Do you...

by Sophie Barlow
1st October 2014

Do you ever find that you get anxious when you take a break from writing, only to sit down to write and find you cant actually put anything down on paper?

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There's a big gap between the idea and the execution of it. You dream up the essence of the story, but how to distil that into words is all part of the alchemy of writing - and it doesn't happen just because you want it to.

Do you ever lose something, and after you've hunted high and low, give up and think it will turn up in its own time, probably when you're not looking for it? Well, writing can be like that. Look away, and the chances are you'll see it more clearly than if you keep staring at it.

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Lorraine
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Lorraine Swoboda
02/10/2014

Rather than putting the pressure on to write something on yor project -- especially something top quality -- how about starting with a fifteen minute free-writing session instead? That should get some ideas flowing, or at least chuck out all the rubbish first.

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Charlie
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Charlie Aylett
02/10/2014

Remember that lovely quote, "If you wish to be a writer, write!" I'm the same but I think if you can just start somewhere, even if it's rubbish, maybe the juice will start to flow and you'll gather momentum.

Today when I couldn't get an 'in' to my story, I went to my favourite books, and I opened them on the first page of the first chapter, and read the first line. It just gave me a little inspiration, a different viewpoint from first person or third, from genre to genre. It helped me get an "eye" in my story, if that makes sense, and I wrote a first line, then another, then another. Then I was a thousand words in. And I decided I won't go back and check it, I'll just keep writing, and I'll see if that method works ;)

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Sophie
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Sophie Howker
01/10/2014