Write Your Way Out

I’m stuck. Yep. The mud of my mind has my proverbial feet squelching in my brain. I know the idea for my next novel, but I can’t get the characters to talk to me. I’ve struggled with how to get started and to plan. With my head empty except for one scene, I’ve been spinning my wheels to push through and get the story started.

Geoff and Nora’s story, my first yet to be published novel, was with me for a long time. While it took me almost six years to finish the story, the basic ideas and plot points were in my head for a long time. Even when I wasn’t writing, Nora and Geoff were always talking to me. Even now that their story is essentially finished, they won’t always leave me alone. I have to tell them, “Shut up. I’m through with you.” But the new characters won’t come to the front. They won’t stand up and speak to me like Nora and Geoff did. So, what do you do when you’re stuck?

For me, I’ve taken a page from Alexander Hamilton in the musical Hamilton and written my way out. When Alexander finds himself in trouble because of the Reynolds affair, he sings “I wrote my way out/ Wrote everything down far as I could see.” So, following Mr. Hamilton’s advice, as well as Karen’s, I did just that. I wrote my way out.

There is one scene in my head. I wrote it out. First, I started in my writer’s notebook. I wrote what I already knew about the scene. Then, I opened a new document on my laptop and began to craft the scene the way it was in my head. “I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance,” as Mr. Hamilton sings. Now, I have a prologue and the beginning of Chapter 1. Not bad for someone who had no idea what to do. That blank page staring at me seemed daunting, but putting my fingers on the keyboard and crafting the scene as I saw it, is helping me get back on track.

I think part of the problem is that once I finished Geoff and Nora’s story, I sat spinning my wheels for a while. I worked on making a list of agents and editors to query. I worked on query letters, synopses, and all of the other stuff that writers have to do when trying to get traditionally published. But I wasn’t writing every day like I had been. I realized as soon as I put my fingers on the keyboard I missed that. I need it. I need to put my fingers on the keyboard and “write my way out.” While writing blog posts and query letters, and blurbs is important, fun, and part of the process, it’s not crafting story.

Crafting story is much harder. So, when you’re stuck, take a tip from Mr. Hamilton. Write your way out. Just put fingers on the keyboard or pen to paper and begin with what’s in your head. I haven’t answered all of the questions for my story. Indeed, I have more questions than when I started. My planning pages aren’t any more filled out than they were before. But some things have come to light. Some characters have names, and I have a starting place. A beginning. Really, that’s all you need is a beginning. Once you’ve started, moving on gets, maybe not easier, but more accessible. Now, I have a place to go, a direction. The path won’t be smooth and straight, but at least I have set my foot on it.

I’ve written my way out.