Help! I’m Stuck in the Swamp!

I wrote, titled “Your First Novel,” I gave some vague tips on what to do when you are going through a rough patch in your writing. In this article, I’m going to elaborate. Broadly speaking, there are three main difficulties I experienced over the past two years as a “serious writer”: 1) A lack of ideas, 2) too many ideas, 3) a lack of motivation to put my thoughts down on paper. There are undoubtedly other problems that writers may experience, but without experiencing them for myself, I cannot comment for fear of offering misleading advice.

The first problem is obviously serious, and if you are suffering from it, you can be forgiven for laughing at the second. What is important to note, however, is that the solution to the first often leads to the creation of the second. Back in November ’09, after finishing my first novel, I was completely at a loss for what to do next. To rectify this, I began carrying a notebook and pen with me wherever I went. Any idea that came to mind, no matter how strange or obscure it was, went in there. After about two weeks or so, I got one good enough to use – and so began the novel that is now known as Earldust.

Millions of ideas pass through our every day, so it is important to keep track of the good ones. A notebook and pen is an obvious way to catch them. Some of you more technical minded people, may use a smartphone, or other such handheld device. Use whatever suits you best, just make sure you keep a record of your ideas.

However, once you open the gushing flow of ideas, it’s often hard to slow it down. You could easily end up with fifty or so equally good plots, and not be able to decide which one works best. Writers can spend months wringing their hands, unable to choose. Worse, some of them even try to write several stories at a time, and this is something I highly recommend you don’t try. As Charles Dickens so elegantly put it: “I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.” If you can’t decide which idea to choose for yourself, roll a dice. Veteran published authors take over a year to write a book. If you have fifty plot ideas floting around in your head, it will take you at least fifty years to write them all. Not to mention that the same veteran published authors nearly always have professional editors to help them with the drafting. You can bet that without these resources, it will take you a lot longer.

Choose one idea, then stop carrying your notebook (or whatever other idea tracker you use) around. If you stop recording your ideas, you’ll stop caring. That is assuming, of course, that it is causing the problem for you. When you get immersed in writing the story you have chosen, it will be safe to carry it around again; until you get settled down, however, best leave it at home.

The last problem is the most difficult to tackle, as the reasons for it are varying. This is the dreaded “writers’ block,” and as I said in my last article, the only solution is to eliminate the source of the problem. There are a few things you can do, however, to get your creativity flowing again. Outlining, is an obvious one. If you don’t have the energy to actively start writing the story then plot it out. It doesn’t have to be an extremely long outline, either – just a paragraph per chapter. The notebook can come in handy here as well. When you are busy in the office, or at school, you can scribble down any ideas for a chapter you haven’t yet outlined. It doesn’t have to be a formal outline – there are other, more fun, ways to brainstorm. It could be a web/diagram, graphic organizer, free write, etc.

Again, as I said above, there are probably hundreds of other potential problems out there. Those three are the only ones I experienced myself. If you want any specific help, you can always post a question in our “Writing Discussion” forum.

And as always, the opinions stated above are my own and you are free to disagree with them as you please. They should, however, provide you with food for thought.