The Write Zone

Stuck? Brain on Vacation? Mind as blank as the paper in front of you? I get it: every writer has been there at some point. And don’t we all hate writer’s block. But no one should have to experience that before they actually start writing a novel. So grab a notebook and pen, and do my exercises to get your brain going.

1. I call this the List of What Ifs. Start writing down whatever What Ifs come to mind, even if they’re wild, boring, or downright impossible. That’s the joy of writing- you can do the downright impossible. Because here, one particular What If can lead to another, and another, and voila! Novel idea. (Like this: What if people bought things with secrets and not money? What if one girl sold a vital, world changing secret on accident? What if that secret caused total rebellion against the world’s leaders? etc.)
2. Take an original fairytale or well known story and add some sort of spin on it. Think of your favorite fairytale, princess movie, or nursery rhyme and elaborate the story. I’d say this worked out pretty well in my favor because I have a 75,000 word novel that’s a play off of Cinderella. My twist? If I named all of them, I’d give away the whole story, but lets go with this one: Cinderella doesn’t love the prince. (If you want to read the first chapter of the novel, titled The Sword of Glass, it was released earlier today under Fiction) I’ve read some wonderful retakes on these classics, and maybe you hold the key to the next.
3. Dig up some old memories, and think about ways you could twist them to make an entirely new story. (Maybe once your grandpa turned down a one way street leading onto the freeway. You could spin that and make it so when someone does that on a certain road, they get transported to a different world. You get my point)
4. The glorious list of random words is next. Start scribbling any word or place or person or emotion or sound that comes to mind, and by the time you’re finished, you might have drawn imaginary lines connecting some of them, and a story is born. (This is what one of my old lists looked like: Riddle. Paris. Cup. Baby Yoda. Poison. Annoying giggle. Heir. Jealousy. Dog bark. Quarterback. Sweats. King. Forbidden Romance. Google. Labyrinth. Smiley face emoji)
5. Emotions are powerful, and they are good drive for stories. Think of an emotion, and write down several things that might accompany that emotion. (If your emotion was heartbreak, your list could look like this: Ice Cream. Tears. Sweatpants. Tissue. Runny Mascara. Hurt. Putting up a wall. Feel good movies. Breakup songs. Chocolate) And a story might start to click in place revolving around the chosen emotion.
6. Character Creation. Think of a character that would be good in a story, something pretty original, then try to imagine the world they live in. Who are their friends? What are their goals? What drives them? Who is against them?
7. Complete opposites might attract in your case. Put someone famous somewhere crazy or in a different time, or combine two unrelated ideas. (Mickey Mouse in a zombie apocalypse. A forbidden romance in space) Maybe that’ll spark creativity in you, and suddenly you’ll be diving into a world where Mickey took Minnie out to dinner but gave her the science experiment he had been working on with Goofy instead of a soda, and she becomes a zombie who slowly turns the entire world of Mickey into the walking dead. Or that could just be me and my wild imagination.
8. Free write. Set a timer for ten minutes, and write about anything. From how annoying someone is being to how you can’t think of a novel idea for the life of you. You might connect some scribblings and create a tale worth writing.

Well, if you try all eight of those, I’d say just wait a few days and try again. Stories will present themselves to you eventually, don’t worry. Even noticing the simple things in your life might spark an idea.

Till my pen meets the paper again,

Tatum