Writer's block, an owner's guide: Storybase
Storybase.net is apparently “the ultimate online dictionary of story starters and writing prompts – over 3,900 narrative Situations, each involving Characters that can be personalized with names of your choosing. The Situations are indexed in a logical framework derived from two universal vantage points: Mindset and Action.
Situations are comprised of Characters and Keywords. Mindset refers to the mental state of the character in the left-hand box at the top of this page. Action tags refer to the type of action that is happening in a given Situation.”
Can’t say I found it very useful, but then I’m not trying to outline a work of fiction right now, so how would it be? If you are, let me know how this helps.
Published on May 2, 2008 at 6:56 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/storybase.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: Start with an email
Chanpory Rith over at lifeclever.com suggests If writing stirs a panic attack in you, try this: start with an email. Instead of launching an imposing behemoth like Microsoft Word, call up your humble email program and begin your next writing piece as a simple email.
Read the article: Chanpory has a lot to say on the subject. And I like the idea. I routinely email myself notes of things I want to write, and notes on things I am writing. Including my draft of what you’re reading right now. The problem I find with that is that when you email yourself, Gmail assumes you’ve read it and doesn’t bother putting it in the inbox. So you have to put it there by hand. An annoyingly slow process that you can easily overlook, and which I haven’t found a way to automate with filters or anything else. I suppose I could just not hit Send, and let it lie in the drafts box forever (better ideas please?). (Afternote 2/2/08: that’s what I’ve been doing since I wrote this, and it works well, if you don’t leave too many things lying in there. Which we unblocked people don’t, right?)
Published on December 29, 2007 at 8:34 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/start-with-an-email.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: The one-minute rule
Here’s something interesting. No, really. Fourteen tips to become a lighter, tighter writer (do not read that aloud) for young legal associates handling writing assignments for their partners. I was lucky enough not to spend any of my legal career in the US, but I’ve seen enough Boston Legal to imagine how demanding life is for these young people. Anyway, the point today is that a lot of Ross Guberman’s 14 points are relevant to all of us. Start with #3 and #9 (the one-minute rule), perhaps. And my minute is up. Back into the silent shadows.
Published on October 6, 2007 at 4:25 am. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/the-one-minute-rule.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: And more ways
I seem to have been meeting a lot of songwriters lately - one of the less obvious benefits of life in Los Angeles County. By coincidence, my regular wanderings in the world of writing led me to these tips from Blogging Muses for lyricists dealing with writing block. They’re fun. Are they useful? - you decide. But an interesting sidelight on the things we’re usually talking about here.
Published on August 24, 2007 at 7:15 am. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/and-more-ways.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: More ways to beat writer’s block
Another set of self-help suggestions, this one from the Wired Jester. Alex has some new and different ideas, such as “If you have any hand-written notes from the planing stage, or quotes you’ve underlined in books that you want to use, when you’ve got writer’s block, it’s a good time to type them into the word processor - it’s simple, useful work, and often, as you simply get into the typing, that your own writing will want to get going, too.” Take a look.
Published on at 7:08 am. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/more-ways-to-beat-writers-block.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: More tips for dealing with writer’s block
It’s been months since I shared any simple useful tips for dealing with writer’s block in your life. So here’s a collection I really like, by Daphne Gray-Grant, quoted on the blog of Dawud Miracle. My favorite is… well, that doesn’t matter because different ones appeal to different people.
But #4, change your physical location, is very much in line with what I’ve been reluctantly coming to accept recently. During recent research I found out that several major successful professional writers have to leave their beautiful home offices and work in parks and libraries. You just can’t sit down at your own computer, and expect to start work. I’ve recently taken to ordering my clients to leave their homes in order to work. And it works.
I know that this makes no sense. I know it makes you feel stupid or lazy or guilty. I know that Vulcans don’t have the same problem. But it’s true for most humans, so let’s quit lying about it. If you doubt me - why else are you over here reading this right now - is it really a legitimate, earned, rest break from doing something useful?
Published on August 14, 2007 at 7:26 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/174.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: Omitted scenes
NaNoWriMo is over and a new month calls. Will Shetterly celebrates with suggestions for dealing with writer’s block. One of them: “ask whether you can omit the scene that’s frustrating you.”
About six months ago I picked up The Far Side of the World - the original of the intriguingly different Master and Commander movie - for a dollar. It seemed like a good deal. I didn’t mean to go to sea. But I enjoyed the book for its depiction of the friendship of men, and next thing I knew I was reading the series from the start, and now I’m up to book 14, and I’m rather thankful that the author, Patrick O’Brian, didn’t live long enough to get far beyond twenty of them.
And he - here’s my point - was very good at omitting scenes. He would just tell you the story up to the point where it was clear the heroes were going to succeed at whatever they were doing, and in the next sentence they’d be back in London starting their next adventure. I kinda like that and I’ll find it a freeing idea if I ever make time to write fiction again. Freeing is probably what we’re talking about when we talk about dealing with writer’s block?
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Published on December 1, 2006 at 11:22 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/omitted-scenes.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: Give in to writer’s block
Gayle Brandeis, interviewed for NPR on writer’s block: “I don’t fight it. I give in to it and trust that the words will surface again when they need to.” I found this while following up a different quote on emdot’s entertaining blog.
Published on November 25, 2006 at 9:14 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/give-in-to-writers-block.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: I am going to write a really bad book
It feels hard to write this tonight. It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I worked the whole day. It’s not wr*t*r’s bl*ck. It’s just what it is. But I told you what I think about all that the other day so let’s move on.
Changing the subject: when you do find a block, there are ways past it and Old Scrote describes one of them over here and I agree with every word, so it feels easy to write this tonight.
Published on November 24, 2006 at 10:28 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/i-am-going-to-write-a-really-bad-book.html
Writer's block, an owner's guide: Seven strategies
It’s a long time since we had a look at one of these lists, so here are 7 strategies from Christopher Knight that can “help you achieve the zone of flow when it comes to writing your best works.” They’re a little different, and I liked the thought of writing “when you’re beyond tired.” We’ve all done it. It’s good to have permission.
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Published on June 27, 2006 at 11:42 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/seven-strategies.html
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