You sit down to write… and nothing comes out.
The cursor blinks. Your coffee gets cold. The brilliant idea you had yesterday? Gone.
If you’ve ever stared at a blank page wondering if your creativity has left the building, you’re not alone.
𝐸𝑎𝑡, 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑦, 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 author Elizabeth Gilbert has decided not to publish her February 2024 novel. She says it’s because the book is set in the Soviet Union of the 1930s, and due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the subject and setting could prove upsetting to her present-day readers.
Writing is a journey of self-discovery and exploration, a quest to bring to life the stories that have been swirling around in my head for as long as I can remember.
Part fiction. Part real. It’s somewhere in between. When someone tells me they write nonfiction, I sometimes reply, “It’s 𝑎𝑙𝑙 fiction.” I get strange looks, especially from those who have their heads entrenched deeply in what they term as reality
I’ve used all three of these methods at some point. Initially, I was more of a pantser and went in with whatever was in my head, usually the beginning and end with a few moments in the middle. These books mostly didn’t work because I was just starting out and didn’t know how to set a scene or write decent description and other technical stuff.
When I was asked to write a guest post for Lisa’s Writopia, Lisa noted that my graphic novel is an expansion of a short film. She wanted to know: is there a feature film in the works? The question got me thinking about the unique journey my story has taken – from the screen to the page – and the future that may be in store for it.
I write mysteries because it’s the genre I most enjoy reading even though I have a fair share of biographies, historical fiction, and sports-related books in my personal library. But if I’m settling down to read for pure enjoyment, you can bet it’s a mystery or a thriller in my hands.
I recently released my first fantasy novel, 𝘌𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘴, and I would love to share how this book came to be. It has been a long journey for this first novel in the Awakening series, but so many aspects of my culture, my personal life, and my journey as a writer have come into play so that 𝘌𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘴 really feels like an appendage of myself.
After many months of mistakes and banging my head against the wall, I came up with a few principles related to creating fictional worlds. I’ve never written them down before and they’re by no means perfect, but they may help you craft your own world or at least generate some thoughts on how you would approach it.
Bringing characters to life gives me the ability to live a hundred lives with no boundaries, limits, or rules.
