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| Inspiration on a lazy Friday afternoon |
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It's summer in Tucson again. Yes, I realize that it won't officialy be "summer" until June 21st, but around here, summer is a long season indeed. Long days cooped up in front of the air conditioning vents should make for the perfect writing environment, right? Unfortunately, summers are the bane of my writing existence (doubly troubling since a Tucson summer lasts from roughly April to November). There's just something about the hot, dry, eye-searingly bright days that send my muse into deep cover. Every writer knows that writing is a skill and one that, if not practiced regularly, can fade, so what's a girl to do? Luckily, I have a few tricks for getting out of the doldrums. 1. Music. In my case, a particular CD. I took the plunge into National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in late October, 2002, and decided to treat myself to one new CD to bribe myself encourage my writing. I ended up with an ambient electronic album with just over an hour's worth of music on it. After starting each of my NaNo writing sessions with this album, I developed a kind of Pavlovian response to it. When my brain hears the opening strains of the first song, it knows it's time to write. 2. Contests and calls for submission. I like to trawl contest and call for submission listings to stir up ideas. Many contests are for short fiction to be grouped into themed anthologies, so I find the narrow topical focus is just what I need to spark an idea. While I was writing this, a call for subs for a horror 'zine came in. Any unpublished horror authors here? Try Dorchester Publishing. Don't have time to seek out listings? Pick up a book you enjoyed recently and visit the publisher's web site. See what genres are big with that publisher, or combine two or more for a writing challenge. Still stumped? Try combining the titles of a few books you've enjoyed and see what comes of it. A quick check of our April bestsellers gives me Handle with Care, Run for Your Life, Heart and Soul, Dead Silence, and Promises in Death. Given the recent popularity of zombie fiction, I'm getting a definite zombie vibe from these titles. Five minutes of brainstorming can take this in all sorts of directions. 3. Read. If you're having one of those days where you're not going to get any positive writing done, the next best option is to give your creativity a rest and read someone else's words instead. One of the best ways to learn the craft of writing is to read how other authors do it. When you read a passage that makes your jaw drop, or evokes a visceral response, pay attention. Pick it apart to see why it was effective. Work on incorporating those lessons into your own writing. Feeling inspired yet? Go, write! | |||||||
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