We’ve all been there—pantser and plotter alike. That inevitable moment when our story comes to a decided stop and no amount of crying or cajoling can get it moving again.
What do you do when your writing has you stumped and you don’t have the motivation to move forward?
I have a couple of different books I purchased years ago that are filled with different exercises, scenarios, or concepts to help facilitate writing when the muse decides to give me the cold shoulder. Even though most of the prompts are geared for more modern, adult worlds, and I tend to write for younger audiences with a fantasy setting, I’ve found these exercises to be quite helpful.
Three “oldies, but goodies”
The Pocket Muse: Endless Inspiration is one of several different books in a series by Monica Wood. I only have experience with the book pictured above, but I enjoy the pictures, the encouraging quotes from other writers on writing, and thought-provoking prompts within its pages. What I particularly like about this book are the “Writer Warm-Ups” scattered throughout that aren’t so much about writing a scene or a story as they are about playing with words.
Brian Kiteley’s The 3 A.M. Epiphany has over 200 writing exercises that encourage writers to explore different concepts on Point of View, Children and Childhood, History, Description, Conversations, Thoughts and Emotions, and quite a bit more. One of the things I like so much about the book is that it feels like you have an invisible teacher introducing you to the exercise, the purpose for the exercise, and how it will help your writing grow.
If you can find a used copy, The Writer’s Book of Matches is filled with one-sentence prompts that drop you face-first into some sort of action. Sometimes the prompt is a line of dialogue, other times it’s an image designed to make you ask, “What could it be?” One of the things I like most about this book is that it begs you to toy with the ridiculous, which in turn forces the inner critic to sit down while you enjoy a bit of fun.
Sometimes it helps to play hard to get with your story
Sometimes the best ideas come to me when I’m ignoring my story to focus on something different. It’s like having a puppy who acts like they want to play ball, but then refuses to bring it back to you after you throw it…until you start to walk away. Or a cat who wants nothing to do with you until you sit down at the keyboard.
Sometimes the problem isn’t with the story so much as it is with us. We get so entrenched with how we think the story should go that we try to force it through a mountain with no tunnels instead of following the more natural course around the mountain.
By giving our brain another scenario or project to work with that is unrelated to our story, we open ourselves up for new possibilities that can in turn make our story stronger than it was before.
Bonus: We might end up with some new scene cards for future stories to revisit down the line!
—Jen