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Greetings, fellow members of the Kingdom!
Thank you all for giving me such a warm welcome! I have really been enjoying reading articles, participating in the forum, and seeing all the ideas that others have to share!
About two years ago an idea for a story started developing in my head after my sister and I acted out a story together. I’ve tried a few times to write it down, but didn’t get very far before I became stuck on a particular plot question, which I ended up figuring out an answer to a few months ago. I haven’t really been writing in the last few months, not only because I’ve been busy with co-op classes, but also because I feel stuck. Lately as I’ve been turning the story ideas I had over in my head, I realized that I don’t really like some of it anymore. This is partly because these ideas have been in my head so long and I want something fresh and new, and partly because overtime I realized I wanted to do something different from the original idea. There are some parts and characters that I still want to include, but I really want to change them and have a fresh perspective. The problem is, these ideas have been in my head for so long that it is hard to look at them from a fresh angle. The last few days I’ve been really wanting to write, but I keep feeling stuck because I want to look at things in a fresh light and I don’t really know how. Does anyone have any tips or thoughts on how to look at ideas in a fresh perspective, or how to start fresh after ideas have been in your head so long?
For the Kingdom & the King,
Bella
Now to tag some people: @kate-flournoy @dragon-snapper @daeus @winter-rose @audrey-caylin
@ethryndal @aratrea @graciegirl @hope @christi-eaton @jane-maree @brandon-miller @his-instrument @kina-lamb @jess@delightinlife This is a tough sort of situation. My suggestion would be to try a few different options to shake it up a bit and see what you like. These are some things that I’ve done:
1: tell the story from a completely different Point of View.
2: Change the genre. (I’ve legit done this to a novel. It started out as Medieval, and I switched it to futuristic/dystopian and I really liked how it turned out.)
3: Add in a new character that gives the plot an extra, new twist.
4: view some of those scenes that you’re tired of, and treat them like cliches. What happens if you turn them on their head, or make them result in a completely opposite ending?
5: As the ‘What if’ question. About everything. Just give it a shot.I hope that might give you a little bit of help with your story. If there’s any brainstorming help you want, feel free to poke me. 🙂
Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au
@delightinlife Yeah, that’s tough. I’ve had that happen with quite a few stories. 😛
First, everything that @Jane-Maree said is fantastic. I don’t have much to add besides perhaps setting this idea aside for a week at least. It might be frustrating, but sometimes if we try not to think about a novel for a little while, it’s easier to go back to it with a fresh perspective.
One other thing to try is to just start writing it. Try to forget everything you know about the story, and let it go where it wants to go. That would be a form of panstering, but it could help get some fresh ideas going. Sometimes all it takes is to start writing for the entire story to change.
I hope that helps! If you need anything else, just tag me 😀
Thank you both so much! I started writing a bit this evening and got an idea on changing a certain part where I now have more of a fresh perspective. I’m excited to continue and see how it goes! Thanks so much for your feedback! I’ll tag you if I have more questions!
Happy writing!
DelightInLife
@delightinlife Audrey and Jane had great thoughts on things you can change about a story to make it appear fresh again. I’ve read stuff from several different authors who experience the same thing, and sometimes this can be an unfortunate side effect of thinking about a project too much before working on it! There’s an old blog post I wrote on this kind of topic for another writing site I blogged at, which you may find helpful: https://worldpen.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/nanowrimo-encouragement-6/ Probably the biggest thing I would recommend is just to press on. Sometimes forcing yourself to write when you don’t want to is the best way to re-kindle that spark.
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. Guiding authors at Story Embers.
@delightinlife Everyone else has pretty much covered it. I tend to force myself to write even when I don’t feel like it, that way by the time I do feel like it again I have something done. 😉
Another thing that keeps my mind fresh is working on a few projects at once. I generally have one main project, but I’ll be working on one or two others (generally they are all in various stages, so I’ll be writing one or two and editing or planning another). That way, if my mind isn’t excited about a project anymore, I’ll just work on it a little (so it keeps moving) while focusing on another project that I’ve gotten more excited about. Now the obvious downside to this is that it takes longer to finish anything. Not everyone likes working on more than one project for a time, but I’ve found I can work better like that because I’m too impatient to wait until a novel is done before starting the next one and I get bored if I have to stick with one thing for too long.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Thank you @aratrea for your suggestion and for the article! One of the points in the article that particularly stood out to me, was remembering why you wanted to write the book in the first place. Sometimes over the frustration of figuring out how to write something I want and not what I don’t, I can forget why I wanted to write that particular story.
Thank you @hope for your suggestions!
I started writing a bit yesterday and I have done some more today as well. It’s going good and I’m excited to continue! Thank you all for your feedback! See you around!
Bella
@delightinlife That’s awesome! Glad to hear you’ve been finding more of your inspiration. 🙂
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. Guiding authors at Story Embers.
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