  we’d like to share a few tips and tricks to help you get your NaNoMo project up and running again. 

No Time
You need to set aside at least two hours every day for writing. Think about your lifestyle.  Are you an early bird or late bird? How much time do you spend in front of the TV or on the phone?  You can make time, if you really want to.

The cat was sick
I love cats but I am so not listening…

My story ran out of steam and now I’m lumbering into middle muddle
You have a problem with plot or insufficiently developed characters. Get yourself a large sheet of paper and a packet of post it notes.  Draw a nice big tree.  The trunk represents your main plot line and the branches represent your sub plots. Is it strong enough to carry you through.  Are there enough twists and turns to make it interesting?

Take a post-it note for each character. Briefly describe them, their goals, motivations and conflicts.  Put the post-its on the tree.  Is your main character driving the plot or do things just happen to them?
I’m stuck on one part and can’t seem to move beyond it.
 If research is bogging you down – put a note in the margin and move on. You can drop your research in later.

If you have reached a wall and can’t seem to move beyond it, go think about the worst possible thing that could happen to your characters. Be nasty to them.  If your heroine is stuck up a tree, have someone come along and throw rocks at her.  Conflict is good. (laughs evily)

I’m still staring at a blank screen. 
All is not lost. Open a newspaper on a random page. Scan through the stories.  Is there a headline that grabs your attention?  A murder, a drama, something funny?  Imagine that you’re a character in that story.  How do you feel right now?  Inspiration is all around you – you only have to look.  

When reporter Abbie Marshall needs to escape Honduras, a private jet carrying a Hollywood A-lister is her only way out. She has a ride home with Irish actor Jack Winter - notorious womanizer and all round bad boy. Abbie is shaken to the core by Winter's blazing beauty and provocative mind.
After the plane's nose-dive into the remote rainforest forces them to fight for survival, Abbie catches tantalizing glimpses of the complicated man behind the image. And the more she sees of him, the more he touches some primal part of her that she is determined to suppress. But after a devastating encounter with Winter's shadow side, Abbie's detachment is shattered. On returning to normal life, Abbie cannot forget what happened, nor ignore the shocking rumours about the star's private life. Her struggle to make sense of her torment leads straight back to Winter, who is just as obsessed by her. But if they are to have a relationship, Abbie knows she must embrace his hidden desires ... and accept her own.

What are your strategies to get yourself in the chair when you don't want to?

Have a great weekend, everyone!

26 comments:

  1. Interesting way to map out the storyline.
    If you really want to write, you WILL find the time.

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  2. Ooh, Evie, I'm loving your advice for struggling through the muddled middle. Awesome analogy.

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  3. A tree...I haven't heard that one, but I have done the, what's the worst thing that could happen to your characters.

    I recently started to work again and finding writing time isn't as hard as having a functioning brain to write. It's getting easier. I'm becoming adjusted to working again and the brain is starting to settle down a bit. :-)

    Nice points.

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  4. Thanks for the encouragement and tips! It sounds mad, but I'm maanging to stick to my word count this year by working on two very different projects! When tired/bored with one, I have a break, go out etc, then write the other.

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  5. Great practical tips and advice, thanks. If I get stuck, my trick is to bring in a new character and shake things up a bit!

    Happy Friday!

    Janice xx

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  6. I like this post, especially the part about the post-its. I'm going to try it. I needed to read this today, especially because I set aside my manuscript for a couple weeks; I felt like I was stuck and I couldn't figure out what to do with the story. But looking back over the past couple weeks, I know at least one thing that takes up too much time: mindless Internet surfing. If I stopped doing that, I'd be able to write every day.

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  7. Next week?? Eek, so excited for The Pollyanna Plan!

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  8. Great tips!

    It's always fun being nasty to your characters... just as long as they don't figure out a way to break through the Fourth Wall.

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    1. Then why are you always apologizing to yours, William, hmmm?

      Thank you, Talli and Evie--we all need all the help we can get in this department. I've pulled out so much of my hair, I don't have very much of it left!

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  9. Talli - thanks for this great guest post. Inspirational Have a good weekend

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  10. Well, even if I don't want to write, I force myself to sit and just start working on edits. For some reason, that gets me in the mood and I often switch back over to working on the one in progress. It is a good way for me to get motivated. If I don't have edits? I hop over to writing dot com and browse their writing prompts. :D
    Have a great weekend, Talli! And good luck with the edits. :D

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  11. This is just the kick in the butt I needed today!

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  12. Talli: Always amsing and energizing to visit you here! For reasons unknown, I end up spending 3-5 hours just posting a blog. So, I admire your endeavors publishing books!!!!

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  13. I usually just have to make myself sit down in my computer chair. Getting myself that far is the challenge.

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  14. Some really good tips there! I especially like the one about the tree!

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  15. I agree with setting aside at least 2 hours a day to write. You can get a lot done in that period of time.

    I also put on some great writing music. It usually is something like a great soundtrack or something classical. Nothing with singing or words...that distracts me. Within no time, I'm usually typing away with the background music.

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  16. I'm a vote for the 'habit' school of 'forcing yourself to write'. If your brain knows you always sit down at 1.30 or 8.30 or whenever, and that means 'work' it will get into that way of thinking (like training a dog!). Thanks for the advice about the 'tree diagram', never tried that one - now, since I'm supposed to be writing two first drafts simultaneously, I'm off to put it into practice!

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  17. These are great tips I need to remember when I write. Thanks!
    I'm your newest follower :)

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  18. Thanks for the tips. I love throwing my characters into chaos!

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  19. Hi, Talli and Evie,
    The tree concept sounds interesting enough to keep me working when I don't want to do anything.

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  20. Funny you should mention the cat one. I just find that I am pausing all the time. The cat is actually ignored too much. I think I'm in some sort of ME phase and need a push! And I only write blogs.
    Cannot imagine the stress of your deadlines!!!!

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  21. Great practical tips, Evie and Talli! Thanks.

    Congratulations on the release of THE PLEASURES OF WINTER!

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  22. Great tips and I need them right about now too!

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  23. This is a great advice, I hope I can still manage my time as well as my mind, sometimes it's all excuse.nfl nike jersey 2013

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  24. Glad you enjoyed it and I hope you are all now recovering from a very productive November. Lol.

    Caroline McCall

    (one half of Evie Hunter)

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Coffee and wine for all!