Tapping into the subconscious

The latest thing on my mind? The stomach flu. But before that, I had a breakthrough. A clue. My recent experimenting was sparking my interest in my story again. I woke up thinking about my characters. I wasn't in full writing mode or anything, but it was in my head more often.

Then one day it happened. She spoke. Kate. My character. Out of nowhere, without me prompting her, just as I was getting into bed, she said:

"I was probably the only 17-year old on the planet that still got excited about school field trips."

And I said, "What, what did you just say?" And she repeated herself.

I was thinking...wow, the entire planet, huh? Seems a little extreme. But I was also thinking...finally, you haven't spoken to me in forever!

Then she said something else. You must understand that I had gone from napkin writing to nothing in a matter of months. I went from hearing voices in stereo to silence. This was a relief. She was still alive somewhere. Maybe she was just trapped in my subconscious. Maybe my experimenting had woken her up a little.

She gave me a page and a half. It didn't feel forced. I now believe I can get back to this world. It's just going to take some tapping.

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Experiment 2: Talk to your characters

Classic situation: I'm faced with the ultimate everyday villain who spouts off a ridiculous sentence that makes my blood boil.

6 hours later, I'm reliving the conversation and I think of the perfect comeback.

That's what's so great about writing. You can have these conversations in your head, mull over every comeback, nurture every syllable, and no matter when you finally deliver them, they're always right on time. So what if you're on both sides of the conversation and it's totally unfair? It works.

Thus, my next experiment was born. Talking to my characters. Interviewing them. Conversing.

I decided to start by interviewing one of my main characters, Grey. I didn't hold back. I asked him the tough questions, the ones the other characters would never dare ask. And he explained things the way he would. They weren't clean cut answers. They were raw, the way real people would answer. He's confused. He's torn. He's in agony.

So what did it accomplish? More than I guessed. His thoughts on the page are a road map. Knowing what he thinks will help me know how he will act. I can see that now. I even got a few great quotes I can use. I think I will do this again.

It's funny. I'm such a skeptic. I've only tried two experiments so far. And by some miracle, both of them have worked.

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Experiment 1: Walking in a character's shoes

Walking in a character's shoes. It sounded so Kill-a-Mockingbird-esque. I'm not sure where I first heard this advice, but the idea is that you're supposed to write from one or more characters' perspectives to get to know them, and in turn, it might spark something. I figured it was the perfect place to start trying to get my groove back.

I chose Crystal Harris. Who? She was the gangly blonde who made up three random paragraphs in the middle of my novel. And I had no clue what she was even doing there.

So you might be thinking that since I'm the writer, I should really be in on the secret. Maybe. But writing can be kind of an out-of-body experience for me. I feel less like a creator and more like a recorder, waiting to hear what comes next. I'm not in control. I'm just along for the ride. Not sure if it's like that for everyone.

Anyway, the exercise was pretty successful. As it turns out, Crystal was far from the one-dimensional villain I originally suspected her of. She grew up in Rhode Island and she resents her parents for moving her to the desert. Like so many characters in my book, she feels like her destiny is out of her control. Suddenly, she made sense. She wasn't random. She fit right in. She was still gangly, but a little more well-rounded.

I didn't get any usable writing done, but I did make some headway. And I woke up thinking about her instead of laundry and work and errands. To me, that's a step in the right direction no matter whose shoes I've got on.

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The hypothesis: Road to the writer's block cure

So my blog isn't all prettied up yet. And I have no followers. So what? Us writers, we're known for crappy firsts.

Anyway, here's a little background...last summer I had a napkin writer. In my world that means I was inspired 24/7. To the point where I was grabbing anything to write on, including napkins, scribbling words and then shoving them into my pockets to save for when I could find time to type them up. My napkin writer was a young adult novel. The specifics aren't important. The point is I had conversations going on in my head. I was basically just the recorder. Sounds crazy. It was. Crazy awesome. Scenes would materialize when I was at work, in the shower, cooking dinner. I couldn't read. All I could do was let it out. Try to capture it before it was gone or I forgot it. I was living those characters' lives.

Then one day, it was over. I was left with 40 pages, a vague idea of a plot and very little hope.

Long story short: the birth of this blog. This problem is routine. I get an idea, I'm inspired and then anywhere from three weeks to three months later....plck. It stops. It fizzles like a...well, like a fart. Impressive and loud to start and then it just lingers. Now I want to get "it" back. No, not the fart. The inspiration.

That's why I'm here. Art, may I please introduce you to Science? Good. Now that you two are acquainted, it's time to do some collaborating. How many how-to books, blogs and experts are out there promising to help writers get out of their funk? And yet... does any of this advice really work? I will be finding out. Little bit by little bit. Conducting unbiased experiments. Dispelling myths. And hopefully, hopefully, getting some good writing done too.