Four Life Lessons From Writers Block

I have had the worst writers block ever since finishing NaNoWriMo at the end of November. I mean, last month I didn't even get a Flash Fiction Friday posted.

Usually, once November ends, I take a bit of a break from my novel. One, I love the holidays and I want to spend December enjoying them and not stressing over my writing. Two, it's always good to give yourself a break and space from a work in progress so that when you're ready to go back to it, you can look at it with fresh eyes. 

Usually, this works out well for me. 

January came around and I was all pumped and ready to go. I was going to have this rough draft of Vampire Snow White finished by the end of February so I could send it over to my critique partners! It was going to be amazing! I had motivation! It was a NEW YEAR! DO ALL OF THE THINGS!

Yet, here we are. It's the beginning of March, and I am no where close to having this first rough draft done. The last two months, I've been battling writers block like none other. I've re-read what I worked on in November, edited some chapters, wrote a couple of pages, and rewrote chapters. But I am no where close to where I wanted to be. More days than not I sat at my computer, looked at the blank screen, then turned on Gilmore Girls and forgot about writing. 

Part of it is due to pure laziness. There's something about winter that makes me not want to do anything. Whoever thought to have people start New Years resolutions in the middle of winter clearly didn't know what they were doing. 

A lot of it though was simple writers block. Every writer and author gets it from time to time. You simply have no idea what is going to happen next, or you can't picture the characters, or there's holes in world building. This is part of what you sign up for when you decide to write. Even if it's non-fiction or blogs! Everyone has those days when they sit at the computer and they can't think of a single thing to type. You just push through it and keep going until words come out.

But I've never had writers block this bad before. Or at least in a long time. I didn't know what to do other than avoid and complain. So, that's what I did.

Finally, after talking with my critique partners and getting a good pep talk and advice, I sat down the other night to work on outlining. Not writing, world building, or character development. Just write down the plot points I knew I had, then fill in the gaps from there. 

At first, it wasn't easy. Once again, I stared at the blank piece of paper. Then, once I got going, I had some major revelations, which I think can be applied to other things in life even beyond writing.

1) You Have to Enjoy What You're Doing

The biggest revelation I had was that I didn't like the main plot line I was going with. Yes, it needed to be in there, and yes, it could be really awesome and fun. But, as a main plot line? No. I hated it. It was boring. I couldn't figure out what was going to happen next because I didn't like what I was doing. 

Once I saw that I didn't like my plot and I could go in other directions, everything came so much easier. The ideas started flying through my head and I couldn't wait to see what else I could do.

It makes me think of Sarah J Maas' books. Yes, her writing and books have their problems, I won't deny that. But, one of the things I love about her books is that as I'm reading I can tell that she loves what she's writing about. It oozes from the pages her love and passion for it. When someone loves what they're doing, you see it in their work.

Not that you're going to love your work and every single thing about it all of the time. But if you're stuck in something and you realize that you don't like it, what can you do to be sure you do like some aspects of it? Motivation will come much easier and quicker if you find you enjoy what you're doing.

2) Don't Confine Yourself to What You Think Something "Has" to Be

I had it stuck in my head that my Vampire Snow White book had to be an urban fantasy. She was a vampire, the setting was in modern day, therefore:  urban fantasy. 

As I was attempting to outline, I realized that this book doesn't have to be urban fantasy. It can have many of the elements of urban fantasy, but I didn't have to stick to that alone. When I opened myself up to the possibility that this book could just be "fantasy" in general, I saw so much more of what I could do with it.

Especially when in the beginning stages of a creative project, you need to let go of the rules sometimes. Do your own thing. Shake it up. Look beyond the bounds of what things "should" be like and do what you want!

3) Change Up the Style

Another element that had me stuck in writing the last few months was that the style I was writing in didn't fit my vision for the book. It was pretty typical of some of my other books. Which is fine. Most writers have a specific style and it works. 

But it didn't sound like my main character. I looked at it and kept on thinking about how this didn't feel like her.

So, I went back and rewrote my first chapter using a different style. I'm still experimenting with it, but I think it'll work. If not, I'll try it another way.

Basically, if you're stuck in something, try it from a new angle and see how it goes!

4) Allow Yourself to be Bad

This is one I have to remind myself every single time I write a rough draft. It's called a "rough" draft for a reason.  It's not supposed to be good right now.

But for some reason, I, along with most writers out there, think that we can be that one in a million person whose first draft is a work of genius!

It doesn't work that way. 

You're allowed to make mistakes, have things be messy, and not be perfect all of the time. No matter what you're doing, let yourself have breathing room. When we put too much pressure on ourselves for something to be perfect, we stop ourselves from getting anything done at all. 

I'm not saying that my rough draft is going to go along and I'll get all of the words written right away. I will still have days when I sit in front of the computer and have no idea what to write about. But, I have much higher hopes for my progress now. 

What are some lessons you've learned when you're stuck on something you're working on?

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My Writing Process: Brainstorming

A few weeks ago, I had posted on my Facebook page asking what people would like to read about on my blog. One of my friends said she thought it'd be interesting to read about my writing process. 

I decided to do a writing series where once a month I share one element. I'll be breaking it up into seven categories. They are:

• Brainstorming
• Outlining vs. "Pantsing"
• Characters
• World Building and Setting
• Drafting
• Critique Partners and Beta Readers
• Revising

On social media once, I remember in regards to writing process, one author (I can't remember who! I'm sorry!) said they know how to write THIS book. Then, when they start a new book, they learn how to write THAT book. Because each project has a life and process of it's own. 

