Sometimes you get to a point in the story you’re working on and you can’t figure out where it’s going.  The computer screen stays white and empty – all that blank page waiting to be filled (or setneces getting all tangled up on the page), your head full of ideas but the words not coming.  The best advice for this, I think, is to stop and go and do something else.  Martin Amis talked about this at the Dubai literature festival.  He said when he was a younger writer he’d tackle problems at his computer for hours.  Now when he gets to a tricky part, he stops and goes to do something else for a bit.  He walks or changes rooms or SOMETHING.  (I nap!)  When he gets back his unconscious writing mind seems to have solved the problem.

I just finished teaching a group of teens at the Sage Hill Saskatoon experience.  Great group.  Great writing.  Great to be surprised by their work as the week went on. 

Here’s one simple exercise I used (modified) with the group for you to try – we did it on the first day to get words flowing:

DON”T LET YOURSELF STOP WRITING UNTIL THE TIME IS UP – even if you’re writing the same word over and over. 

Go: Freewrite for 10 minutes on your earliest memory.  Stop.  Freewrite for 10 minutes on someone you admire.  Stop.  Freewrite for 10 minutes on the word window.  Stop.

That’s 30 minutes writing all together.  Somewhere in the words you’ve got down there will be ideas and maybe even sentences that you can use later on.  Freewriting helps you discipline yourself to pour words out and stops you editing yourself before you’ve got something to work with.  Try it.

Finishing Sarah Waters’ Affinity reminded me how important good plotting is for good storytelling.  Sometimes as writers we can get a bit lost in one character or another and forget that keeping the story moving is important too. 

Think of plot as the road that leads you from one end of your piece to the other.  Too many diversions or roadworks and you get a little confused or a little lost.  Ask yourself as you’re writing, Where is this going?   Some writers will even benefit from a map – plotting out their route from start to finish.  Others like to take the road as it comes.  Either way, keep in mind that you are going somewhere… Sarah Waters is a planner, a map maker.  And reading her work, you can see just how well it serves her.  Here are her thoughts on plot –

I pretty much had the whole plots worked out before I began writing; the exciting part, then, came in discovering how my characters felt about each other, and about the (sometimes dastardly) things I needed them to do. (Sarah Waters)

And here are 3 practical plot tips from me:

1- Keep your characters doing something.  Too much sitting around and staring out the window is deathly for your plot.

2- Each scene should move the story forward in some way – even if it’s only a small step.  Think about how the scenes connect to each other and how one leads into another.  Be ruthless in cutting out scenes that don’t serve your story.

3- Read well plotted books.  Learning from (and being inspired by) writers like Sarah Waters is part of your job as a writer.