I had the most frustrating week. There I sat, my laptop open in front of me with my story document open. The little cursor was flashing, ready and waiting for me to add more words into it.
I couldn't find them, though!
For the life of me, I kept thinking, thinking, and thinking; but nothing was coming to me. It was mocking me, that little flashing line. I was ready to teach that line just what I was capable of, when one of the characters gestured to me.
I found the reason for my story's resistance: I was listening to the wrong person!
I was so intent on doing it a certain way, I was ignoring other options. When I finally started listening, I was able to write. After that, I added a few thousand words to my document, happily shutting down my computer to head to work afterward.
It seems silly, since I often express the need to listen to the characters; they really do have great ideas! Their musings give great work; yet I wasn't listening myself.
My idea was good, but his was better. And really, if he doesn't want to do what I want him to, he won't.
It's little moments like that which help me remember to practice what I preach.
LOL This post is even funnier when I know who the character is XD But yeah, sometimes the key to getting unstuck is something as simple as writing from another character's POV, or abandoning a difficult scene for later and writing another part. Muses can be so fickle.
ReplyDeleteThey can. They drive me batty sometimes, and can often lead to some strange social situations when I'm still in 'their' head and comment something...
DeleteOr when you're yelling at them to "Shut up, and leave me alone already!" in public? Yeah, that can get pretty awkward, lol.
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