Denise Drespling stopped by the Dragon’s Lair to share with Myrria some ideas on writing.
2 Methods to Keep You Writing Forever
A big thank you to Chris for having me come and hang out at her blog for the day. Meeting people like Chris was the best part of NaNoWriMo 2013 for me, and I feel lucky to have connected with her. Nice to meet you all!
Writers often talk about inspiration as an elusive thing that must be caught. They wait for the muse. Some even make appointments and sit at their writing desks everyday so the muse knows when to show up. If he/she/it doesn’t, the writer is blocked.
I’ll tell you a secret. (The muse and the block are myths.)
I know it sounds outrageous, but I think we’re going at this wrong. The second we put emphasis on something outside ourselves—a muse, a block—we give ourselves permission to NOT write. I have found that even when I feel completely idealess, if I just write something, ideas start to flow.
There are many ways to get things going if you think the muse has left you or you have become blocked. (And the reason I consider them myths in the first place is that they are too easily overcome.) There are two methods I use often.
- Prompts.
These can come from anywhere. Plenty of web sites list prompts. Reading poems and picking out a line to start with works great, too. Or, you can always make it simple and write the 1,000 words that go with an image. Getting in the habit of prompts is great practice for contests, also. Many contests include a prompt or theme, and the more you practice, the better you get.
- Brainstorming.
This works beautifully with prompts or if you don’t know what to do next. I sit and write a list of the craziest things I can think of. I recently entered a story contest where the prompt was a priest in a store who has a woman approach him and say, “I need to talk to you. You see, I’m…” The first thing I thought of was “pregnant,” and I knew that would be too obvious. In fact, I threw out the first few ideas I had without even giving them serious consideration. They were a warm up. The list I wrote included: pregnant, afraid I murdered someone, high, jonsing, here to kill you, planning to blow up the church, thinking of turning to Satan, depressed, suicidal, in an abusive relationship, leaving, going to school, about to rob the store, bleeding/injured, having a mental breakdown, going to cut off my finger if you don’t marry me, really a man, about to pass out, having an asthma attack, hallucinating, going to tell everyone your secret, and here to help you.
Some of the things I came up with were just ridiculous and/or are things I would never write about. But what this allowed me to do is be as silly/demented/gory as I could imagine. It freed me to write anything I could think of because I knew it was only a list. I ended up using, “I’m here to give you the last mission.” And the best part? It wasn’t even on the list.
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My recent WIP, a YA paranormal romance, came about in a similar way. There was a novel contest and the only guideline besides word count was that it had to be an unusual love story. I again tossed around the weirdest things I could think of, and I landed on ghosts. Because of the deadline on the contest, I managed to write and edit an entire novel in three months.
My WIP from NaNoWriMo [link to http://nanowrimo.org] 2013 was similar. I said something completely random to a co-worker about sprytes messing with her clocks. I thought at the time, “Hmm, that’s interesting,” and stored it away. Then author Chuck Wendig [link name to http://terribleminds.com] did one of his frequent flash contests. One of the prompts was “disease with a rare cure.” I started thinking on it and realized that this was the same story as the sprytes. I meshed the two ideas together and I had my novel. I did not enter the flash contest, but I did write a scene that helped me discover my characters.
I guess the sudden inspiration is what some would call “the muse.” I, however, prefer to take credit for my own ideas, thanks. I like to write about mythical creatures. I don’t need one to give me the ideas, too. I pay attention. I write down interesting things. Especially randomly overheard dialogue. People say and do the strangest things when they don’t know you’re listening or watching.
Don’t wait for inspiration. Don’t rely on a muse. Refuse to give in to writer’s block. (They’re only in your head anyway.) You have a brilliant mind. Set it to work and see what happens.
My Bio: 
I’m Denise Drespling, author of the short story, “10 Items or Less,” which can be found in the Carlow 10 Anthology, being released in spring 2014.
I write like a fiend and read like a maniac and almost always have multiple projects happening at once. I write mostly fiction that contains some element of fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural/paranormal. Usually a spiritual element, too.
I’ve been told that I am “uniquely unique” and “more entertaining than cable.” Also, I tend to talk a lot 😉
Check out my blog on books and writing: www.DeniseDrespling.com [link to http://www.denisedrespling.com]
Follow me on Twitter: @DeniseDrepling [link to https://twitter.com/DeniseDrespling]