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Chatterbox: Inkwell
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Hello! I'm a very unusual girl from Minnesota who is currently writing about ten books at once. (I call myself unusual because, unlike most females, I highly despise gossip and anything to do with it.) At the moment, I am disctinctly STUCK at a point in my fantasy. Does anyone have tips for shattering the dreadful writer's block?
submitted by Ella Clare M., age 13, Minnesota
(October 13, 2023 - 6:22 pm)
(October 13, 2023 - 6:22 pm)
Nice to meet you! I'm Periwinkle, or Peri. Shall we call you Ella the Unusual (haha)? Eccentric El? I could go on…
I think you'd be surprised how many women and girls actually hate gossip. Most girls I know talk about mostly about Taylor Swift, camping, anime, music, or books lol. If you ask me, true girl power is lifting each other up!
Ah, writer's block. A terrible monster! Have you tried:
- Listening to music (weirdly inspiring)
- Putting yourself in the characters' shoes
- Restarting the chapter and taking a different direction
- Going for a walk to clear your head and coming back later
- Writing a different genre
What are you writing about? It might be helpful to focus on one or two projects at a time, although I've always found that so hard. I'm trying to stick to one idea right now, in preparation for National Novel Writing Month.
(October 13, 2023 - 7:55 pm)
Here's some threads you can check out to get your creative juices flowing:
Our Writing Contest thread: http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/544899
The Tag Game, which anyone can join at any time (where CBers take turns writing parts of a story together): http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/510701
The Regular Writing Thread, for sharing your writing: http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/puddingsplace/node/492055
The Ultimate Written Picturing thread, for writing short stories imagining what other CBers look like: http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/puddingsplace/node/553160
The regular poetry thread, for sharing your poetry (even if you're not a poet, give it a try. You might become a poet after hanging out here): http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/puddingsplace/node/315784
And the Poetry Contest: http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/puddingsplace/node/301121
Also, here's our Ultimate Guide, which is super helpful for new CBers (CBers means Chatterboxers btw): http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/chirpatcricket/node/443573
Happy writing and welcome to the Chatterbox!
(October 13, 2023 - 8:34 pm)
Thank you so much for your helpful comments! Lots of your suggestions are extremely thought-provoking, and I have tried some of those routes. My four greatest loves are books, tigers, music, and my religion. Sometimes just sitting in my bed with my stuffed tiger (nicknamed Akrasia, for the tiger from Sophie Quire) prompts amazing ideas. The genres that I typically work in are fantasy and historical fiction--fantasy for its enjoyable, magical quality, and historical fiction for relatable, inspiring characters. Again, thank you!
(October 14, 2023 - 3:53 pm)
Hey and Welcome!! I'm Hawkstar, and a lot of my family on my mother's side is from Minnesota! Personaly, I've only visited once, when I was like 2, but I remember bits and pieces :)
Oooooh, writers block. I hate it. I have, like, just as many books started, so I feel you. Sooooo
Whenever I get stuck, I like to jump to a different book and write that for a while. I usually give up on the book for a while, and when I come back, I usually can break through the block. Peri's advice was amazing, as always, and those things work as well!
Again, welcome to the Chatterbox! hope to see you around ;D
(October 14, 2023 - 3:08 pm)
Yes, writing different books is what I've been TRYING to do (though thus far, I'm absorbed in my historical fiction, instead of the book that I should be focusing on). Thank you for the welcome, and you should definitely visit Minnesota!
(October 15, 2023 - 1:19 pm)
Hi! Welcome to the CB! I think Peri's advice is as about as good as you'll find (yesss listening to music is just The Best way to get inspired in my opinion) but my tips would be to read well-written books by such authors as Elizabeth Enright, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Edward Eager - and, also, to write the book that would provide the ideal reading in your opinion.
