Sometimes the words don’t come. They are there but stuck inside your head. They press against your brain, they even knock against it. But they don’t know how to make it to the page. Ahhhhh!! What do you do? I mean, yeah, you can see in our head what you want to write (we’re talking about fiction here, story writing). You see the scene. You might think it would be easy to write it out because you see it so clearly. But no.
How does that happen? Why do writers get stuck like this? I’m not talking about writers block. Writers block is when you can’t think of anything. There is nothing running through your brain. Nothing. But, with the situation mentioned in the above paragraph, the story is there, the words are there. They are just in your head rolling around.
- Perhaps you are trying too hard to get the scene just right.
- You are having a difficult time choosing the right words that will have the greatest impact on the reader. Well, you can come up with what you think is the best way to write something and someone will still be disappointed. Why? Because we can’t please everyone.
A free write is the best way to get passed this word stuckness. Just write everything down as it comes to you without worrying about the best way to say what you you want to say. Spill it all out there. When you’re done, walk away from it for a little while. Then go back, read through your free write. You will be amazed at how easy everything comes to you. You will know what to keep, what to change, and what to add.
Me? I like to think about it. Roll the scene around in my head and try out different ways of starting it (or continuing it if I’m in the middle of a scene). I have taken time off of writing for a few days, so I can think my story through. I am most comfortable with this option. I do the free write too sometimes. It just depends.
WRITE TIME AND AGAIN 