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| Writer's Stop (Photo credit: Stephh922) |
Writing Friends
By Chris Lindberg
As a writer, how often do you find yourself encountering
writer’s block, second-guessing your decisions as you create, having trouble
finding the right word, or just plain wondering “is this story going to be any
good when I’m done with it?”
If you’re like me, it happens at least once every time you
sit down to write. Luckily, most of the
time we can dig ourselves out of these ruts: after all, we are writers, and the worlds we’re creating
are our own, right? But on those rare
occasions where the rut is just too deep, your solution just might be to find a
good writing pal.
A few years ago, I was taking a writing class, creating
character studies for what would ultimately be two of the main characters in my
debut novel, Code of Darkness. One of the characters was Mira Givens, a
twenty-something social worker who’d recently moved from her small hometown to
the big city, and makes the fateful decision to befriend a loner who turns out
to be the target of a covert Federal manhunt.
I wanted her to be tough and resourceful for the rigors my story was
going to put her through, but also a believable character: I didn’t want her to
be Wonder Woman or Lara Croft. And of
course she had to be a character the readers were going to care about.
Luckily, my studio class provided a forum for my fellow
writers and I to bounce ideas off one another.
And outside of the sessions, a few of us would get together to help each
other through some of the challenges we faced with our projects. All this resulted in not only Mira becoming
more fleshed out as a character, but many of the other main characters
benefited as well.
For most of us, writing is a solitary act – we tend to have
our best, most creative thoughts when we’re alone, undistracted by other voices
or opinions. But having a writing
friend or two can definitely help get you over those humps you just can’t get
over on your own. And they don’t always
have to be writers: my wife, who claims she doesn’t have a creative bone in her
body, gave me more ideas than she’d probably ever take credit for.
So the next time you find yourself in a writing rut you
can’t get out of, reach out to a writing friend and bounce an idea or two off
of them. I’ll bet you’ll be happy you
did.
_____
Chris Lindberg’s first novel, Code of Darkness, was released in August. You can find out more by visiting www.codeofdarkness.com, or visiting
Facebook and searching on “code of darkness.”
To purchase Code of Darkness in paperback or e-book edition,
please check out: http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=code+of+darkness
Or search “code of darkness” on Amazon or BN.com.
You can also email him at chris@codeofdarkness.com – he’d love to hear from you.
You can also email him at chris@codeofdarkness.com – he’d love to hear from you.
I used to reach out to my dog.
ReplyDeleteLOL...had to react Sheila! Cause my cats love helping me read all the wonderful books I later write about!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I no longer have a dog or a cat. LOL. But my issue is that I'm writing non-fiction and I seem to be the only writer amongst my friends. (Except my son who has decided to he wants to write too.) I have 3 different manuscripts, each at different levels of completion. One could be called a memoir, a very short memoir. One is based on religious thought and the other is a vacation guide. How's that for diversity? I have no idea who to reach out to.
ReplyDelete