I’ve done a lot of things that work to get my writing rolling and some things that didn’t work. Here are ten I like. All of them operate on a single principle. Don’t think about the question you want answered. LET IT HAPPEN. When you get an idea, quit and go straight to the keyboard.
People who aren’t writers don’t understand how ideas come. Neither do beginning writers, sometimes. When you’re working on a novel or a movie and you’re in the groove, your mind is a picture show, simple as that. You just see what the characters do and hear what they say. The setting is behind them, available for description. It runs like a TV show, with luck a good show.
But sometimes the projector stops working and nothing is coming to you, or it’s fuzzy, or…. (You’ve stopped seeing the story and started thinking about it, never a help.) For the moment you’ve got mud mind. How do you get back in that flow where ideas flick out as fast as you can write?
1. Stand up. (Getting out of your chair and turning your back to your computer is the starting place for most of these.) Talk jibber-jabber out loud. Nonsense syllables at high speed. Give them emotion—anger, playfulness, seduction, the slyness of a con job, whatever feels like fun.
2. Go in another room and doodle on a pad with a pencil or pen. Draw if you want to. Write a short poem. Make up some silly doggerel, giving it silly rhymes. Write a dialogue scene between any two characters who aren’t in your book.
3. Cuss. Yell the words out. Throw your fist in the air. Say things you’d never say to anyone, like “brothertrucker” (you know what I mean). If you feel like it, think of an aunt, uncle, sibling, or friend who lives a thousand miles away, or in the next world, and really let her or him have it for something that happened years ago. Let those juices flow.
4. Think of someone you wish you could talk to, a close friend, your college roommate, or your brother or mom or dad. Get a cup of coffee or a Coke or a beer and sit down and have a talk with them. Tell them whatever’s bothering you about this book. Tell them how you think the book is going to hell and it was always a dumb idea anyhow. Tell them whatever is wrong in your writing life or life in general. Get some good listening. You don’t need feedback from your imaginary companion, just listening.
5. Give someone a piece of your mind, loudly. Shout it or write it (but for Pete’s sake don’t send it.) Tell ‘em to go to hell and stick a coal up their tail.
6. Take your laptop and write out on the deck. Enjoy the sun and breeze. Enjoy playing hooky and writing at the same time.
7. Wash the car. Do the dishes. Vacuum. Do one of these just long enough to jiggle the mind free.
8. Put on any upbeat tune you like. Then jump up and dance by yourself, the crazier the better. Do it until you start to breathe hard.
9. Do salutations to the sun. If you don’t know, ask a friend who does yoga.
10. Go for a walk. This is my favorite. Set down your question, leave it behind, and walk around the block. Notice whatever the neighbors are doing (or imagine the most salacious). Watch the birds. Feel the breeze or the sun on your face. The idea will pop up like a Jack in the box.
Writing shouldn’t feel like having a root canal. It should feel like an amazing ride on a surfboard … exhilarating. Now, go for it!
And, if you have tricks to get you rolling, please let us know.
— Win
About Meredith and Win Blevins
Each novelist will need to work out these things his own way. My friend Matt Braun once told me he can’t write until he has a complete outline and knows exactly where he’s going. He then follows his plotted out story. I am the reverse. An outline or synopsis paralyzes me. A If I’m hunting for ideas, I ask what one or more of my characters wants, really wants, and pretty soon he’s doing things that forward his purposes (or, if he’s complex, doing things that damage his purposes) and the story is adding depth.
I have tried to write an outline, and after page three the outline becomes irrelevant. Characters have spoken up, they have appeared, they have dropped dead. An outline seems so cozy, blank a blankie, doesn’t it? (I went to a writer’s panel at Bouchercon. Five well-known writers on the panel. One of out five wrote an outline, that’s it. Lawrence Block said the same thing you did — it is paralyzing for him.)
I think you are exactly right: Know your characters. Hear their voices. See them. And I thinking asking what he or she wants, what they really want, is a terrific idea. Also, I think when you know your characters your story will seldom go off-track.
THANK YOU, Richard. You are a treasure in every way.
–Meredith and Win
11. Take a bath.
Wonderful idea. Something about water… Maybe. A bath or a long shower. When you walk out, it’s a different world.
Thanks so much for reminding us of that, Aileen.
W & M
Try this, it works!
Send it out to the universe and an idea will appear “out of the blue” in time.
Sometimes the idea takes a few days or longer to appear. Stay open, receptive but don’t think about it and when the idea appears (out of the blue) you will recognize it at once and feel so thankful – so say Thank you!
Yes, it does. Your subconscious is chewing on it, chewing, tasting the characters, loving the setting, sensing and sensing. Fully alive. And all that while you are doing the laundry. And we think you are absolutely right — the idea appears, fully formed. And then we must trust it, and run with it.
xoxo — M