Bad Writing Days

My topic today is fitting for a blah Monday.

Bad Writing Days.

We all have those days. I'm not talking about writer's block or days when you decide not to write at all. I mean those days when you sit down at your Word document and try your damnedest to put something good down.

And everything comes out as word vomit.

This usually happens to me when I'm feeling hopeless to begin with. I start typing and out come the cliches. Then I think, I need to be more original, and out comes the purple prose. And just when I realize maybe I'm trying too hard, out come the rhetorical questions. They're my kryptonite.

It's sort of like an out-of-body experience. I'm watching myself get worse and worse but am powerless to stop it.

So usually what happens next is, I find something shiny to distract myself from the despair of being a sucky writer. Most recently? Angry birds. Don't try it - it's really addicting. And once I feel sufficiently distracted, I can usually go back to my work-in-progress with a better attitude, and the determination to make it work.

Unless it's a really bad writing day.

What do you do with your bad writing days? Do you call it a wash and delete it all or do you keep it and try to fashion that purple prose into something resembling good writing?

And just so this post isn't a total downer, here are some exercises for getting those creative juices flowing:

• Pretend you're the villain in your story - no, really. If he wears a black cape, put on that cape and walk around the house plotting your hero's demise. It's not writing, but you might just get some useful villain catch-phrases out of the exercise.
• Go to pandora and pick a song to be your MC's favorite. Get up and dance to it. Think about why it's his or her favorite and if it could be incorporated into the story someplace. If not, just let it wash over you while you plot your villain's demise.
• Get out of the house/library/writing space and go someplace that fits your setting. Even if it's not the same state or country. Check out places your MC would normally go, like a high school or a local dance club. Pay attention to details. Bring your notebook to jot.
• Become an expert on your MC via youtube. If your MC is a boxer, watch boxing videos. If she's a dancer, watch the dancing vids. Violinist. Swimmer. Tattoo artist. There's pretty much something for everyone, and you might even discover a new favorite hobby (bird watching?).
• Eat a food you think a character might eat, even if it's french fries dipped in ice cream. What better way to get into character?
• Take a nap if you can. Not only will sleeping put your brain in a better, healthier place, there's also a possibility you'll be inspired by a dream. If nothing else, at least you'll feel different when you wake up.

And when it comes to Bad Writing Days, different is always better.

Happy Monday!! *cheesy grin*

Plotting...buwahahahaha!

Plotting: The skeleton without which exquisite, fleshy prose sags.

I have to say a big THANK YOU to @KayCassidy for introducing me to the Hauge 6-point plot structure.

The other day on twitter, she mentioned that it changed her writing life. Now I have to confess, it is changing mine, as well! From my first attempts at writing (just butt in chair, pummel through writer's block) to my more recent (stream-of-conscious, first-person nanowrimo project), I've struggled through problems with plot. I always say I'm an idea girl. Coming up with what people call high concept ideas for novels is easy for me. I have about a dozen truly original, mostly fun concepts tucked away in raw synopsis form. But when it came to writing the high-stakes parts--rising action, climax, CONFLICT--I bumbled. Well I am bumbling no more!

Thanks to Kay Cassidy, author of The Cinderella Society, I can now plot just about any story that pops into my mind. Rather than sticking my fabulous ideas in a paragraph-length blurb, I've begun writing an entire synopsis/book proposal for each idea, based on the six-point plot structure. I number the elements on six notecards:

1. Setup

2. New Situation

3. Progress

4. Complications/Higher Stakes

5. Final Push

6. Aftermath

Then I force myself to adhere to these guidelines in creating a full, fleshed-out premise and plot. The size of a notecard makes brevity necessary, a great thing if you're outlining for a book proposal or one-page synopsis. Last, I transfer the six paragraphs (without numbering them) into a word document.

Ta-da!

I have a synopsis, formerly one of the most difficult parts of the writing process, for me. Knowing that I have a full idea, complete with character names, conflicts, and resolution, makes writing the story a much more flowing process. It also takes a load of stress off, since I won't have to condense an entire novel into a synopsis after I've written it (you know, at that point where you think leaving minor characters and subplots out of the synopsis is a crime). If I get a request for a synopsis from an agent, I already have a document that merely needs fine-tuning before I send it out.

Having the synopsis already written does more than provide the crux of my proposal. It also helps me while I'm writing.

Writer's block is so much rarer now than when I began seriously writing two years ago. Knowing the story from beginning to end provides me with a framework, with guideposts that keep me from getting totally lost. I still have plenty of flexibility to change characters and subplots as so inspired, but if I accidentally write myself off the page and into Neverland, I can retrace my steps and get back on course.

Foiled again, no more. Now I must return to my plotting. Buwahahahahaha!!