When the Victim is ... Me

I’m at one of those stages where I want to murder something. I care nothing for society’s rules or my natural aversion to anything illegal. I am as possessed as one of the rabid psychotic killers in crime books. I want to pick up a viciously sharpened weapon and stab away my frustration and anger and hate.

No, it isn’t in response to the automated helpline for my internet provider, the horrific discovery my favourite clothes shop no longer stocks my size of jeans, or even the fact I can’t book my summer holiday by credit card without having to pay an extra 2% charge.

*breathes deeply*

It’s my own problem: *I* am the victim. Or rather, my current WIP is.

I’ve hit one of those anguished and frustrating times when The Writer’s Block has hit. I’ve going through some fairly stressful family times, plus a period of considering where my writing sits in among the rest of my life and career. That is, everything’s been thrown up in the air and is coming down again in painful hailstones! But one of the casualties of this confusion is my current WIP.

I’m bored with it. Uninspired. The characters are bland, the plot pathetic, the conflict tenuous. In fact, I hate it. I hate its deadline hanging over my head, its expectations glaring at me every time I power up the laptop. Like I said, I want to murder it!

Anyway, this blog post isn’t about whining, and I dare you to find *any* author who doesn’t go through this now and then. Instead, I just wanted to share some great advice a fellow author recently gave me. I’m not saying I’m taking all of it – I’m poor at that, according to my parents LOL – but some of it definitely kickstarted me.

Idea 1: change something in your writing environment (use a different word processing program, or dictate the story, or hand-write it, or even change your font face and color so it looks different on your screen.)

This can have an astonishing effect. If I change font, it’s like looking at a whole new story – and one that looks like it’s been written by someone else entirely LOL. Seriously, I start to look at it as a Reader, not the Author. It both spurs my interest and gives me a much-needed, new view.

Idea 2: change a plot point or re-cast a character.

I find this often happens organically: if a story’s flagging, I (petulantly) push one of the characters in an unexpected way and the whole dynamic changes. Sometimes it’s a disaster – like the time my Hero suddenly started talking rather too much like my Villain – but often it’s enough to “re-birth” the main characters.

Idea 3: Aim for 90% effort rather than 100% effort. A study done on runners showed that runners who were coached to aim for 90% effort did better than runners who were told to give it their all.

This makes me shiver with fear. I usually aim for 110%, you know? LOL. But the advice provokes thought. Try too hard, and it starts to show in the text. Sometimes I should step back and seek a simpler, more realistic path through the story. Complexity can always be added in. But if the pressure is eased, I can start to feel the flow and the “taste” of the story again.

Plus, a 90% effort means you always have something else in reserve!

Idea 4: Find Quick Wins!

It’s tremendously satisfying to mark off something on a To Do list. I often get bogged down by The Whole Story, but this advice tells me to chip away at pieces as I go – a few more words today; the hop to the next plot point; development at my leisure of a subsidiary character etc.

If I can make a Big Tick at the end of the day – well, I feel I’ve achieved *something*!

So now, Clare … you can step away from the Lead pipe in the Conservatory and return to your typing LOL.

With great thanks to my friend and superb m/m author Jordan Castillo Price :).