I Got Nothing

Some days, I got nothing.

Have you ever faced a moment in writing a story when the characters or plot runs flat no matter how hard you try to work it out? Face it, we’ve all been there before. You’re lost in the maze and you can’t find an escape.

What do you do when you get stuck on a work of fiction?

How do you handle not so much writer’s block, but plot block?

Writing a novel is a tedious and sometimes exasperating process. Typically, the middle of a novel is the place where writers say they struggle the most. You wrote a great beginning and probably thought of a stunning  ending, but the details of the middle are bogged down.  Now it’s time to tie them together.

 Conflict is the answer most of the time, but how do you get past plotting problems and writer’s block?

Without conflict, you will never make it past the half-way mark.  No conflict, no story.

Here are some other ideas to help you not get stuck in the middle.

1. A critique group:

Nothing helps writer’s block more than bouncing your ideas off of others.

2. Equip yourself. Plan.

I am a great believer in the visuals of novel planning. I get hold of paper, colored pens, pins and post-its. I draw a timeline for the novel, divided it into sections. I dredged up all the notes I’d scribbled down for themes, scenes, dialogue, suggestive ideas that I’d thought in the past I might like to fit into the narrative, and I started to write them in on the timeline, roughly where I thought I’d like them to occur.

Make a Powerpoint slide show.

3. Write.

Look at your plan constantly and look at the first event through to the end. Think, “How do I want to present this? Who’s narrating it? Where does it happen? What kind of tone?” “What is the premise of my story or main theme?”

4. Don’t be afraid to change things.

I just had to do this with a story that is about to be published. I had to change the main character’s POV. This was tough, but I learned lots.

5. Promise yourself something amazing at the end of it all.

Not the finished manuscript, but your current draft. Promise yourself that when you’ve reached the target, you can have what you most want in the world. If that doesn’t work than make a promise after you finish a few chapter.

The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg

Pencil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Enjoy this reading of the The Pencil.

Symbolism in Stories

Stories take us to imaginary places where ordinary objects like pencils, flowers, and even animals or people can symbolize higher ideas.

Symbolism is often used by writers to enhance their writing. A well places symbol can give a literary work more richness and color and can make the meaning of the story deeper.

In literature, symbolism can take many forms.

• A figure of speech where an object, person, or situation has another meaning other than its literal meaning.
• The actions of a character, word, action, or event that have a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story.

Take for example the story The Pencil. Allan Ahlberg weaves a great story rich with symbolic meaning.

The Pencil
Written by Allan Ahlberg
Illustrated by Bruce Ingman
(SLJ: K to Grade 2)

Imagine a comical world that comes to life when a lonely pencil starts to draw. “One day that little pencil made a move, shivered slightly, quivered somewhat…and began to draw.”

Gregory and the Magic Line
Written and Illustrated by Dawn Piggot
Ages 9 to 12

‘Take me for a walk!’ cries the line in Gregory’s red pencil. So Gregory draws the line straight, and draws it thick, and draws it thin, and draws it in reds and yellows and blues and mixes them all together. But the line gets bored so Gregory draws squiggles, zigzags, squares, circles and triangles that turn into houses and suns and pyramids and wonderful animals and people with funny faces. Gregory finds himself swooping and diving with the line over more and more exciting scenes, until the line gets tired and Gregory puts it back in the red pencil and says goodnight. A wonderfully fresh and inventive story that tells children about shapes and colors and will inspire them to draw, this is the first book by an author-artist whose crayon-like pictures, warm colors and appealing characters have great charm.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

This story blurs the line between the real world and the imagination of a child. Enjoy this rendition of Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Book Ideas

What book are you currently working on? When I get a new idea for a story, I get pretty excited. Fresh ideas are hard to generate and even more difficult to write.

I start the writing process and get through a few chapters and bam! — my story begins to take shape. I usually get to the middle or to a plotting problem before I start to look at other books in the genre I am writing. I wait because I don’t want to be influenced before my idea takes shape.

I go on Amazon.com or some other book publishing site and search. I am trying to find out if my idea is, first of all, similar in some way to other books. I am also looking for originality within that genre. Does my book pose some new question or idea that is unique. Since most writing ideas are just the same old stories retold with a twist, I have no problem finding similar stories. But all writers are always trying to share something new with their readers. That’s when it happens, I get re-inspired and the real work begins.

My new book idea is about … well, a stick boy and stick girl named Dot and Scribble. I love symbolic or literal names that make me think and re-think. The concept for the story is “what would happen if things that were drawn could come to life?” Think about it. Pictures do stir our memories. They do stretch our imaginations and inspire us. My idea is about that. I am just starting, and the story has already gone through several rewrites, but I’m making progress. 

I thought I’d share some of the other books out there that have similar themes to mine. They have really captured my interest.

Harold and the Purple Crayon is a 1955 children’s book by Crockett Johnson. Johnson’s most popular book led to a series of books, and many adaptations.

The protagonist, Harold, is a curious four-year-old boy who, with his purple crayon, has the power to create a world of his own simply by drawing it.

Harold wants to go for a walk in the moonlight, but there is no moon, so he draws one. He has nowhere to walk, so he draws a path. He has many adventures looking for his room. In the end he draws his own house and bed and goes to sleep.