Today I’d like to welcome Alan Orloff to the blog. Alan is a fellow Midnight Ink author with a new release–Diamonds for the Dead. He’s also writing a new series for Midnight Ink–The Last Laff series. Thanks so much for coming by today, Alan!
Thanks Elizabeth, for inviting me to guest post today. I love your blog and I totally agree, Mystery Writing Is Murder.
Sometimes, the words don’t seem to flow. And sometimes, even when the words are appearing on your computer screen, they seem dull and lifeless.
How do you get past “stuck?”
Try these tips:
Work on a different section of your manuscript. Jump to the end, or skip to a scene where you know exactly what’s going to happen. The words might flow more freely.
Do something else. Stop banging your head against the wall and trust your subconscious to sneak up on the problem from a different angle. Watch TV, go to the movies, lace up your jogging shoes and get some exercise. If you’re looking for something a little more torturous, clean your house. After an hour of scrubbing floors, I’m ready to get back to writing.
Re-read some of your other work. Pull out some polished examples of your writing and give them another read. You did it once, you can do it again.
Read someone else’s work. Find a book by an author you admire. Read it to absorb the flow and energy of something you connect with.
Type another author’s work. If just reading a book isn’t enough, try typing a few pages of someone else’s work, just to get the creative juices flowing. When you’re done, be sure to delete it all. I’m not coming to visit you in prison.
Write something in a different genre. If you are a crime writer, try writing something that’s humorous or autobiographical or features talking goldfish.
Write in a different style or voice. Switch from first person to third (or vice versa) to shake things up. Note: You should never attempt to write in second person. That’s just weird.
Write in a different form. If you write prose, try poetry. If you write novels, try a short story (or a cell phone novel). Or log some serious time on Twitter.
Read a book on writing. Stephen King’s On Writing or Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird are a couple of my favorites.
Mix up your routine. Try listening to music (or a different kind of music), or try writing at a different time of day than usual. You could also take a lesson from Elizabeth and try writing wherever you happen to find yourself (in a car wash or at Girl Scout events or at the park).
Bribe your muse. Promise your muse you’ll do something nice for him/her after you get a few scenes written. Lunch with a friend, a round of golf, or a box of chocolates have been known to work. (So I’ve heard).
If these don’t work, I have one more suggestion. Tell yourself that you’re on a tight deadline and your draft is due tomorrow.
That’ll get you writing. (So I’ve heard.)
Alan Orloff’s debut mystery, DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD, was published this month by Midnight Ink. The first in his new series, KILLER ROUTINE – A Last Laff Mystery, featuring Channing Hayes, a stand-up comic with a tragic past, will be out Spring 2011 (also from Midnight Ink). For more info, visit www.alanorloff.com
Great advice, Alan! But how do you get past “lazy”? That’s how I’m feeling today.
Great advice. I especially love the one about bribing the muse – that usually works for me.
Congratulations on the new release. These tips are great advice, Alan.
Thanks,Elizabeth, for hosting Alan and his knowledge.
Alan – Thanks for your advice for getting past the “stuck” point. I’ve found that doing something different (reading a different kind of book and changing my routine are the most helpful) really does help to get my creativity back when I can’t find it anywhere.
Elizabeth – Thanks for hosting Alan; isn’t he a wonderful “house guest?”
I love these! Thanks!
I usually find ‘dull and lifeless’ means I’ve hit a characterization snag. Sometimes writing the scene from another POV helps (since I write a lot of romantic suspense, I always have the obligatory minimum 2 POV characters.
Or I realize I’m on the page, not the characters.
I’ve only jumped “ahead” once (being very linear and anal about chronology) and that was technically prologue material, where I’d opened with a character writing a letter. I figured I ought to know what it said, so when I was working out some plot points about 2/3 of the way through the book, I wrote it.
Lorel – Thanks! Try a nap. That always works for me.
Ingrid – Thanks! I’ve learned that honey works a lot better on muses than vinegar.
Journaling W – Thanks! I don’t know about you, but I seem to get “stuck” more often when the weather’s nice.
Alex – Thanks!
Margot – I tried putting my fingers in a vise, but that just hurt my fingers. Oh, and sorry about the wet towels I left on the floor when I was your blogguest.
Lisa – If my books sound like Robert B. Parker’s, you’ll know why!
Kristen – Thanks!
Terry – Jumping around is hard for me. I usually forget who said what when, and then I’ve got stuff out of sequence. That’s a chore to clean up.
Elizabeth – Thanks so much for inviting me! I love your blog and am happy to join in the fun! And I promise I’ll clean up my mess when I leave.
