How many times did our Mother say, “Don’t play with your food?” Weren’t we just curious, mixing the colors and combining the textures to see what we could produce?
For writers, the act of writing itself is nourishment, or should be. All too often we find ourselves slogging through scene after scene, momentum slowing as we careen toward the dreaded Writer’s Block. Instead we should exercise our writing chops, experiment with ideas, and mix and combine to see what we can produce. In other words, PLAY!
Here are some possible ways to do that very thing.
Obviously your Work In Progress (WIP) has to start somewhere. Where is a good place to start? What is the earliest moment that shows what your protagonist—we’ll call her “Prot”—most wants or wants to avoid? What change could happen from which there is no going back? What is her last safe and secure moment before her world is torn apart? Try opening your novel as close as possible to one of these moments of change.
Prot is, of course, the main character of your story. But characters are people, too, and the deeper and more fleshed out Prot and her pals are, the better your story. For Prot definitely, and the other main characters, too, consider what they are most afraid of, what they are most proud of, what are their greatest shames or regrets. What infuriates them, or touches their hearts? How are they motivated differently? What are their worst traits, and their best? At what do they excel, and where do they suck? What are their cherished beliefs, bedrock principles, or philosophies of life? What hurt or inspired Prot in childhood, and how does it affect her in your story? Do other characters carry similar pain or motivation? You get the idea. Most importantly, find places in your story for Prot and/or your other main characters to take stock of themselves on any of these points.
Do you struggle to get the background across without dumping info on your reader? Try cutting all the background information from the first half of your novel. Decide what vital information the reader absolutely HAS to know—down to the very fewest, most crucial nuggets. Write a single sentence on each of these information nuggets. Insert the sentences in key spots in your novel, where they will be most effective. Hint: it doesn’t have to be as early in your WIP as you think.
You might also pick the single most significant event in Prot’s past and write a paragraph each on its beginning, middle, and end. Then find similar or parallel events scattered in your WIP and insert them nearby. This technique can pay dividends in underlying tension.
Often the most compelling elements in a story are those that either heighten or reverse expectations, that is, Double Down or Flip the Script!
Try picking a development in a scene. What would Prot not expect to do, say, or feel in that situation? Flip the Script by making her do, say, or feel those very things. Highlight the unexpected. At the end of the scene have Prot notice a detail she hadn’t before.
Do some of your chapters, particularly the middle ones, lack punch? You can always turn those scenes dynamic by employing Double Down or Flip the Script.
Enliven those chapters by making the worst possible thing that could happen, happen. Change the thing least likely to change. Take away the thing or person Prot can rely on absolutely. Reveal the secret Prot or the reader doesn’t know. Have Prot realize how she’s grown, or how her world has changed. Change things. Surprise us. Move us.
Or you could amplify the strongest feeling Prot has in the scene. Try analyzing that feeling from varying angles. Double down by making her feel it more than anything ever has. Is she glad she has it? Or does she wish she didn’t feel this way? Is it the perfect feeling to have at this moment? Or is she ashamed to feel it? Can you compare the feeling to something else? Who else exhibits the feeling, but even more so? Or, if it feels wrong, what should she feel? Who best exhibits that? How does the feeling change her? How will she never be the same again?
How about your dialogue? Can you make it better? Pick a piece of dialogue between two people from your WIP and cut out all attributions, movement, etc. Strip it down to the spoken words only. Then increase the hostility. Have them insult, curse, belittle each other. Let them seethe with rage, or even blow up. Build up their animosity with each step as they incite one another. Now add back the attributions, movements, etc., or create new ones. Trim back the excess, and see if your dialogue isn’t more exciting.
Or, you could Flip the Script by rewriting it with the characters speaking only indirectly, not actually saying what they need to say. You could even rewrite your dialogue without using spoken words!
A note on dialogue: when more than two persons are speaking, confusion can set in quickly. You’d be surprised how often the third person exits so the two can talk. If you do have more than two characters speaking, it’s usually best if the extras only add a comment here and there, not actually take part in the conversation.
Mind games can be fun to play on readers who can only catch hints. Maybe Prot or another character knows a secret she can’t reveal. Can you show the reader the way it changes her, or makes her act differently, without letting the cat out of the bag? How about if something bad has happened behind the scenes? Show the reader how it affects Prot or others without revealing the event. Perhaps there is a disaster impending. Give only warning signposts to the reader as you march toward the disaster.
I like to think of exercises as experiments. Experiment with your writing. Play with ideas. Bang them together. Stuff them in places they wouldn’t normally go. Picture yourself pouring possibilities from one beaker to another, like a chemist in a laboratory. Then watch the thoughts bubble, foam, and explode like chemical reactions.
Most of all HAVE FUN WRITING!
