I’m still trying to figure this one out. With my stories, I usually have multiple projects in different stages of completion. So, if I get stuck on one, I can move to another until the muse breaks through, then go back.
The problem is, I’m stubborn.
I don’t like giving up. If I’m working on something, then I damn well want to get it done.
So how do I figure things out?
Well, I’ve heard of people who take a walk, watch a movie, or even do chores to try getting the juices flowing. For me, sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.
It can help to talk things out with my writer peeps, or even my husband. He’s great at throwing out ideas that sometimes work, mostly don’t, but it gets the creativity flowing and my mind jumps to 10 things that will.
Sometimes, just the talking out loud breaks the block.
I outline basic scenes and chapters, one to two liners of “This happens, then this…” Sometimes, I can go back to the outline and it will spark the creativity.
The cranky thing is that what works on one problem probably won’t work the next time.
Sometimes the muse sucks.
But, the one thing I have always found-
If I try, try, try, and never give up, eventually, I’ll find my way back to the one some call the ‘capricious bitch’, and we’ll argue and wrestle until we’re once more in accord.
Tell me, what do you do when you get stuck?
dave benneman
/ September 6, 2010capriciousbitch.com has a ring of truth to it don’t you think. 😉