Battling the Blank Page

I have piles of editing to do, but I also need to keep up with my writing group.  So this week's push was to write two chapters.  Yes, just two.  And I just couldn't figure out what to write next that didn't repeat all that had gone on before.  So I'd write two or three lines to nudge the action forward then stop and stare at the screen.  I'm just not an outliner.  It works best for me to brainstorm a bit before I sit to write just so I know what's about to happen, then I sit and write.  But I haven't brainstormed recently.  So that blank page loomed large all week.

Then I did what I should have done in the first place, which was go to my brain trust.  It's a middle-grade fiction book, so I took my questions to my middle-grade kids.  What happens next?  They came up with a forward pathway right away.  Duh.  When all else fails, do the obvious: brainstorm.  Talk it through.  And that, my friends, is the path through the cold, white desolation of the blank page.

Burned out

So much for my habit of writing every day.  I've started teaching 2 sections of an online course with a total of 80 students, 3 rounds of grading per.  It's eaten me alive.  Plus, I've been participating in my writers' group, giving feedback, plus having guests and a million other things.  So I've been writing one paragraph on my middle-grade fiction here and there and doing minimal revising of my sequel to the novel I submitted to the editor for review.  I think part of the issue was I was working so hard for so long on that project that I'm a little burned out.

But in the next few days, I'm supposed to get the editor's review back on my manuscript.  That was fast.  Within short order, I will have those comments plus some I already had to look over and employ on my book.  In the very near future, I will be up to my eyeballs in editing again.  But for now, I've been having vision problem: I've been having a hard time seeing how I could fit writing in and having a worse time finding the ambition to do so.  But that's all going to change momentarily.

Making Sense

Right now, I'm working on making my story make sense.  The first thing I do, after some work on characters and getting the basic concept down, is to write whatever comes to mind from the plot.  Oh, I need a scene where my characters fight?  Great.  Sit down and write it.  Somewhere, there's going to be a flashback about how Robin got her pig?  Awesome!  Sit down and write it.  I blogged about this previously.  I call it quilt writing.  I first create the quilting squares of writing, or scenes, then sit down and put them together.  A couple of weeks ago, I assembled the spinal column of my story.  Now, I'm working on making sure all the bones fit where I put them.  When they don't fit, I put them somewhere else.  For instance, I wrote a scene in which one character reacts to another's negativity.  When I wrote the scene, I didn't know where it would fit in the story.  When I figured out where it had to go, plotwise, he hadn't yet learned some of the factors that went into his reaction.  Those bits had to be cut.  It hurt.  I wanted them there.  But I needed that scene right there for the plot to make sense.  

Some people may say at this point, "Then why don't you start out with an outline?  It would save you time in the end."  For some authors, that works great.  They figure out the plot line, outline it, then flesh it out by writing it.  I'm trying something similar on the side with my mid-grade children's story series Doomimals.  But I run into a lot more walls and run out of steam a lot more often when I have to figure out the dreaded What Comes Next.  It's just not the way I think, the way I function.  I thrive on making sense out of chaos.  If I don't have chaos, I don't have material.  Either this makes sense to you, and you should read on, or this doesn't make sense, and you should ignore me and work with your outlines.  

I heard a writer say everyone uses outlines.  They may do it first or they may do it later.  I suppose that's true.  But I have discovered to keep my creative juices flowing, I can't outline until the characters have told me what's going to happen in the story.  I don't really know the details of what's coming until they come out of my fingers.  If I don't know the details, what do I have to outline?  

If you're a chaos writer, one I've heard referred to as a "by the seat of your pantser," and you're finding neat outlines and chronologies aren't working for you, sit down and start your quilt squares.  Write something, anything, every day, from a character description to the most dramatic moment in your book to a scene that is just for you because the reader doesn't need this much detail.  What happens ANYWHERE in your story or even before or after your story?  Do you have a vivid image of your final scene but no idea where to start?    Do you have a really great idea for a flashback?  Sit and write it.  Get those juices flowing.  Make your squares, and eventually, a beautiful quilt may just come out of it, even if some of those squares never get used.