10 Tips for Making Writing Fun Again
August’s blog theme is Inspiration. That can seem a bit vague, or even contrary to what I (and a lot of other writers) often talk about: the necessity of butt-in-chair, regular writing practice. If you wait around for inspiration, you might never write. A writer who sits around and waits for an idea to float by so they can grab it and scribble down their masterpiece is doomed to do a lot of sitting around, and not much writing.
However, that doesn’t mean inspiration has no place in writing. If we focus only on the butt-in-chair aspect, it’s easy for the well the run dry. We talk about cross-training in exercise, and it’s every bit as important for creative work as well.
If you’re feeling like writing is drudgery, and think you’d rather poke your eyeballs out with a spoon than face the blank page or the piece you’ve been wrestling with, here are 10 ways to get out of your rut by doing something to shake your brain awake and get things flowing again
Create maps or architectural blueprints of physical places your characters inhabit.
Create a collage that describes your character.
Grab a craft book and open to a random exercise, set your timer for 15 minutes, and go! One of my favorites is I remember… and just keep going. It’s amazing what comes up, often including things you didn’t know you remembered.
Mind-map your next scene: use a big piece of paper, use color, throw in every character, object, setting, conflict, bit of dialogue – see it visually, make connections.
Open a newspaper or magazine and put your finger down. Use that sentence in a poem, or paragraph, and see where it takes you.
Illustrate or storyboard your story or chapter.
Buy a beautiful new notebook, and write your next scene (or a writing prompt of your choice) by hand. Use different colored pens.
Dictionary challenge: find at least five new words you didn’t know. Use each of them in a sentence. For an added challenge, try using them in the same sentence. Try writing a 200-word flash-fiction piece incorporating those words.
Go outside. Take a walk, and decide what you will notice: the color pink, or something your character might notice (is he a mechanic? What might he notice about cars that you never pay attention to?). Come back and write for 15 minutes about what you noticed.
Find another medium: drawing, photography, dancing… anything not writing-related. This can be a short breather (sketching for 15 minutes, dancing around your livingroom to one or two songs) or a longer-term learning commitment. Learn to quilt, bake pies/tarts/bread/cakes, take a (virtual) painting class (my amazing writing coaching mentor, Jennie Nash, has been teaching herself to paint during the shutdowns and disruptions of the pandemic). Embodying another creative outlet gets you out of your head, and allows you the freedom of beginners mind, without the pressure of your primary form, where you want to be good.
Any of these allow you to get into a flow state, where your mind can make connections unhampered by conscious intrusions. More importantly, they’re fun! They remind us that writing doesn’t have to be painful, that we can experience the joy of creation without feeling attached to a specific outcome. It can also remind why we love writing, and connect us with that spark that inspired us to pick up a pen in the first place.
