Wrestling with the Wrath of Writer's Block

Staring at a blank page and not having the words flow the way they did last week, or even yesterday, is every writer's nightmare. Writer's block can feel paralyzing, especially with a deadline fast approaching, and it can often leave writers wondering if they should give up on their craft. Some would say it's a rite of passage. Others would argue it just takes shaking things up.
To help out, I tracked down willing writers of various genres who have faced the plague of writer's block, and who were willing to share their cures or tips for preventative maintenance.

Novelist: Hildie McQueen

Writer's Block, or "Where was I going with this" syndrome affects all authors at some point. While working on my latest book The Rancher, I became so frustrated. My poor hero, Grant Gentry, sat on his horse without a clear destination and I thought, well crud, nobody wants to read this boring crap. So I did what I normally do, I walked away from the story.
That is my secret. When you hit a brick wall, turn around and walk away. For me there's nothing like a drive down long country roads to clear the mind and get the story back on the right path. Sometimes I even invite the hero or heroine along.
It's amazing what drives in rural Georgia does to the characters in my head. They loosen up and start talking. Maybe it's the fresh air, or maybe they're afraid I'm going to kill them off?

Playwright: Everett Robert

As a playwright, the most important thing for me to write is dialogue. When I'm struggling to hear a character's voice, I'll often stop whatever I'm doing, turn off the music or noise and go to a coffee shop, walk around a college campus, or go to a retail store. I find that writer's block doesn't come from a lack of "ideas," but rather a lack of "voice." Listening to other voices helps me tune in my muse to the character voices I'm struggling to hear.

Novelist: Julie Benson

When I wrote Bet On a Cowboy I suffered from writer's block. The charismatic man I loved enough to give his own story clammed up on me. My heroine wouldn't share her internal conflict with me. I feared I'd miss my deadline for my first book written under contract. At a workshop I attended with Jayne Ann Krentz and Susan Elizabeth Phillips, they said to keep writing until the story makes sense. Trusting them, that's what I did. When I hit the major love scene on page 137, suddenly everything made sense. I knew the answer -- my heroine wanted children but didn't think she'd ever have a meaningful relationship. I added a scene at the beginning with her checking into having a child through artificial insemination. The rest of the book practically wrote itself from there. Now when writer's block hits I know that as long as I keep writing, eventually everything will make sense.

Fiction Writer: Daniel Sherrier

Exercise is a wonderful remedy for writer's block. Writing, obviously, is a sedentary activity, but being sedentary is how cobwebs form in your brain. That might help if you're writing about cobwebs, but otherwise, they'll just get you stuck. So, go out for a run, take a kickboxing class, or even just a brisk walk might do the trick. You'll come back to your work feeling energized, and you'll have done something your body needs anyway. Your entire self wins -- and your book does, too.

Ghostwriter and Novelist: Heather Hummel

As a ghostwriter, my clients often provide me with the basic concepts for their books, sometimes even an outline and some material. However, it's up to me to organize and write the rest of the material to complete their book for them. To do this, and to write my own novels, I've always had two effective muses that prevent writer's block.
One is cycling, as I have been known to write entire chapters in my head while pedaling on long bike rides. I see my laptop as the tool for putting the words down, but much of my writing actually formulates in my head while riding. (The trick is remembering them later when I go to type the words on my laptop.) For this reason, I tend to ride alone, so I can quiet my mind with only the whirl of tires on the pavement beneath me.
My other muse is photography. Because I'm also a land and seascape photographer, I find the cross-creative roles feed on one another. If I'm feeling stuck with a chapter, I load up my car with my camera gear and my two dogs (they make great assistants) and head out to spend time photographing Mother Nature. By the time I return home, I am always refreshed and ready to write again. Having the mix of visual and written careers keeps me motivated on both fronts.

If you have a favorite muse, please share them in the comments below.

Follow Heather Hummel on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HeatherHummel
This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post. 

Q&A With Author Darcie Chan

Darcie Chan is the famed author of the eBook breakaway sensation The Mill River Recluse: A Novel, and the sequel, The Mill River Redemption: A Novel. Set in the fictional sleepy town of Mill River, Vermont both novels portray the deep complexities of its small town characters and their bigger than life problems. I read both books back to back, and quite frankly, I was glad to have waited to read The Mill River Recluse: A Novel until right before I was given an ARC of The Mill River Redemption: A Novel because I don't know how fans waited for the sequel! Darcie was kind enough to put her author pen down for a few moments to answer some of my have-to-know question.





 
HH: What do you think is the real reason there is a trend of attorneys who become successful authors?

