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Jumbled Words and Perfect Scenes
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Take all advice with a grain of salt :)Write something else for a while. Keep practicing putting one word after the other until the words run smoothly. Write a blog article, a letter to Santa, a grocery list, anything at all to get things flowing again.
Lily wrote: "Take all advice with a grain of salt :)Write something else for a while. Keep practicing putting one word after the other until the words run smoothly. Write a blog article, a letter to Santa, a ..."
I'll try this:) I'm actually working with my sister on an urban fantasy story which flows in a much different vein than my book, and I've tried for three days now to write a scene flash for our group story and nothing flows:(
Whenever some fragment comes to you, no matter the time of day or night, get some form of copy down- whether a recording on your phone, a note scribbled on a napkin, significant words or phrases typed into notepad...whatever. You may not incorporate them into your actual piece but each least bit you get down in relation to your story will take you one step closer to overcoming your freeze. Note: This method may require sleep sacrifice.
Remember that when you first get it down on paper it doesn't matter how good it is. You edit it and make it all work later. Just get it down. :-)
Ahhh....*sigh of relief* Thanks, ya'll! I actually wrote a scene last night that made me belief in my story all over again, and its from a point of view of a character I hadn't even worked with yet. Do you ever find it hard to call on the voice of a character. I roleplay with my sister, especially when we'er working on a group story and sometimes I feel like my characters and their voices aren't as present when I write alone. Have you guys ever experienced that?
No, mine chatter to me all the time, lol! Especially when I'm in or near water, even taking a shower. Something about water . . .But — have you tried building a biography for your characters? Background, physical, mental, emotional, events, people, experiences in their past that helped make them who they are? What do they like to read? Favorite music? Pets?
Make 'em real and they'll likely never shut up.
Sometimes I've wondered if the character Pinocchio wasn't an allegory for characters Collodi was having trouble with.
I write biographies for my characters all the time, and when I'm in stores like shopping or making groceries things will jump out at me and I'll just know that this character would love Nutella or this character would listen to this song. Hmmm... I've never thought of Pinocchio being an allegory like that, but that definitely sounds cool. Can you elaborate?:)
It's difficult to elaborate. My brain's a bit strange, lol.The puppet business, having strings that someone else needs to pull and tug and twitch and dip to contrive action, then, he loses the strings and gains the ability to act on his own, but he's still not REAL. Not until he shows the Blue Fairy that he's fully developed the fundamental potential for growth does he get to be a Real Boy.
Writing characters is like that, for me, anyway, but I've heard many other writers venting frustration about their characters seeming like puppets, not being real, and I've read (or tried to read) way too many stories where the characters are never more than puppets.
As writers, we're the Blue Fairies to our characters. We've got to wield the magic to give them reality — once we know they're in earnest.
The only problem I have is getting my characters to shut the hell up.
Renee wrote: "It's difficult to elaborate. My brain's a bit strange, lol.The puppet business, having strings that someone else needs to pull and tug and twitch and dip to contrive action, then, he loses the st..."
This makes perfect sense!:) our characters really do seem to be puppets until we do break that third wall and listen to their voices. Pinocchio shows us that he is more than a static character and that's the hardest part of writing moving from that area of ideas to concrete action. I like to make the basis for my stories Jungian archetypes, this way I can tell a story that all can relate to on some inherited level, but at times they seem to be just that- an archetype, so to move from a perfectly molded model to a character that feels like flesh and blood is a bit like cutting our characters's strings.
Have a glass of wine and loosen up. :) I seriously do my best writing when I'm tired. Swear. I think it lowers inhibitions and helps my mind open, so I tend to stay up late to take advantage. I imagine a drink would do the same, but I'm not a drinker. Try music too. I know this doesn't work for everyone, but I try to play music that fits the scene. It helps place you in that frame of mind. Anyhow, good luck. Hope you find your groove.
Music works for me, but it is better if fits in with what I am writing. Couldn't see myself writing what I am working on now to the sounds of heavy metal for example.
I'm with Lily. Mine don't shut up. Brittany, did you mention you RP? When I first started writing my book, it took me a while to switch from creating things with someone else to carrying it all on my own. It's a very different beast, and you could be having an issue in trusting that you can do it. (Making groceries, are you a NOLA girl too?)
Thoughts on how to avoid this problem?