Well, I tend to be the serious one, at least in my writing. To a point. But, here, I've been mostly serious, therefore now, I want to try my hand at something lighthearted. This could be a disaster.
See, this is the problem! I get thinking about something, and it seems like a good idea at the time, but when I actually sit down to pound it out, to make it more than a bulbous idea in my head, all inspiration leaves me. Same with the pen. Same with the typewriter.
It's like the time that I had this idea for an awesome pirate action adventure (not denture) novel. I wrote and rewrote the opening fight scene in my head until I thought it was perfect. But, then tragedy struck. I sat down to write it down, and it deserted me. I managed to get the bare bones of the thing down, but it lacked the life, the vigor, and the clash of steel against wood as the Pirate Queen's sword got caught in the mast as she fought against the Evil Overlord who thought he could take her ship away. Course, she managed to dodge his fearsome right and swing around the mast and boot him off the spar with one elegantly shod foot, but it didn't matter anymore. The brilliance of the idea wasn't there, the sparkle that I had in my head as I was watching it all play out... it was gone.
See, I said this was going to be a disaster. Even my usual remedy for lack of inspiration isn't helping too much... maybe the little white box isn't magic?
Okay, next step.
Pirates.
Pirates are good.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that helps me is to just not worry about it. What I mean by that is to just get the scene done, even if you get in the mindset of not making it spectacular, just get from point A to point B. You'll find that just finishing the scene, without a lot of fanfare, will make the next one easier.
And the next. And the next. And if you keep at it, a little at a time, you'll have something bigger. Maybe better, but at least closer to a finished novel.
That's what I tend to do. And it's part of why I love script so much. See, I write most of my April screenplays up in novel form before the month starts (and it isn't cheating!), so if I come to a scene like that, I lay down the bare bones and trudge on. When it comes time to put it into the script, for some reason, it just flows better. I'm sure that it would work the same way with a novel, but I tend to never get around to finishing or editing my novels...
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