Just what I needed today. Thanks, Alan.
Great tips, Alan.
Excellent tips, Alan. I usually start rereading books by authors I admire. That seems to usually refire the engines. Watching anything by Aaron Sorkin (especially The West Wing) never hurts either. Then again, a good wallow in ‘stuck’ accompanied by self-pitying moaning also passes the time.
L. Diane – Never get stuck! Wow! I got stuck writing this blog post.
Paul – Glad to help getting you unstuck.
Helen – Thanks! I know, it’s like discovering a whole new writer!
Paulo – I think I’d end up tasting the table or something. I used to lie on the floor and look at stuff upside down. That was pretty cosmic.
Terri – Cleaning my house is always a last resort. If you saw my house, you’d agree.
Laura – Thanks! For some strange reason, my muse only likes dark chocolate. Like me. Hmmm.
Elspeth – Thanks! Whenever I watch The West Wing, I always have to rewind and replay sections. They talk so fast! And you’re right, wallowing always seems to get short shrift.
Thanks for the tips! “Type another author’s work” is a new one for me, but I can see where it makes sense. You become much more aware of how they put the words together. Very inspiring!
Thanks so much for blogging here today, Alan! As Margot said, you make a great house guest for the blog. :)
Alan, by employng some of those same tricks, I never get stuck!
There have been times when I’ve gone back to re-read an earlier manuscript and don’t even remember writing some of it. That’s fun.
Great post, Alan.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Alan, This is a fantastic collection of ideas!
Sometimes I look at a passage I’m stuck on a think of senses I’m not using, particularly those that are less common (like taste and smell) and start trying to employ them.
Does the air have a subtle taste? What does the surface of that table feel like?
Sometimes this adds something. Sometimes it produces such silly, forced ideas that getting back to work is a relief.
Thanks for an interesting and helpful post!
GOod tips and I needed that to come up with an ending. Srubbed some floors and vacuumed yesterday, read on a good book and wouldn’t you know? By bedtime, I had the words!
Excellent tips, Alan! I often do your first suggestion, working on a different section. I’ve also been known to bribe my muse with chocolate, though not often. Okay, fine, yes I do that all the time. ;o)
Thanks, Elizabeth, for hosting Alan!
Nice to know others do the same things I do.
I have Bird by Bird next to the computer for inspiration too.
Even if I can’t get my mins around the words in the novel I blog or write another book review, anything to keep the grey matter turning over
Mark
Some really fine advice. All work and no other diversions can get Jack or Jill stuck in a rut.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Mark – Yes! Blogging is a good way to distract the mind. And who cares how much sense it makes, right? It’s only a blog :)
Arlee – I love distractions. If only I could convince myself that my WIP was a diversion!
Ol’ Sil’ – Thanks! Hope some of these will work, if you ever get stuck.
Roni – Thanks! If you have advance warning, don a helmet!
Great points here, Alan – thanks for sharing!
Boy, Alan, you sure are getting around blogger world these days. Good for you! I totally bailed out on the blog book tour idea for fear of running out of things to say. You seem to be doing great with that.
For me, getting stuck at some point in a manuscript is inevitable. It takes awhile, but eventually I figure out what the problem is, fix it, and move on. Maybe a part of my brain uses that excuse to give me a few days (or weeks) of down time.
Patricia – I think I’m going to run out of things to say soon. Then I’ll switch over to limericks.
Cleo – I like your idea, but suddenly I have a hankering for grilled tuna. Pass the wasabi!
Elizabeth – Thanks again for hosting a stop on my blog tour. Your blog is fantastic, as are your readers–they’ve got some great comments!
Great tips! I’m bookmarking this post for when I inevitably hit that wall. :)
“Write something in a different genre. If you are a crime writer, try writing something that’s humorous or autobiographical or features talking goldfish.”
Alan – I believe you have just invented a new cozy mystery sub-genre. Hardboiled talking goldfish who solves crimes. Fedora, cheap Scotch, cute guppy for a secretary. Only issue would be…how do I move the dang aquarium around the town so Mr. Finn can grill fishy suspects and solve the murders? I’ll work on it. In the meantime, this is a seriosuly great list to keep on hand for helping me get out of those mental traffic jams in my twisted mind.
~Cleo
Elizabeth and Alan, thanks for an interesting and informative post.
Type another author’s work…what a fun idea.
Excellent advice. I feel inspired to dust it off and get going with it again. :O)
This definitely helped me along my way. I’m currently attempting to write a novella and haven’t even been able to type out a first line yet. It’s highly frustrating but I’m doing the best I can. I think I may try bribing my muse.