It’s no secret that character development is one of my all-time favourite parts of writing a novel. I’m also all too aware of the creative paralysis that takes over when you look at all your notes and think, “What the heck do I do with this? Does this character even make sense?”
The process can be a little slippery, it’s true, but you can make sense of all those notes with a bit of time and focussed thinking. Let’s find out how to weave all the wayward pieces into a cohesive whole!
During the very first of the Tea Party Chronicles (a virtual writing salon), we talked about the magical mayhem of working on the rough draft of a story. Everyone was full of helpful advice, and I was delighted to share some of the things that have been working for me, too. Some of the highlights were:
We also explored how writing a rough draft is like sculpting from clay or painting on a canvas. We wouldn't expect perfection or even to see the finished image in our art straightaway, yet somehow we put pressure on ourselves if our rough draft doesn't feel up to snuff. Yikes!
There are a few more nuggets I’d love to share with you, so pull up a chair and let’s catch up!
While there’s merit to the “sit your butt down in the chair and WRITE!” sentiment, I’m a firm believer in crafting a life that’s supportive of your creativity. How to go about that, though, especially when it feels like virtually everything needs work ... there’s the rub.
I’m somewhat of an organization and productivity geek, especially when it helps me live an even more creative life, so I’m always on the lookout for ways to hack through the brambles and clear the path for myself and the writers I work with. One day, I stumbled on an oft-used tool of life coaches, a life wheel. The more I researched, the more it felt like this could be a valuable tool for writers, so I set about adapting it and putting my own spin on it, until at long last the Writing Life Wheel emerged.
Something that's been niggling at me quite often of late is the plethora of writing advice available to us, both online and off, and the quagmire of emotions surrounding that advice. My latest Letter from the Acorn Den dove into this muddle headfirst, and I wanted to share it here with you, as well, because this is something I think every writer needs to hear.
Writing isn't something that we can learn from beginning to end and eventually discover we know everything there is to know. There's always something we'll be unsure of or that feels new or that just doesn't seem to stick in our minds, no matter how hard we try.