As writers, we sometimes get bogged down.
Our internal editor keeps us in analysis paralysis. If we can't come up with the perfect idea, we just get stuck. Or if we're in the middle of a story, and we can't see what's coming next, or just can't get that scene to work, we feel like we're being sucked into quicksand.
So what to do, what to do?
Here are four quick ideas to jumpstart your creativity:
- Write in the opposite "person". If you're used to writing in first person, switch to third and vice versa. This works especially well when you're stuck in third person. By switching to first person, you will be writing from inside your character. I've found that I learned a lot about what was really going on in a scene by writing in first person.
- Write a flash fiction. Flash fiction is short, short fiction. Some sources say fiction under 1000 words, but the predominant definition is fiction under 500 words. Flash fiction forces you to make every word count. The nice thing for our purposes here, though, is that there's no long-term commitment. It's a quicky way to get yourself going when you're stuck.
- Write a fanfiction. What is fanfiction, you ask? Take your favorite television show and write a story. Fanfic is huge on the net. There's actually some very good writing out there. The delightful thing about fanfic is that the characters are already created for you and you already know them.
- Write a scene in screenplay format. This limits you and it frees you. In screenplay format, you write dialogue and action. No thoughts, no real POV in the traditional novel-writing sense. Just you looking through the lens and writing what you see and hear happening.
I hope you'll find these tips useful and thought provoking. If something gets you thinking or if you have a topic you'd like to see here, feel free to
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