Ask the Author: Vera Brook
Answered Questions (3)
Vera Brook
***Finish things.***
Keep a notebook for all new ideas (because they do vanish if you don't write them down). But focus on one project at a time - one story, one novel, one play - and push yourself until you finish a draft.
This first draft will be a mess, but that's okay. You can revise and polish until you're happy with it. You can show it to trusted readers and get their feedback. It's all part of the process.
But nothing will happen unless you finish that first draft.
Keep a notebook for all new ideas (because they do vanish if you don't write them down). But focus on one project at a time - one story, one novel, one play - and push yourself until you finish a draft.
This first draft will be a mess, but that's okay. You can revise and polish until you're happy with it. You can show it to trusted readers and get their feedback. It's all part of the process.
But nothing will happen unless you finish that first draft.
Vera Brook
There are many types of writer's block. So for me, the first step is to figure out which type I'm up against. If I'm stuck because I don't know what happens next in the story, I usually pull out a notebook and brainstorm on paper. If I'm stuck because I'm forcing a character to do something they don't want to do, it helps to just stop and listen to them, so to speak. I also often jump back and forth within the story I'm writing, and sometimes between multiple stories. And when everything fails, I get up and go for a walk.
Vera Brook
If you are a writer, you can live many lives and be many people, instead of just one. Although the same is true of being a reader, and reading is considerably less maddening than writing.
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