And then a strange thing happened. I was reading something else and suddenly a question came into my head. One of those 'what if?' questions. And that was it. The answer to the 'what if' was my denouement. Having been stuck and floored by the whole process by sending that email and admitting I had a problem to others I seemed to have given my brain permission to sort it out. It told me exactly where my story was heading and what would happen to all the characters.
I know I am lucky and this sounds very easy but actually it hasn't been. There has been a lot of worry and non-writing time. Admittedly, not helped by the marking, which as I mentioned before seems to suck the words out of you. It was not writer's block as I still had ideas and was constantly thinking things through. I just had a problem knowing in my head how my story was going to pan out. Even now I don't know the fine details but I have a basic structure. I can fill in the detail as I go along.
This is not the first time this has happened to me but I tend to forget in the meantime that I need to trust my brain. It will come up with the answer, normally when I least expect it and when I have actually stopped thinking for a moment and am distracted. Another good reason to have a notebook nearby. There should be a caveat here, you cannot force that moment, it just happens. I suppose what this post, and my witterings, are about is suggesting that you give your brain a chance. It will come up with the answers.Have faith in it. All that thinking you do with lead to the answers....hopefully.
For me, this time, the inspiration was a certain surprise as it is taking the book in a direction I had not expected. Am off to write....
Posts
This is so true, Ness! It's in that letting go that the answers so often come. So glad you've got it sorted and you're right, the detail will come as you write! Well done, you! xx
ReplyDeleteNicky, let's be honest you played a large part in helping me do that ;-) x
ReplyDeleteSo, so true, Nicky and in more ways than one. I was talking to my crit buddy about exactly this earlier this week. She asked if I'd worked out how I was going to reveal something about a character yet and I said, 'No, that will come to me as I write. I know it sounds weird, but I trust the story to tell me.'
ReplyDeleteAnd then she told me that Stephen King said pretty much the same thing. The stories all live in the basement, or something, and every now and then they give him permission to visit, find them and tell them. That's just how it feels, I find and I do think one of the most difficult things writers have to do is trust their imaginations and their stories to reveal what they need to know at just the moment when they need it.
Of course, if we try too hard, the story (and in my case, my brain) just go off and sulk!
Glad yours has come out of hiding for you!
Jeannette
Jeanette, that is so good to know that it is not just me. I do feel sometimes that my brain decides when it is right for me to know the next bit of the story and I can't force it.
ReplyDelete