David Carraturo's Blog - Posts Tagged "writers-block"
How I dealt with writers block for Cameron's Quest
In the summer of 2013, I had no intention of writing a follow up story to my two related historical fiction novels, Cameron Nation and Columbus Avenue Boys. While I knew there was a third story there, I had no ideas and quite frankly, I was way too busy with the real world to think about writing again. Then, BOOM, in October of 2013 an idea hit me, and as with my other stories, I began to feverishly write, and write and write.
CAMERON'S QUEST became more of an idea, it was an intertwined, logical third part to the Columbus Avenue Boy's trilogy. I had so much to work with; the character development, the dangling storylines from the other two parts, the setting were all laid out to be expounded on. It truly excited me to write this story.
As with my two other books, I would methodically write one chapter a week, never more. I had no set deadline, so after 22 weeks, I had 20+ chapters written...BUT!!!
No ending was in sight. The story was good - real good - but I had no way to tie it into a ending that would make the reader say - Holy S&%t that was great, I didn't see that coming, etc....
So, the story sat on my hard drive - can it collect dust on a hard drive?? Maybe three - four months without a care for writing. When there is no idea in my head, I just fade into the abyss.
Thankfully, in the fall of 2014, I began speaking with a friend of mine who happened to have read Columbus Avenue Boys and Cameron Nation. We chatted and I let her know I had a third part of the trilogy in draft form in suspended animation. She agreed to read and in our discussion I thanked her for the input and said, "you know what, I want to add you as a character...what type of character do you want me to write for you???" She stated that she thought a cop or equivalent who would be able to set Sal/Tony straight was a suggestion.
While I didn't think that angle was good, it got me thinking. And I took a correlated approach and worked the angle into the story.
The key message I am trying to get across is that discussing my writing with a independent third party was very therapeutic and if I had kept my idea a secret the story would still be collecting dust.
Needless to say, when the fresh character angle was introduced, it sparked me to continue and in the end, the story was way beyond my wildest dreams for satisfaction.
It still took another 2 years to completely finish the story, but that was due to financial constraints and honing my craft as a writer. My story was rock solid but I refused to submit to an editor until the prose was above my history as a B- student.
I hope this helps with writers block. If you want to check out the COLUMBUS AVENUE BOYS trilogy and the new release, CAMERON's QUEST please click link below Thank you.
David
https://www.amazon.com/David-Carratur...
CAMERON'S QUEST became more of an idea, it was an intertwined, logical third part to the Columbus Avenue Boy's trilogy. I had so much to work with; the character development, the dangling storylines from the other two parts, the setting were all laid out to be expounded on. It truly excited me to write this story.
As with my two other books, I would methodically write one chapter a week, never more. I had no set deadline, so after 22 weeks, I had 20+ chapters written...BUT!!!
No ending was in sight. The story was good - real good - but I had no way to tie it into a ending that would make the reader say - Holy S&%t that was great, I didn't see that coming, etc....
So, the story sat on my hard drive - can it collect dust on a hard drive?? Maybe three - four months without a care for writing. When there is no idea in my head, I just fade into the abyss.
Thankfully, in the fall of 2014, I began speaking with a friend of mine who happened to have read Columbus Avenue Boys and Cameron Nation. We chatted and I let her know I had a third part of the trilogy in draft form in suspended animation. She agreed to read and in our discussion I thanked her for the input and said, "you know what, I want to add you as a character...what type of character do you want me to write for you???" She stated that she thought a cop or equivalent who would be able to set Sal/Tony straight was a suggestion.
While I didn't think that angle was good, it got me thinking. And I took a correlated approach and worked the angle into the story.
The key message I am trying to get across is that discussing my writing with a independent third party was very therapeutic and if I had kept my idea a secret the story would still be collecting dust.
Needless to say, when the fresh character angle was introduced, it sparked me to continue and in the end, the story was way beyond my wildest dreams for satisfaction.
It still took another 2 years to completely finish the story, but that was due to financial constraints and honing my craft as a writer. My story was rock solid but I refused to submit to an editor until the prose was above my history as a B- student.
I hope this helps with writers block. If you want to check out the COLUMBUS AVENUE BOYS trilogy and the new release, CAMERON's QUEST please click link below Thank you.
David
https://www.amazon.com/David-Carratur...
