image from: exeter.edu

Anyone who has put their heart and soul into writing a manuscript will tell you that it becomes a genuine part of them. It is akin to well, kin. It is your child, your soulmate, your lover, your confidant, your companion. The bonds created as you slave away over every nuance and detail are special. Your personal relationship with your completed work is just that: personal.

If you have done everything right, if you have a wonderful story filled with robust, well developed characters then chances are you will find an editor or an agent who will be excited to see the work become a published book. As writers, this is our dream.

There may come a time however, that you have to let that particular dream go. If you find yourself taking the same reworked and revised manuscript to conferences each year with no takers, if you continue to see rejection after rejection from all quarters, you may need to shelve the work. Maybe the world isn’t ready for this particular work.

I know, I know. There’s hundreds of blog posts telling you to never give up. Hell, I’ve probably written one or two of those. And in most cases I’ll stand by them. With that said,it is entirely possible that the masterpiece you’ve created isn’t so much of a masterpiece after all. You have to face up to that possibility.

Here’s the deal. After a certain period of time, concentrating all of your efforts on something that no one is buying stifles your creativity. All of the time that you are spending polishing something that no one wants is time taken away from the opportunity to start a new project. Surely you have more than one story in there, right? As long as you insist on putting efforts into a non-starter, you will not be able to move on to another story. Maybe even the story that does launch your writing career.

Shelving your manuscript does not mean it will never see the light of day again. You’re not being asked to burn it in a Weber whilst hobbled to a bed. You are setting something aside that is not currently working. That is all. Once you’re an established writer with a few titles under your belt, you may have the opportunity to re-introduce your early work to the world. It’s amazing how a few well earned ISBNs can have an affect on how others look at your work.

I know this is not an easy thing to consider. Seldom are the worthwhile things in life easy, though. I think that if the situation I’m describing fits then you should really consider smelling what I’m cooking. It’s possible that this permission to stow the story will open new worlds for you and breathe fresh life into your stale writing career.

If you do move on, I’d like to hear about it. Tell me your story. Are you liberated or did your anxiety level just go through the roof?

image from larl.org

It happens. You need to get something on paper, the minutes are ticking by and your forward writing progress is zero. While this may be frustrating, it is not the end of the world. I’ve certainly faced my share of lonely cursors, blinking away in a field of white. It’s taken me a bit to figure out how to get around this problem and over the years I’ve developed a few techniques that have really helped. Hopefully, they’ll be of help to you as well.

A lot of folks advocate stepping away and doing something else until the muse returns. Not necessarily bad advice, and if this works for you then fine. I’ve always found that when I employ that technique, the cursed cursor hasn’t moved at all when I return and the danged thing is still mocking me. So what I do is write. What I’ve found is that writing something – anything – can often times disgorge whatever is stopping the flow. I’ll be writing something and all of a sudden the ideas will start flowing for my originally intended project.

Here are some things to write when the words are stuck:

• A book review – Take a favorite book (or one that you hate for that matter) and write a book review. The material is there and your thoughts and feelings are going to be easy enough to extract if you are passionate about the book. To give yourself a greater sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, post the review on Amazon or Goodreads when you are done.
• Retype a passage from one of your favorite books. Feel free to play around as you do it and insert a little extra dialogue or give the scene your own special twist. Often times, the motor movements – the act of typing if you will – put your body and mind into the writing mode. Once your mind is in this mode, it’s much easier to continue or start the writing that has been eluding you.
• Try a stream of consciousness exercise. Open a magazine to a random page. Set a timer for two minutes and write about one of the pictures on the random page. It doesn’t have to be a story. It can be thoughts or feelings. The key is to write for the full two minutes. Don’t edit, don’t correct mistakes. Do this several times and you will be amazed at how ready you are to tackle the real writing job that’s waiting for you.
• Write a letter to a friend. Nope, not an email. You heard me. A letter. Get out the paper and your favorite pen. Sit down at the table and make it happen. The uniqueness of the experience will put you in a better state of mind. And like the other ideas here, it may unclog your writing arteries.
• Write out your shopping list for the week. I’m serious. Look through the cupboards and the fridge. Write down all of the things that you need, and more importantly, write down the things you would get if money were not an issue. How would you fill your pantry? What kinds of exotic things would you purchase. Another part of this exercise is visualization. Picture your favorite market, imagine going down each aisle, selecting the goodies for your shelves. This combination of writing and visualizing will often get your creative juices flowing again.

I’ve found these to work wonders for me when I’m stumbling around my writing. I think the key is to not get too jacked up about the blockage and to just write. Writing anything is okay, the words you write that seem to be of no consequence are the first steps towards your “real” writing.

One of the biggest challenges that a writer faces is getting the reader hooked in the first few pages, if not paragraphs.  It’s not always easy to do.  We tend to try and paint the scenery with which we envision placing our character (s).  The challenge is to set the scene with our character in place and to do it as soon as possible.

Most every book about writing contains a chapter or section on openings.  Emphasis is placed on the importance of a good opening sentence, paragraph, page, chapter, novel,  um, sorry.  Got carried away.

I find it interesting how many folks say that opening with weather is the kiss of death and earns the author’s manuscript a free trip to the slush pile.  “It was a dark and stormy night” Hehe.

Another non-starter is dialogue.  There isn’t enough frame of reference.  This is akin to starting too fast.  Engaging in dialogue early is a good idea, just not as your opening.

One thing that all those in the know seem to agree on is action.  It’s important to give your story and character wheels right away.  It doesn’t have to be a plane crash or car chase, you just need to have your character do something.

Having your character do something right away is a great way to head down that path of truism known as “show, not tell.”  If you tried to introduce your character with just a straight description, folks will probably bail from your book right away.

Here are a few examples:

The secret is how to die.  Since the beginning of time, the secret had always been how to die.  The thirty-four year old initiate gazed down at the human skull cradled in hi palms.  The skull was hollow, like a bowl, filled with bloodred wine.

Drink it, he told himself.  You have nothing to fear.   – Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol

They were hateful presences in me.  Like a little old couple in the woods, all alone for each other, the son only a whim of fate.  It was their lousy little house, they never let me forget that.  They lived on a linoleum terrain and sat in the evenings by their radio.  What were they expecting to hear?  If I came in early I distracted them, if I came in late I enraged them. – E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake  Now there may not be a lot of action in that one but is your curiosity not picqued?  I want to read on to find out what this situation is all about.

I think this raises the larger point.  To give your character wheels, you need to create a caring interest in them.  Action works.  Curiosity works.  Having the character show some juicy details about who the heck they are helps as well.

The advice here applies to most any creative writing endeavor so don’t think that this will only apply to a full-blown novel.  In fact, for short or flash fiction it is that much more critical for the writer to get things moving right away.

So do your readers a big favor and make them care about your character and make them want to investigate further right from the start.