“Off that table.”
“Don’t put that there.”
“Mind!”
“Who put that there?”
“Come here, is that on a mat?”
“Don’t bang your transformer on the table please.”
“For goodness sakes watch your buckle!”
These are the joys of having a much wanted, longed for, big, new coffee table in a house with two children and Mr A does it sound familiar to anyone else or is it just me?
For the last year I have been searching for a new coffee table, I’ve never rushed into buying things for the house. If I can’t find just the right thing, I wait until I do. Sometimes this has taken years so patients is required!
As a writer though waiting for just the right idea could mean you end up writing nothing for a year. Although a little jaunt out, a shower or even going to bed has proven to give me some good ideas on current or even new stories. What happens though if the ideas simply won’t flow or your stuck on your current project? Here are few ideas to get the juices flowing again;
1. Leave it alone for a day, do something else gardening, wash the pots, have a nap or read a book a bit of distance can work wonders.
2. Write anyway, anything even if its drivel, it’ll get your brain working and you can polish it up when you do the second and third draft.
3. Write a different part of your current project and come back to the bit your stuck on.
4. Leave your current project alone and start a new one, when you come back to the project you were stuck on it’ll be with fresh eyes.
5. Tidy your writing space, make it a joy to work in.
6. Go out to write, a park, a coffee shop, library.
7. Brain storm for ideas, make sure you write down ever single idea that comes into your head even the silly ones, no one else is going to see them but you.
8. If you haven’t got one, write a synopsis just for yourself so you can see where your going and any holes which might be stopping you moving forward.
9. Try having an interview with the characters in your story, ask them questions and write down what they say, beware they might not say what you want them too!
10. Tea and cake proven time and time again to help in several situations.
Do you have a special way of generating ideas or for helping yourself get out of a plot rut?
I remember a lady coming to my house and saying how nice all the scars and dents were on my dining table! I felt quite offended, but she went on to say they were evidence of it having been used by my family, so I decided to like them
x
I often find it I get stuck and really can’t move forward, I have to unpick the story back a little and try again
I like that idea, when the kids have grown up they won’t be scars but memories.
I have just got new settees – with a cat and a dog……help!
I feel your pain, I have a cat too, I swear she keeps looking at my table, with nail sharpening in mind. lol.
I’ve bought a notebook for beside the bed, ideas often come to me late at night when all is quiet, if I don’t write them down, I would have forgotten them by morning
I always have several things on the go at once so if I don’t have new ideas I can edit instead.
I tend to rest by doing something else like photography or walking. Or I work on another project.