DC: Probably the main reasons that lots of attorneys become authors are that attorneys are required to do a huge amount of writing, and that people inclined to pursue a career in law (as opposed to a career in the sciences) are more likely to enjoy it. Some lawyers do more writing than others, of course, but when I was working as an attorney, my job was primarily to draft environmental and natural resource legislation. Writing was something I did about 90 percent of each work day, and I really loved that part of my job.

That said, legal writing is very different than writing fiction. Both require creativity (which is something that many people might find surprising, given how "dry" and rigid legal language can be), but writing fiction is far more freeing and fun for the imagination. At least, that's how it was for me, and that's the reason I started working on a novel once I'd settled into my legal job. I wanted to spend more time with a different kind of creative outlet, one that I'd always enjoyed.

HH: Father O'Brien...a priest with a penchant for pilfering silver spoons? How did that concept come to you?

DC: Strangely, I remember the exact moment I thought of it. I was in the process of thinking through my concept for a first novel, working out the plot and naming characters. I liked the idea of an older priest being involved, since he would be an ideal person to know what was going on with lots of people in a small town, but I wanted him to be quirky. I'd just eaten a yogurt, and I was staring at the spoon in my hand while I pondered what quirk the priest should have. The "spoon problem" suddenly seemed so obvious and funny, particularly because a spoon is such a mundane object to most people, but to Father O'Brien, it would be simultaneously precious and a source of shame.

HH: The Mill River Recluse was one of the unusual breakaway Indie hits. Has your approach changed with both writing and marketing The Mill River Redemption via Ballantine?

DC: In terms of writing the first draft, it wasn't all the different, except that Redemption flowed onto the page in about six months (versus the 2.5 years it took me to finish a first draft of Recluse). I was working under a contract deadline for Redemption, but the story took shape and came out so much easier, which I attribute to having been through the process of writing a novel once before. The editing, though, was much improved for Redemption. (It was basically nonexistent for Recluse, which wasn't professionally edited until Ballantine picked up the rights to it and reissued it.) I could see how my editor's suggestions really improved my writing and the story. For that and other reasons, I truly believe Redemption is a stronger book than my first.

The marketing of The Mill River Redemption is being handled largely by Ballantine, which is a great relief, because I'm no marketing expert! The marketing that I did for The Mill River Recluse as a self-published e-book was basically a series of cheap trial-and-error features and online ads that I designed myself. I had no idea what would be effective, if anything. This time around, I have a wonderful marketing manager assigned by my publisher who is coordinating a whole campaign for my books. I appreciate her so much, as well as everyone else at Ballantine who has worked to introduce my second novel to the world!

I should also add that I'm still heavily involved in doing publicity for my books. I'm finding that now, though, my publicist is able to access many more review sources and media outlets than I could have as a self-published author. She's also taken charge of arranging and coordinating appearances and interviews. The happy result is that I've had more time to focus on writing and more time for my family. I truly couldn't be more thrilled with the supportive and collaborative team I have at Ballantine!

HH: There are mixed reviews, so to speak, about Kirkus Reviews, who were instrumental in helping The Mill River Recluse gain recognition. What advice do you have for authors about approaching them for their own reviews?

DC: I used a Kirkus review because, for indie authors, very few professional review services exist. Yes, there are lots of great and popular blogs that review self-published books, but I was looking for a review of the same caliber as a traditionally published book might receive. Kirkus uses the same standards and reviewers for both traditionally published and self-published books. I was also interested in using pull-quotes from my review (if it turned out to be positive, which was not guaranteed) for marketing purposes, because Kirkus has a highly recognizable and respected name in the book world.

I think a Kirkus review can be very useful for authors, both in the credibility it gives a story and in the industry-wide exposure it provides. I don't have data to quantify how many additional sales of The Mill River Recluse might have been attributable to having the review, but I do believe that the review provided some measure of reassurance to readers who might not otherwise have taken a chance on a first novel by an unknown author.

HH: I appreciated your approach to The Mill River Redemption as a sequel in that it didn't streamline where Recluse left off. Instead, Redemption weaves over, under, around, backwards and forwards in a very well-crafted manner. What advice do you have for authors who are working on a series?

DC: I'm glad you liked the structure of Redemption! I crafted it that way because I wanted to tell a new story while imparting the "feel" of Mill River from my first book. I also wanted to involve several of the town's residents in this new novel. I thought the best way to do both of those things was to write a new story that partially overlapped, and was interwoven, with the one in my first novel.

Since I've only written two books and the first draft of a third, I'm not sure I have solid advice for a series just yet, but I'm very concerned with character progression and consistency. I'd like for my characters -- if they're featured in more than one book -- to learn and grow as people from one story to the next, but it's also important that their personalities are consistent, without any dramatic or unexplained shifts in their thoughts or behavior.