*whispers* I'm actually okay with gossip (except for the malicious kind, which I despise and will have nothing to do with) but I'm sure we can be good CB friends anyway! :)
(October 14, 2023 - 3:09 pm)
Hi Ella Clare M, and welcome to the chatterbox! Actually, I'm a very unusual girl by your definition too! I HATE gossip and makeup and anything like that! But, oc, I think that this is more of the stereotype, and while some girls are like this, LOTS aren't! And lots are somewhere in between too (which is why I don't like the titles "girly girl" and "tomboy", because we're all girls, and it's so labely, like you can either be this or this and if you're this at all then you're this and that's that, and who's "Tom" anyway?)! And I SO SO hate it when my cello teacher is like, "oh, (Celine), I know you want to look pretty and grow out your nails, but it's impacting your ability to play cello, so could you please cut them?" after having explained to her FIVE whole times before that, no, I'm NOT "growing out my nails", in fact I didn't even know what that MEANT until the first time you said that, I'm just too LAZY to go and cut them because honestly, I just don't LIKE cutting my nails, because I can't READ while I'm doing that and I like to be able to READ whenever I'm doing something, and so stop ASSUMING just cuz I'm a GIRL bc I've already TOLD you so could you please just-
sorry, you didn't come here for a rant. Umm, moving on!
ughh Writer's Block! Honestly, whenever I have writers block, I just start writing a different book! But, some threads that may be helpful:
http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/511827 worldbuilding and writing Fantasy help, some REALLY good advice here
http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/539677 writers block thread!
http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/551846 Random nonsense writing for if you just want to write some nonsense, sometimes that helps!
http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/puddingsplace/node/492055 regular writing thread! Also really useful for getting back into the habit of writing/just writing, and oc you can always post something anywhere and ask for critique!
If you're ever in need of some inspiration:
http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/502014 prompt exchange thread
take a bullet and run with it
But yeah! Hope that helps, and good luck with your book! :)
Celine, I play violin, and I use an emery board on my nails. You can file them down and read at the same time. Just prop the book open.
Admin
(October 14, 2023 - 5:23 pm)
I forgot to add, some other things that may help:
- writing in a different point of view sometimes opens your mind and gets you past the block, even if you won't use it in the real thing
- writing from a different character's perspective sometimes helps also, and it's a great exercise anyways! I would definitely recommend it, even if you won't use that bit of writing you did as the other character, when you come back to the main character, you'll know what other characters are thinking too, and that's always helpful I think (if that makes sense)!
- establishing your character's heart's desire. Let the heart desire drive the writing! If you don't already have a strong heart desire, it's going to be harder to write (I'm still trying to figure out mine, and I've been on the same book for about 3 years now (with lots of long breaks, oc)!)
and I LOVE Sophie Quire!! :D
(and I agree with Poinsettia, reading is always great when you want to write! Frances Hodgson Burnett and Edgar Eager are great choices (idk Elizabeth Enright), as is Roald Dahl (oc!), and my favorite writing book is Spilling Ink! I also just love to read The Creativity Project or The Book of Hopes sometime for inspiration!
Feiya said HUDIG!
(October 14, 2023 - 6:17 pm)
Thank you for the author suggestions! I just finished one of Louisa May Alcott's lesser known novels (An Old-Fashoined Girl). Already my vocabulary is expanding! Gossip *eye roll* is a ridiculous pastime, but I agree--we can be CB friends!
(October 15, 2023 - 2:29 pm)
hey, welcome to the CB!
(October 14, 2023 - 4:48 pm)
hey man, i'm lord entropy. i think gossip is funny to listen to, personally, but that's cool. i'm not entirely a girl anyway. i am probably unusual, but i don't know.
"writing ten books at once." yeah. that's writing, i think. i have... five ongoing projects, and two on hiatus, so there's definitely something wrong with me.
i rarely get writers block, but when i do, i try to rest, and have dreams a lot. i get my ideas from the flashes of pure thought and random images i see while spacing out, so i just try to daydream and think about nothing. i also keep journals full of random facts about my characters, things they've said, their relationships, etc. i think characters and settings make a story, plot is very secondary for me.
that being said, creation is completely different for everyone, so far be it from me to tell you how to create. just have fun in the process.
(October 18, 2023 - 9:49 pm)