Keeping Fit: Inspiration, Back to Basics, and Exercising Our Writing Muscles
By Heather Webb | October 26, 2023 |
After years and years of writing, our routines, at times, can start to feel a little stagnant, especially if you’ve been doing the publishing tango. Part of that is being forced to spend metric tons of time and energy outside the writing itself. Part of it is the sheer amount of labor involved in bringing a novel to its fruition. The other thing—something we discount too easily for some reason—is that our big creative brains need a regular stream of stimulation and inspiration. I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately myself. It’s strange because I have a book idea that I’m excited to write, but I’ve found myself inching along, picking at it very slowly, and losing focus. After I had a conversation with a few writer friends, I realized what I really needed was some rejuvenation and to go back to basics.
Going back to basics, for me, meant starting with a few questions:
- What’s my “why”? Why do I write? How has my “why” changed over time? Do I still want to be here and why is that?
- What do I love most about my process? How can I enhance it?
- How can I add a bit of fun to my routine that motivates me?
Basically, I realized I needed to shake things up a bit. Break my habits and routines. Invite in the change! And most of all, reframe my thinking a little.
Exercising is Feeding the writerly soul
Here are a few things I’ve tried and found not only helpful, but a great way to get my groove back. For anyone who is struggling to keep things fresh, maybe something here can help!
Analyze the first chapter of a book in your genre. Take notes, highlight important items (inciting incident, scene-setting, character backstory, story questions, and foreshadowing). What is the author doing well? Are you hitting similar elements in your own work? If not, how can you incorporate these elements in a more interesting way?
Now analyze a chapter from a novel OUTSIDE your genre. Is there a technique there you can employ that you don’t see used often in books more like yours? Those cross-genre elements can be the difference between a quiet novel that doesn’t go places and a break-out a book.
Pull out a craft book from your shelf and do one of the exercises as it pertains to your current WIP. I really enjoy the character exercises, but sometimes it’s fun to work on a plot exercise or to think about ways to add layers and nuance to your WIP. I’m a craft book junky and enjoy buying them almost as much as using them. I realized while going through this rejuvenation process that I hadn’t even looked at one in AGES! Now I keep a stack on my desk and rotate them in, each day.
Set up writing exercise time while on a retreat (public or private): Brainstorming, writing games, sharing pages. The inspiration and sense of rejuvenation that we get from being with other writers can not only put a little pep in our step, but it can challenge us to work differently, think differently, or try something new.
Is there a novel structure you’ve always wanted to try? Think about how you can incorporate elements of this structure into your WIP. If this particular structure won’t work for your current story, what interesting structure can work? Try it, play with it, tweak it. If it doesn’t work in the long run, there’s no big loss there. You’ve had fun working on it and likely learned something new about how to use it in the future.
Morning pages. This is a famous technique from the craft book, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Essentially, before you begin your day or perhaps before you begin your writing session, you spend ten minutes writing down absolutely anything and everything that comes to mind. It may be a grocery list of chores, a list of your worries and stressors, or perhaps it’s a puzzle you’re trying to solve in your manuscript. It’s about unloading burden and also finding a pathway into the creative mindspace you need to be successful in your writing session that day.
Read two or three poems per day. Analyze the word choices, the structure, the deeper nuanced meaning of the poems. There’s something galvanizing about poetry. It’s as soothing as it is unsettling at times, but it is always a bright point of inspiration.
Pack up your laptop/writing pad and spend the morning somewhere new. Sometimes our routines help set us up for success. Sometimes they work against us. If things are feeling stagnant or we’re stuck, mix it up! Plop down at your favorite local restaurant/pub/coffee shop. They won’t run you off if you buy something occasionally, especially during slower times of day. You might also try the seating area at a grocery store, a mall bench, or a university library. All make for excellent people watching and bring a different ambiance that might just inspire you to think differently that day.
How about you? What kind of activities do you do to keep fit in your writing? How do you liven things up?
Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of historical fiction. As a freelance editor and an adjunct in a MFA in Creative Writing program, Heather has helped many writers sign with agents and go on to sell at market. When not writing, she feeds her cookbook addiction, geeks out on history and pop culture, and looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world. To date, her books have been translated to seventeen languages.
These are excellent suggestions, Heather! I once heard James Scott Bell say that he’ll shake things up by opening a dictionary, pointing to a random word, and using it in his next sentence. Will that sentence remain, in the end? Maybe not, but it got his brain arcing between story and word choice in a new way. It has worked for me! (Do other people still own hardcover dictionaries? 😅)
I have three!!
Haha! I do! Thanks for weighing in, Kathryn. I’m glad I’m not the only one who does something random when trying to shake things up!
I feel you, friend. It’s been a slumpy year or two, here. Good advice for self-assessment as well as for rekindling the energy/joy for the work. (p.s. Can’t wait to see you in Salem!)
I’m sorry to hear that you share my slumps. Here’s to us both being inspired at the Un-Con. Counting the days to see you and the gang! X
Some great ideas here. I particularly like the ones about analyzing a book in a different genre and picking something from a craft book and applying it to something in my WIP. I have to admit that writing in a new place for me meant moving from my office to the dining room table to avoid the carpenters outside my office window. But it made a difference! I was able to concentrate on my writing, I suspect because I didn’t have all the other stuff on my desk to distract me..
I do the same thing, Gabi! It really does help to set up shop somewhere new, and when I leave the house, I don’t think about all the chores around the house. Ha ha. Thanks for your comments!
I really like your suggestions and this is a timely conversation for me because I’ve been traveling and now it is time to return to a writing/art routine. I often find that reading a blog post from WUB or other writing sites is a good way to jumpstart my own writing. And I’m a firm believer in Julia Cameron’s “morning pages” which I sometimes think of as mourning pages depending on what’s going on in my life.
That’s a great suggestion, Sallie. I also enjoy starting my day reading the latest Writer Unboxed post. Gets me in the mood to tackle what’s next. Good luck settling back into your routine!
These are great ideas for energizing our writing, Heather. Although you don’t explicitly answer your first question (Why do I write?), I’ve found that revisiting my mission statement can help me shake off my stupor. Another technique, similar to your pulling exercises from craft books, is to do a writing-to-prompts session, with others or alone.
Oo, Barbara, I love the suggestion of doing a writing prompt with others. What a great ides. Thanks for stopping by today!
Love all of these creative ideas, Heather. One of my hobbies is growing herbs in pots. My most successful were mint, basil, thyme and rosemary. Very fragrant ! Least successful, my favorite dill. But I’ll keep trying. Do you smell them just from mentioning? Try a pinch or two, put them in a tiny vase with water or on a paper towel on your desk before Morning Pages. The fragrance will enliven your senses and sweet you away.
You’re speaking my language, Mary. I’m something of a foodie and love nothing more than fresh herbs. What a terrific idea! Have you tried lemon thyme and orange basil? Tremendous!
No, but I will! Thanks!
I have shelves of books in my genre that I often reread and analyze but your suggestion to do the same outside my genre is brilliant. I am currently in France and will search tomorrow for books in English to try out the concept. I could certainly use a jumpstart for my current WIP.
Thanks so much, Heather. I really needed this today. I love all of these suggestions. Hope all is well. See you soon in Salem.