The other aspect I tried to focus on was storytelling. I tried to build a fresh, new, emotion-filled story around strong characters -- both new ones and the holdovers from Recluse. As a reader, I find that compelling, interesting stories, coupled with characters and a setting I love, keep me returning to books in a series. As a writer, I'm hoping with everything in me that readers find my Mill River books to have those same characteristics.

Thank you, Darcie!
Read my review of The Mill River Redemption on the New York Journal of Books.

Follow Heather Hummel on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HeatherHummel
This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post.
 
 

Guest Q&A with Author Van Heerling

I invited author Van Heerling to my blog as a special guest today to celebrate the release of his second novel Dreams of Eli. Thank goodness he agreed to show up!

Q. DREAMS OF ELI completely deviates from your first book, MALAIKA. What traits, if any, carry over between the two?

Dreams of Eli takes place during the 1800s while MALAIKA is present day Africa. They are indeed far apart, however, I would say that the general tone of the stories carry over. The protagonists in each story are deeply lost and flawed in their own ways. Although Dreams of Eli is quite disturbing in some parts, I have had readers contact me, bawling their eyes out after each story. I mean this in the best of ways.

Q. You have over 100 reviews for MALAIKA. What good/bad/ugly advice do you have for authors regarding reviews? 

Reviews are interesting. The advice I would appreciate hearing would be as follows: don’t get hung up on the unpleasant reviews. Read them once. Allow them to ruffle your feathers if this is the case, and then go back once you are cooled off and read them once more. During this second read, look for legitimate criticism. If there is any, allow it to improve your future work. I do this with my bad reviews. It takes some discipline. Ease into it. Above all else never respond in a negative way to someone that has left a bad review. Doing this reflects badly upon the author. Take your lumps.

As for the good reviews, remember them for when you doubt your talents. Go back and read them as many times as you feel is necessary. Know that these are YOUR readers. These are the people that want you to write. So write to them. If your readers contact you directly, make it a point to respond and thank them.

Q. If you could take 6 months off and travel anywhere you wanted to write your next novel, where would you go?

Mars.

Q. Which do you prefer to write: narrative or dialog? 

Narrative. First person narrative in fact. My absolute favorite way to tell a story is from the perspective of an untrustworthy narrator. What I mean by untrustworthy is unpredictable even to the character itself. For me it is unapologetic and allows the human condition to take hold.

Q. If you wrote a children's book, would the main character be a human or animal or otherwise? 

Human. I actually have two children’s books finished but not released. The first is of a little boy, called “The Bee Stomper.” The other is of an eight-year-old girl. One day I will release them, maybe. The latter will be a thirty book series. Yes, thirty.

Q. We both pride ourselves on being original thinkers. Which original quote of yours will become famous?

“In this life, seek your own answers, and quote yourself for a change.” It’s funny because people quote me.

Heather, thank you for the chat. It’s no secret that I think you are one of the lights in our darkening world. Shine.

Visit Van's website/blog at: http://www.vanheerlingbooks.com/

Jen Tucker Dishes on Harry's Chocolate Shop

She is the proverbial salt of the earth, and now Jen Tucker's latest memoir, The Day I Lost My Shaker of Salt, (is that cover not the best!?) has officially launched! I'm the lucky and honored one who gets to host Jen on my blog today. We decided to do something a little different because, well, that's how we are...so, with that, I turn the table, sans the salt, over to Jen...

­­Yippee!  I’m so excited to kick off this blog tour for The Day I Lost My Shaker of Salt with you, Heather.  Thank you very much for hosting me today.  For those who do not know, Heather and I are not only dear friends, she is also my editor.  Thank you, HH, from the bottom of my wine glass.  Heather and I batted around ideas for me to blog about, when she suggested I tell you about a little place that means a lot to me.  Why I haven’t opened up about it before, I have no earthly clue.  Enjoy!    

Home of the Great Indoorsmen

     It never fails.  When my husband, Mike, and I meet new people, they’re curious to know where we first met.  When we divulge the tidbit we met in a bar, we’re usually met with a pleasant smile and nod of the head.  Similar to the look I imagine receiving if I told them we met in prison.  After revealing the small detail that we first laid eyes on each other at Harry’s Chocolate Shop, my how the tables turn. We are the recipients of slaps on our backs, jovial smiles, and sometimes utterances of, “Hey!  I love that place!  That’s where I met my wife too!”  All of a sudden, somehow meeting your true love in a bar isn’t as shady as previously determined, is it?

