Ask the Author: Anna Tizard
Answered Questions (2)
Anna Tizard
Writer's block is a good thing. It is your unconscious mind saying, "I can't write this." It means there is something wrong with your story, or that some vital elements are missing. This is good because it means you understand on an intuitive level what a story needs and that your current piece falls short of that. It might take some time for the answers to rise into your conscious mind, but have faith that they will come.
Every story you write is a unique puzzle to be solved.
Go for a long walk; talk to yourself about it while you do the washing up; try writing a stream of consciousness note, asking yourself questions. What is it? What's missing? What's wrong?
The answers won't come immediately - not all of them, anyway. Write what ideas you have now, then let the story and your notes rest while you turn your attention to another, unrelated piece of writing. When you come back to it, your mind will be fresh and something will have occurred to you, or some small spark will have lit within you that tells you it's time.
Solve the puzzle. Write out the characters' intentions, and where the story will take them. List all the emotional and action-based "beats" of the story. Now you are ready.
Every story you write is a unique puzzle to be solved.
Go for a long walk; talk to yourself about it while you do the washing up; try writing a stream of consciousness note, asking yourself questions. What is it? What's missing? What's wrong?
The answers won't come immediately - not all of them, anyway. Write what ideas you have now, then let the story and your notes rest while you turn your attention to another, unrelated piece of writing. When you come back to it, your mind will be fresh and something will have occurred to you, or some small spark will have lit within you that tells you it's time.
Solve the puzzle. Write out the characters' intentions, and where the story will take them. List all the emotional and action-based "beats" of the story. Now you are ready.
Anna Tizard
I experiment with ideas from stories using the results of a crazy word game, Exquisite Corpse, that randomly splices words together. The words "the empty danger" featured in a game result and that got me wondering what that could mean: "fear" seemed one possibility. Like many people during lockdown, fear has taken on a whole new meaning. I wrote this short novel partly to face my fears and partly to try and help give others a sense of hope.
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