This series on writing obstacles explores the four main excuses writers use for not putting words on the page, such as: no energy, no motivation, no ideas and no focus.
This time, we’re focusing on a lack of ideas. This is a big reason why some people stop writing. It’s simply because they can’t think of what to write next. Here are some tricks to get around that:
1. Step back. take a quick break might help your brain fill in the missing bit.
2. Plot ahead so you know where you are going.
3. Leave breadcrumbs (discussed in last week’s blog).
4. Launch a brainstorming session for your scene.
5. Write a letter from your character about the events that have happened so far and see where that leads you.
6. Sketch out the story beats so far to see if you can find a path for where the story could go next.
7. Research. A bit. It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole with this one, but it might be that reading one article on a topic in your novel may be enough to spark an idea. A lot of times you won’t be able to write because you don’t have enough information to complete the scene. Limit the time spent on this one though.
8. Skip ahead. If you aren’t sure where to go in your current scene, jump to the next one. You do not have to write linearly. It’s okay to jump around and write the scene you know you want to include. Once you have completed those, put them in order and see what needs to go in between for the story to make sense and build character development and story logic.
9. Listen to music for inspiration. Don’t let it be a distraction though.
Tap into your memories to see if there is anything you can use to propel your plot forward.
10. Look to the world for inspiration. Go people watch (though that is a tad harder these days). Listen in on random conversations around you. Take a walk. Immerse yourself in your setting and take notes to use later.
11. Visualize your setting and see your character interacting with his or her world.
12. Use a writing prompt or do a writing exercise to jumpstart your ideas.
Reread your research and notes. they may contain something you forgot.
Let the scene marinate as you move on. Sketch out what you can, leaving big blanks for things to come and let your brain think on it. The solution will come in time. Meanwhile, you can keep moving your story forward, even if you have to block of a big section with a quick TO COME and brief description of what you need to fill the space. I could be as simple as “Need bridge scene here to leave a clue about a suspect that is not the killer.” If you don’t know what you need to write in a particular scene, simply write “TO COME” and move on.
13. Do the same thing when it comes to missing research. Mark it and move on. Do not stop.
14. Figure out why you are stuck. Is it lack of research? Have you written yourself into a dead end? Identify the issue and then tackle that, not the story itself. If you have nowhere to go in your story form where you are, backtrack until you find where you went off the rails. Start over from that point. Save the dead end though. You never know if it might come into play later.
15. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that the first draft is always dodgy. It’s okay if it’s badly written or going a bit off the rails. Do you best and keep writing. You can fix it in edit.
The final blog in this series will focus on having no focus. It’s an age old problem for writers, but there are ways around it.