From the Fiction Desk

The business of writing involves long hours and a lot of perspiration. The role of inspiration must not be taken lightly. Inspiration is the flash across the writers mind which wraps itself into the fictional story, poem, or article that is being written. From the seed of inspiration the piece grows organically and must be constantly feed to keep the writer going. How can a writer stay inspired to write?

Inspiration can come from countless sources of everyday events to the unique and exotic. One way for the writer to stay inspired is to stay connected to the world. Writers will want to isolate themselves to write and often miss out on the events that surround them. Step outside of the everyday close off the door world and step into the real world to find inspiration. See what people are doing, watch the crowds and ask to yourself what their stories in life maybe. A single conversation can reap countless story, poem, or article ideas.

Doing something new and stepping out of the comfort zone is another way to find inspiration. Human beings can be caught up in their regularly scheduled life. Thos rut of life can drain away inspiration and lead to writing, and living, the same monotony day in and out. Years ago, at a writers conference, an editor asked the audience “what makes your story different from the hundreds of other ones in the market?” This question should also be applied to the writers life and their approach to the art of writing. If your writing looks stale and uninspired, do not ask what is wrong with you writing. Ask what is wrong with your source of inspiration. What have you done today to be different from yesterday that may generate a unique view of your stories?

Do you have a second art? Do you paint, draw, play an instrument? A. Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes would often be found scratching at an instrument while trying to untangle a puzzle. It was this focus on the second art that allowed the mind to freshly tear at the puzzle. Artist have used the same method trough out time. By changing the stimuli, and still being creative, the creative juices can be refocused and pooled elsewhere.

Should all else fail to bring the writer inspiration, there is another thing you can do—especially if you feel the weight of writers block crushing you. Do something mindlessly monotonous. Some writers will clean and others may go to the gym or for a walk. The mindless monotony will help squeeze out the creative juices, for creativity wants to be doing something that is not mind numbing.

While writing is filled with the arduous task of getting the words on paper and rewriting, editing, and rewriting again, inspiration must be tended to. It must be nurtured for it to produce the fruit of our work—take time to push yourself away from what you know and try something new to break out of the mold in which a writer can create for themselves.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for the articles, blogs, poems and stories that I write.

To plot or to free write? This is a question that has been asked by writers for generations and the answer is as personal to the author as identity and fingerprints can be to anyone. Before a writer decides to plot or to free write a story, there are many things to consider.

1. What genre are you writing in?
Some genres, such as mysteries, require a tightly woven story. To do this, the author usually needs a plot. How in depth the plot is depends on the author and what he or she wishes to say in their story. Other genres lend themselves to less detailed of a plot.

2. What are you, the author most comfortable with?
Some authors find it more comfortable to have a well written plot and others prefer to write in a loose universe where their characters can define the story more. When you try to write out of your comfort zone, in regards to plotting or free writing, this can feel as awkward as trying to walk in too tight of shoes or move in pants that you fear will split if you step incorrectly.

3. Some stories demand to be plotted and others free written.
Works of fiction have a life of their own. They develop as a living organism may develop, defining who they are. They become the author’s child in many ways and, like a living child, often demonstrate how strict the parent needs to be. Some stories need rules and tight supervision. Others need to be free to become what they are intended to be. Learn which your story is wanting to be as you work on it.

4. Is the plot getting in the way of the character?
Another way to ask this question is to ask yourself if your character is a living three dimensional character or if they are simply moving like an automaton. If the character is moving like an automaton, then the character is nothing more than a plot device and can become unbelievable to the reader. Even if it doesn’t, this can be a sign to the author that they should not plot as tightly as they have and let the character explore their world.

There is no easy answer to which is better for an author to follow, for the answer is one of discovery. Like a painter, a sculptor, or other artist, the writer discovers what technique works best for them –and a lot about themselves as they write.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for articles, blogs, poems, and stories that I write.

Walk into a bookstore and travel back to the writing reference shelves and you will find a half dozen books on creating characters. Maybe, instead of a book, you turn to a writing magazine and read about some author’s methods of creating a character. You take this advice to heart, sit down with your laptop or pen/pencil and notebook and start trying to write out these characters. You spend time creating them and when it comes to write the story . . . splash like a plane that lost power over the ocean and you can see the wreckage from miles around. Why does a method of one author not work for another in quite the same way? Why not turn to archetypes and create cookie cutter like characters? The techniques and the archetypes do work—at least for the authors who can breathe life into them. What often happens is the author who is struggling with the character has not realized their character is not an automaton or a game piece to be moved across the game board of their plotline.

There is no unique solution to character creation. There is no silver bullet to be fired out of the finger to bring life to a being created of pixels or ink. For every author, there is a unique approach to this part of the art, but what should not be unique is a simplistic step that many writers forget in their quest to create their stories. The step is faith. Not the faith of a religious belief, but the faith that the character is able to be unique and filled with their own imaginary will which often defies the author’s willingness to go down a plotline. Characters must be able to feel real to the author long before they feel real to the reader. For this to happen, they must be real. They do not move like robots with set personality patterns and habits, but are unique within their personality patterns and their archetypes—that single spark of life that gives them the ability to seemingly life on their own if somehow they could step off the page and enter the universe of the author and the reader. Consider for a moment all the great characters you enjoyed knowing, loving, or even hating. You can think back to a book or a story—or even a movie or play—from years ago and recall a character like some lost school time friend. Now stop and ask yourself, what made that character unique? Get past the dress, the super powers, or the cool vehicle they may have owned. Get past the surface clutter of the character and begin to recall the soul of the character. What do you remember?

Now, with this knowledge of the reason in mind, look at the characters you have been creating for your fictional story. Do your characters come to life or are they simply metaphors for something else. There is nothing wrong with a metaphor, used wisely, but if that is all your character is then you have failed in the character’s creation. Paper thin characters destroy works of great fiction. Stop yourself and take a moment to breathe life into this character and make them unique. It is not easy to create artificial life out of your imagination, but that is what the best of authors do. Learn and study and try—be willing to fail and do it all again. When you do, you will find characters coming to life and being so realistic that you and your readers will believe that they would know these characters in a crowd.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for articles, blogs, poems, and stories that I write.

I will be redoing most of this website over the next several weeks. Blogs will be back on schedule after March 15th. Thank you for reading!