For Women Who Want to Write - Chapter Two

Chapter Two: What If I Can’t Think of Any Story Ideas?

This is a short chapter on story ideas.

There’s something that I call “pre-writer’s block.” Writer’s block is when you find yourself blocked when writing. Pre-writer’s block is when you desperately want to write but stop yourself before you can even begin.

The block may be influenced by other people and their opinions but it is always an internal wall, one that you essentially created, and so you can break through and destroy it. It may come in the guise of I can’t think of any story ideas but what it really is, is the fear of the opinions of others and fear of “failure.”

Because you will be writing in secret, at least at first, you don’t need to worry about others’ opinions anyway. So leave them out of it.

The next hurdle is usually your own expectations, and fear of not meeting those expectations, i.e., the failure issue. If you are American like me, expectations of success (meaning big sales and money and fame) are endemic in our society and often the only measure of success that people (including you, possibly) widely accept.

Stop for a moment and think this through. If money were the only measure of success there would be no poets. What poet earns enough money to not have a day job? Is poetry useless then? Should poets give up and not bother?

Some of the value inherent in writing only becomes apparent once you are actually writing. Once you’re in the creative process it’s like worlds open up inside you. I mean it. You’ll see for yourself when you are in the process.

But first, you need to get through these pre-writer’s block issues. Here are a few more points to consider.

If you’re dreaming of writing a 100,000 word epic fantasy novel as your first writing project, you may want to reconsider. Sure, you’ll write it someday, but at first, especially if you’ve had pre-writer’s block for what feels like forever, this is setting the bar too high.

What would probably happen is that you would start with an outline, begin writing, get stuck, become frustrated, try harder, and get even more frustrated until one day you’d just give up.

A story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. Period.

Short stories and novellas would be easier to start with. There’s also flash fiction. Flash fiction is a very short story, max 1500 words. Any of these would be easier than starting with a novel.

If you have your heart set on that epic fantasy, take one part of the plot that you can isolate into short story form and begin with that.

If you can release your fear of others’ opinions and your own thoughts of what constitutes success and failure in writing, then I have good news. And that is - story ideas are everywhere.

What kinds of stories light you up? Which characters in your favorite stories linger with you and why? What plot twist in a story dazzled you when you read it, so much so that you still remember it today?

Years of reading have given you the ingredients for your ideal story. They’re in your head already, along with the perfect characters that inspire you. In other words, you don’t have to look far or do a lot of research, unless you want to.

Re-read your favorite books and re-watch your favorite movies (i.e., stories in fluid form) if you like, in order to capture the feel of the story you want to write.

Above all, have confidence that you already have everything you need to start.

Helpful Tips – Story Ideas

• If you have never finished writing a story, try flash fiction. You’ll write a very short story and thus get over the hurdle of having “never finished a story.”
• Or pretend you are telling a child a story. Remember: all it needs is a beginning, middle, and end. Write a fable. Start it with “Once upon a time,” literally. Be as absurd as you can. Make it up as you go along. Tack on an ending of some kind. There, you’ve finished a story. I know it sounds silly, but don’t hesitate to build your confidence however you can and release any old feelings of failure about not finishing stories.
• Understand that the middle of a novel, a.k.a. the “mushy middle,” is problematic for most writers. If you can think of a good beginning and know the ending of your story you are where many writers are when they begin to write. Your story idea is not deficient and you don’t have to know everything that happens in the middle of the story in order to begin writing.

Exercises

1. Take a single sheet of paper. Write the number “1” near the top, “2” in the middle, and “3” further down. Write the barest beginning of a story in Number 1, the happy or sad ending in Number 3, and then anything in Number 2 that would logically take your protagonist toward the ending in Number 3.
2. Do this two more times on two new sheets of paper with new characters in different settings. This is for your eyes only and is intended to move you through any old blocks you may have about being “perfect” when writing. Burn them afterwards if you must or put them through the shredder. Much of what writers do in their preparation phases, gearing up to write their stories, consists of a bunch of notes, scribbles and doodles and finally an outline (if they use outlines - some writers don’t). The story idea process doesn’t have to be intimidating or look “perfect.”
3. If not finishing a story, whether due to perfectionism or any other reason, was one of your obstacles, congratulations. You should feel some ease around this issue now. One of the results from this exercise is less hesitation in starting story outlines and stories. If more story ideas come to you now, and they probably will, continue to write them down.

Next chapter will be posted tomorrow