Mike and I may have—ahem—changed over the years, but one constant remains, and that is Harry’s itself.  Photos of Purdue University legends such as Bob Griese and Drew Brees, gaze down from the walls to observe the shenanigans of students on any given evening.  Graffiti from days gone by litter walls and the ceiling, like little time capsule tattoos of graduating seniors bidding their favorite watering hole farewell.  The Go Go’s, Eric Clapton and Bon Jovi still blare away on the jukebox, and the bartenders still skip those songs every chance they get so they do not have to listen to them.  Bartenders continue to wear shirts, which encourage you to, “Go Ugly Early.”  This has a debatable meaning, yet every alumni thinks they own the secret decoder ring with the translation.  Owners Herschel and Mary Cook can be found chatting with loyal patrons and enjoying conversations with returning alumni whom they welcome back with open arms.  Last, yet never least, we have the legendary Fishbowl.  The Fishbowl table, located in the front window, is usually occupied by a group of newly minted, legal-aged drinkers attempting to “go Indoorsman.”  Going Indoorsman means you park at this particular table, facing a large picture window were a passersby can gawk at you while you drink massive quantities of beer from 11am until last call.  May God have mercy on your livers, young lads.   

    Mike and I attend a reunion that takes place each fall at Harry’s called, Kramerpalooza.  The best of bartenders, barflies, and waitresses who once slung and sloshed drinks in this establishment, descend upon the place and take over the top floor.  Through the years, our dear friend, Jen Kramer (Gorgeous, right?), has worked her tush off to bring us all back together for one night of sin and debauchery.  Okay, okay it’s not that seedy.  It’s more like a bunch of forty-somethings, who complain about their mortgages, joint inflammation and taxes, while trying to prove they can still handle endless glasses of Jack & Coke. 

     We reminisce over each other’s glory days, relive über embarrassing moments, and tell soapbox tales of nights that shall forever live in infamy.  We lay it all there, for everyone to see, without fear of judgment or rejection.  This group has witnessed the best of times and the worst of times together since our twenties.  Although many of us have traded in barn dances for diaper duty we remain closely devoted to one another.  We are a crew, who knows where all the skeletons are buried in each other’s shameful college years, yet would never tell another soul outside of these plastered walls.  In laymen’s terms; we are family.

                                                

          And as a family, for the first time, we buried one of our own this year.   George Owen lived a long and full life alongside his bride, Mary.  They were surrogate parents to numerous students that attended Purdue University over the decades, including me.  Including our entire gang.  On summer evenings, George and Mary sat across the street from Harry’s on a park bench so they could chat with as many students as possible.  They welcomed us into their homes for cookouts.  They attended our weddings and baby’s first birthday parties.  You could confide in George, but make no mistake.  He loved making you the butt of a good joke, and it was always meant with love.  He was a man among men, who contributed his heart and soul to each member of our little Kramerpalooza group in some way, shape or form.   

     There was no funeral; no graveside service this winter when George left this earth.  Instead, he was remembered as his final wishes dictated.  A gathering took place, with those who loved him dearly, at Harry’s Chocolate Shop.  Friends arrived from across the miles to raise a beer in George’s honor.  We said goodbye to the gentle giant, with the boisterous laugh and bigger than life personality, just as he requested.  It was difficult for me to bid farewell to George, who entered my life when I thought I had it all figured out at the ripe old age of 21.  Gosh, was I dumb back then, or what?! 

     Kramerpalooza will commence this October; our 19^th anniversary.  Rather than shed tears for George, or pine away for moments long gone, we will again honor his memory by simply occupying the same space as we do each year, and raise our glasses in remembrance.  Then it will be back to the festivities at hand.  We’ll tell the same old stories, relive the same old moments of foolishness, and continue to love each other as we have for over two decades.  They say you can’t choose your family.  I believe in this case, we have chosen.  And we’ve chosen wisely.

Jen Tucker has never met a gluten free cupcake that she didn’t like.  A former teacher and educator, she worked with children in school, hospital, and enrichment settings for many years. In her years at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, it was Jen’s job to bring the “hands on fun” into the visiting exhibitions in the galleries.  Jen broke away from writing children’s books and thematic units in 2011 with her memoir, “The Day I Wore my Panties Inside Out” which was a semifinalist in the humor category in the 2011 Goodreads Book Awards. She is a monthly guest blogger at the website, Survival for Blondes. Jen lives in West Lafayette, Indiana with her husband, Mike, and their three children. 

You can purchase Jen’s latest book, The Day I Lost My Shaker of Salt, here.  You can also find her on Twitter, Facebook, her blog or on her website at Princess with a Pen.