What If...
The Seeds of Story Writing

All story writing needs a beginning. Usually, if you write stories, you have an idea; that's your beginning.

But there's a long road from beginning through the ups and downs of a middle all the way to the end. So how do you get there?

Well, I'm guessing that if you asked fifty authors how they get from beginning to end when they're story writing, you'll get at least thirty different answers. Even from writing one book to another they may use different techniques.

So I'll explain three methods of writing fiction I always use when one of those bumps in the middle slows me down.


What If...

My favorite technique for story writing, whether or not I'm stuck is to use a "what if" attitude. And I'm not neat and tidy about it, but throw it open to the wolves, sometimes literally.

Let's say my heroine is about to free the magic-bound hero (it's the 21st century, after all), when she runs smack into the arch-villain.

Now what? I didn't plan for this, she just took a wrong turn while I was blithely writing, and now look. I'm in a bind because she's in a bind! I don't know how to get her out of this one.

Okay. Time for "what if".

I look at my cast of characters and start throwing "what ifs" at them. (Many of them have gotten good at dodging, since I don't throw straight.)

What if the hero's aunt whatchimicallit happens by just now, waves her ancient wand and...

Or maybe the dragon my heroine defended five chapters ago hears her shriek of fury at the villain and leaps, flaming, to her defense (oooh, I hope she remembered her flame retardant cape!)...

Or the hero wakes up from his spell because it's worn off, or the villain's attention is distracted for long enough or...

You get the basic idea. I've come up with some pretty wild twists to my story writing once I let the characters loose with "what if". Just be wary. They might throw things back at you that you weren't expecting.


Just Imagine...

Another way I aid my story writing, if I'm struggling along, is to imagine myself right there, being the character who's in conflict.

Maybe you have a hard time imagining it because you've never been in such a situation. Well, live a little!

One author, Frank Harvey, literally lives bits of his stories in order to write them well. For instance, as he related in a story in Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul:

"...I was writing a story about a boy who'd been kidnapped, tied up, and eventually driven and knocked out at high speed over back roads to a river. I wrote it nine times. Flat as stale beer. I asked Christine (his wife) to tie me up, gag me, handcuff and blindfold me, and drive me over rough back roads on Schooleys Mountain and down to the Musconetcong River. She drove so fast that I was black and blue from bouncing around in the springless jeep. At one point, I thought I was going to swallow the gag. I was weak with relief when we stopped. But the exercise paid off. The kidnap sequence wrote itself..."

Wow. That's what I call "getting into" your story.

I've done the same on occasion. Not to that extreme. But if I'm trying to describe a walk in icy rain, it helps to go walk in a rainstorm in the Colorado mountains because, believe me, that rain is COLD!

So, if you can't imagine, and it's something you can safely experience, try living what you're putting your characters through to get past that roadblock in your novel.


Believe In Yourself

So, you're still stuck in story writing limbo. Okay. Try this.

Picture (as clearly as possible, mind you) the place in your story that has stalled. Think about the way you got to this point and why you think you're stuck.

Then, picture yourself getting up tomorrow morning bursting with great ideas to get past that spot and all the way to the end of your novel. Imagine your mind is going to spend the night coming up with four or five variations that will rocket you past your hurdle.

Then, go to sleep and believe.

Yup. Just believe. Your mind is infinitely creative (or you wouldn't be in this spot in the first place). Let it do the work while you're sleeping. Or showering. Or taking a walk to clear your mind.

Just be sure you have that notebook handy to jot down the solution the moment you wake (or dry off from the shower). Quick, before you forget it!

Happy imagining what if while you dream...