I’ve run into a particular type of writer’s block with many of my clients that I call “reader anticipation.” It means that the writer is so focused on anticipating what the reader wants, or how they will react, that they freeze up during the creative process and can’t move forward.
Monthly Archives
July 2014
Inspire Portal
by Jo Malby
http://inspireportal.com/
Described as “wisdom and wellness for conscious creatives,” Inspire Portal is built for readers looking for inspiration, healing, creative juice, and self-empowerment. Articles range from Roddy Doyle’s Ten Rules for Fiction to How Tai Chi Can Improve Your Writing to 10 Creative Benefits of Spending Time in Nature and much more. As Jo says, “Inspire Portal is a place to inspire your work and world, awakening you to who you really are, behind the protective layers and masks that hide your glorious, innate being.”
One of the stickiest places for writers is when they want to move their characters from Point A to Point B in a story. Sometimes Point A and B are physical places. They might need to get their character from California to China. And sometimes A and B are two points in time, as when their character has to go from high school graduation to an end-of-the-summer scene.
These transitions can be tough for writers. Number one, because there isn’t a whole lot of emotional investment in the transition. It’s just a necessary part of moving the plot along. Number two, most writers tend to overwrite these transition scenes, trying to flesh them out when they don’t need to be fleshed.
How many times have you beaten yourself up for not doing more? And how much of the time do you disregard your small accomplishments because they’re not the big goal you promised yourself?
Have you noticed that when you bring this mindset to the writing of your novel you end up feeling tired, discouraged, and sometimes hopeless?