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On a number of occasions I have been interviewed on writing. Always the question arises – where does the writing come from?
Others have told me that they too have had the same question put to them. And, I suppose, it should be no surprise. It is the most fundamental questions for writers:how can someone sit down with a blank page and two years later have 400 pages of a story?
Some claim that they write nothing for months until the story is fully formed in their heads. At that point they go off to a solitary location and write with fury, producing the story in a matter of Amazon weeks. I suspect this way of approaching writing is rare. You may not agree.
Others claim that they rough-out a detailed structure and a description of all characters before they attempt to start on ‘the real thing’. This approach has never worked for me.
I suspect, for most of us, we simply sit down and start to write page after page of pure rubbish. But, out of this, ideas begin to form and finally harden into the possibility of a story. This act of ‘rubbish’ writing seems to be essential to get traction going under a story. At least, to writers that I have talked to, that appears to be the way for most of them.
In the writing of the thriller – Water Worms – half an idea formed for me while looking at a single drop of water dropping from the end of an icicle. Two years later I had a story of 280 pages. Maybe I need help!
So, don’t pass up the possibility of a ‘situation’ that might lead to a story. It might be a bag of money found on the side of a road or six people trapped by a snow storm in a house. Grab at it and write page after page of ‘rubbish’ until clarity, in what you are attempting, comes into clearer focus.
I hope that something here might help those who are now experiencing writer’s blockage. One or two of these ideas might help to clear away the log jam and get the pen moving again. At least I hope so.
Comments would be welcome.
BEST REGARDS – Patrick
(contact@pmccusker.com)