First, thanks to Bev for her suggestions on keeping Writer’s Block at bay. She’s absolutely right – you shouldn’t look on it as a curse, but rather as an invitation for some fresh inspiration to come knocking. Read the rest of this entry »
It is a fact that most writers will hit a point in their careers where a little help is required, and one of the most common hold ups is the dreaded “writer’s block”, or, as I prefer to say, an invitation for some fresh inspiration to come knocking.
It is all too easy to start feeling negative about your writing when faced with a lack of fresh ideas, but really, if you think about it, it is a golden opportunity to have a spring clean of the old grey matter, and add a few new (or updated) weapons to your storyline arsenal.
There are several ways to boost the in-flow of useable material. Here are a few to consider;
Read Might sound a little obvious, I know, but reading can be one of the biggest sources of inspiration, and motivation, and should really be a firm fixture on your weekly writing timetable.
As writers, my guess is that you already have a choice of reading options, but just in case you need a little prompt, here are some suggestions!
• Read some of your old writing – you might come across something you can re-work or update.
• Check out Amazon and Smashwords. Both have things you can download for free, in pretty much all formats.
• Newspapers and Magazines, new and old, can be great sources of inspiration.
• Blogs, E-Zines and Writing-related websites are all great places to start in your search for additional material. Writers’ sites are especially good if they have writing competitions – they will usually have winners’ submissions online, which can trigger the seed of an idea or two!
Still on the subject of reading, but moving away from the internet, there must have been books you have read in the past which have left you feeling inspired? Perhaps an article or true story in a magazine jumped off the page as a plot? Many works of fiction have been written as a direct result of a true story catching someone’s attention and developing it into a profitable piece of prose.
Write “But that’s the problem – I can’t!” Yes, actually, you can.
• You can write a shopping list.
• You can write a to-do list.
• You can write a blog post on something you have watched on the TV or read about recently.
• How about writing a review on a book or film?
• Resolutions don’t have to be something just for the New Year – think about your life today and decide what you would like to change.
• Write about writing.
• Hunt for writing competitions or blogs looking for guests to provide posts, and build yourself a list of the ones for which you feel you could provide the perfect piece. Write about what inspired you to become a writer in the first place. Was it a person? A book? A film? What was the first piece of deliberate writing you penned?
• Comment on someone else’s blog post. Apart from it exercising your writing muscles, it could also grow the follower count for your own blog!
Observe - don’t just look at a film, a view or a photograph… Talk yourself through what it is you are seeing.
• Films and TV programs are great for developing ideas. Look for people other than main characters. There are nearly always extras in an important scene. Focus your attention on those rather than on the stars of the show. Who could they be? Why are they there? Could the man sat at the bar be a private detective, or perhaps a husband who has a nagging wife he is avoiding? Perhaps he has murdered the nagging wife, and is finally getting to enjoy a pint in peace.
• Do you have a photograph album you could browse through? Really look at the photographs. See the background as well as the subject. Wedding photos are great for that. Many a photo has been published in a magazine because there are two people arguing in the background, or children fighting over a chair. One of my wedding photos had an adorable family of ducks, mother and six ducklings, nonchalantly waddling across the back of the photograph. I had looked at that album many times over the years, yet I didn’t spot the ducks until some twenty years after the photograph had been taken.
• Google Images is a fantastic source of pictures for inspiration. Search for random topics – babies, dogs, giant rabbits, noses, and make a collage of the pictures you have found, and start to write about what you see. As an example, look at the collage on this page and see what you can come up with?
• Talk to other writers. It doesn’t have to be on the phone or face to face, but can be through one of the vast number of writers’ forums available online.
• Join a writing group. There are groups all over the world which are always more than happy to see a new face. There are also a number of online writers’ groups, my personal favourite being run by a Writers Bureau student – Amanda John. Her group can be found on Facebook under Creative Writing Support. It is a great place to chat with like-minded people, and get help with all things writing related when you need it.
There are many more ways of finding inspiration. Treat everything you find works for you as an essential tool in your writer’s toolbox. Finding inspiration is something which, with practise, will eventually come as second nature to you. If you have a blog, share what you do with others, so they too may learn the art of “inspiration-on-demand.”
I know that received wisdom says that you should be ruthless in editing your work, slashing and burning until you’ve deleted every last adverb and replaced the related verb with something more appropriate. But next time you’re going through your work think of Janice’s advice from last week and consider letting some of those adverbs survive your crusading red pen!
If you get your skates on, you’ve just time to enter the Hippocrates Prize for a poem on a broad medical theme. There are two categories – the first open to the general public, the second restricted to employees and students in the NHS. Each category has a 1st prize of £5000, , 2nd prize of £1000, 3rd prize of £500 and 20 prizes of £50 for poems that are commended. But time is tight as the closing date is 31st January.
And while we’re on the subject of competitions, there’s still time to enter The Writers Bureau’s ‘First Line’ competition with the chance to win a Novel and Short Story Course. As usual, entry is free but your first lines have to reach us by 31st January.
For me, one of the joys of reading is following up on references and finding out about things I didn’t previously know. I’ve recently read C J Sanson’s Revelation – a serial killer mystery set in the reign of Henry VIII. It sent me to my long-neglected Bible to read the Book of Revelation – what an eye-opener that was. And if you want another author that has you Googling all the time, try Barbara Kingsolver. The Lacuna, which covers the life of artists Diego Rivera, his wife, Frida Khalo, and their involvement with Leon Trotsky during his stay in Mexico is a great read as is The Poisonwood Bible, an ironic tale of missionaries working in the Belgian Congo in the late ‘50s.
Some people are dismissive of novels, but to me they’re the perfect ‘brain trainer’ – increasing your knowledge at the same time as they stretch your imagination. And, personally, I think it beats Sudoku any day when it comes to preventing us over-fifties from slipping into senility.
My guest next week is Bev Morley who will be returning to impart more wisdom – in the meantime, happy reading!
I’m going to say something that will shock you. Adverbs aren’t the enemy. (I know!) It’s even okay to use them in your writing. The trick is in using them well. But even when you don’t, they can serve a very useful purpose.
As bad a reputation as adverbs have, they’re helpful red flags that tell you, “here’s where you have an opportunity to flesh out what your character is doing.” They’re like your brain telling you about the emotional state of your character, and pointing out a place you might want to examine further. Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks to Helen for last week’s blog. What she had to say about improving your chances of success is spot on – as I’ve found from years of working with would-be writers. So ignore it at your peril! Read the rest of this entry »
