I Wish It Was This Easy To Be Creative

But, sadly, it's not.

Writer Teri Dawn Smith recently wrote of her brainstorming technique using a letter cube like the one in the Scattergories game or by choosing a tile from a Scrabble game. When she needs "a new idea, a creative detail or even a solution to a problem," Teri says it's amazing what happens when she rolls that cube and a random letter pops up. Brainstorming with that letter lifts her "out of a rut."

Critically-acclaimed Author Steven James does the opposite of brainstorming. He limits himself to foster creativity. For example, hasn't this scenario played in your home?

"Where do you want to go to dinner?"

"I don't know. Where do you want to go?"

When nearly all the restaurants in town are possibilities, the conversation could continue for the next thirty minutes without reaching concrete dinner plans, leaving family members grumpy and hungry. A quicker result would be found if the choices were limited. "Do you want steaks, Italian, or pizza?"

James suggests limiting the choices aids creativity. He asks two questions. What would the character naturally do in this scene? How can I make things go worse? His goal is to drive the story by putting the character into an impossible situation.

The next time you're stuck and wonder what happens next, try brainstorming as Teri suggests or ask James' two questions. Either way, you're sure to be "unstuck" and making progress toward typing those magical words "the end."

~ Roxanne Sherwood

Another Cure for Writer's Block

My deadline was Friday.
It was Wednesday.
And my article was dead in the water.
I had nothing. Not a beginning. Or a middle. Or an end.
In my defense, I hadn't ignored my deadline. I'd tried writing something. Anything. The tried and true writer's rule: Just throw up on the page, produced nothing but dry heaves.
What's a writer to do?
In my case, I took my blank Word document to my writers group.
Want a sure-fire cure for Writer's Block?
Brainstorm.
Tiffany, Scoti and I gathered around Scoti's table. The first thing I did was read them the editor's notes about what she wanted for the article. That way we all knew what I was supposed to be aiming for.
Then I handed them a page with some extremely sketchy ideas: a quote, a sentence, a phrase. Maybe something would prove to be worth nurturing into an article.
Scoti manned the laptop, ready to take notes.
Tiffany asked questions. (She's very good at it.)
I talked. I told them the lead sentences I'd thought of and discarded. I told them stories. I told them what I thought the article was about--and what it wasn't about.
Scoti typed.
Tiffany questioned.
I talked some more.
They told me what they liked. What they thought might work. What they thought was a rabbit trail or was done to death.
By the time I got home from the group, Scoti's notes were in my inbox. I printed them out and used them as a guide to start pulling together an article. I sent Scoti and Tiffany two drafts to critique on Wednesday. Another two drafts on Thursday. On Friday, I submitted my article on time.
And the editor loved it.
Once again, I thank God for my writers group.