I've found this to be true. While I do have certain tendencies with each project I'm working on, they are all vastly different from one another. One aspect of my writing process may have worked for one project, but it may not work for another.

That being said, I'll be sharing my process for the most current novel I'm working on simply because it's the freshest in my mind. I'll refer to previous projects as well, but my focus will be on this one. 

If you follow me on Twitter/Instagram, you may have noticed I've been chatting about this new idea for the last several weeks and referring to it as "Vampire Snow White." Mainly because I don't have a title for it. I'll refer to it the same way here and sometimes shorten it to VSW. However, beyond my basics of the process, I won't be revealing anything else about this book such as plot points, character names, etc. Because you know...

WHEW. Talk about a long intro. But, from here on out with the remainder of the series I should be able to get to the point quicker.

Here we go! My brainstorming process.

Image originally found on my Instagram @eehornburg

Getting Ideas

Interestingly enough, the way I got my idea for VSW was from a writing friend of mine. Someone had shared something with her about "What if Snow White was a vampire?" and she shared it with me saying "This sounds like something totally up your alley." Well... she was right. The character, the setting, how I could tie in vampire lore with the classic fairy tale - for some reason it all "clicked" in my head.

This is not how I usually get ideas. Here are a few suggestions to help you get your brain going:

• Keep asking "what if...?" A lot of my stories even before VSW have been inspired by fairy tales. I just expand on them. "Yeah, but what if this character was...?" Or even asking "why?" Something like "But why would mere jealousy cause the evil queen to want to go as far as murdering her step-daughter?"
• Searching around on the Internet. You'd be amazed that just from casually browsing the Internet. the story ideas I find. Whether it's an interesting article, a picture I thought was different, a quote I find, etc.
• Pick a theme you are passionate about or would like a book to be about. For the most recent novel I've completed, the initial idea came from elements in my life which I was experiencing. Which, made me think of it being a contemporary/modern day/literary novel. But, I've learned that while I like reading those sorts of books, I'm awful at writing them. I thought "okay... how do I make that fun and in a genre I do like?" BOOM. My story was created.
• Write what you enjoy. I once tried writing a straight contemporary novel without any magic, sci-fi, fairy tale elements. IT WAS TERRIBLE. There are books of that genre I genuinely love - but for the most part what I enjoy reading and writing are Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Once I realized I should stick with that, finding ideas and brainstorming came much easier. Some people can jump around genres and each one turns out awesome. Which is fantastic! But it's not me. 

Research

I love this part. It gives me an excuse to watch TV, movies, documentaries, and take too many trips to the library. 

• For VSW I started with researching the original Snow White tale itself. It is my favorite, so I'm familiar with all of the different versions. But, I hadn't read much about what inspired these folk tales in the first place. Let me tell you - it was the best thing I've done VSW. I found different elements which will for sure be appearing in my plot and character development.
• Learn about other cultures. Considering Snow White is a German tale, my next step was to find out more about German folklore and vampire mythology. Sure enough - Germans have their own version of the vampire. This will help make my vampires in this book more unique compared to the saturation of vampires we see in other literature. 
• Netflix (or your streaming provider of choice) is amazing! I added to my list different movies, TV shows, and documentaries which I thought would be helpful. Some of them have been paranormal types, others have been more historical for my backstory, some have been simply something I think would fit the tone and mood. 
• Seek out people in your circles who can help. I know other people who have studied German culture, have read a lot more paranormal stories than I have, and know more history than I do. I go to them to help bounce around ideas and they direct me to other resources.
• Use your library! Mine is pretty small, so they don't always have enough books to go in as much depth as I'd like. But, they are connected to several other libraries in the area and the librarians help me find other titles which I may find useful and have them delivered to our library for me to pick up. 

Tools I Use

• Old school pen and paper. My brainstorming can be messy, confusing, and all over the place. Being able to have a notebook and a pen or pencil where I can erase, cross things out, draw lines and arrows, help me to sort everything out. Typing something out on a computer or tablet doesn't give me the freedom to do this as much. 
• Pinterest. When I have a new project in my head, I create a secret board and it becomes my virtual dumping ground for all of my ideas. Websites I've found in my research, photos and drawings I find interesting, maps, etc. 
• Visions boards. This could be in place of Pinterest. Only, it's a physical board instead of a virtual one. Writers have it displayed near their work area so they can reference it as they write. I can definitely see why people would find this useful and also fun to create. But, for me, Pinterest is the version which works best. 

Reading Books in Your Genre

This is one of the big things I've learned the last few years when it comes to writing.

• You need to read what other people have done in the genre you're writing. Some authors don't read books in their genre as they're writing because they don't want to steal ideas. Which is completely legitimate! But - they are still very familiar with that genre. They've read it in the past, they'll read it in the future, they know of other authors to whom their work is comparable to, etc. You need to the styles, pacing, tropes, etc. Learn who "the greats" are in your genre and learn from them. 
• You should absolutely read a variety of genres, and I think we can take elements of other books into our own.  I think that's awesome, useful, and helps to make your writing more well-rounded. But, you need to know your own genre as well. 

So, there you have it! Those are some of my thoughts on brainstorming and how I start to get ideas for my novels. This post is long enough - I think I covered everything! How do you brainstorm for your creative projects? Is there anything you'd like to know more about?