Hey there! I’m relatively new to L&L Community Forum. I’m a screenwriter/director close to finishing my degree at University, and I’ve been using Scrivener for about two to three years now. It’s a great program for both novel writing, scriptwriting and academic writing, especially since I tend to jump around my drafts and manuscripts a lot !
I remember reading an article not too long ago about Freewriting with Scrivener and since I’m someone who doesn’t necessarily enjoy the outlining process, I find myself positioned more within the realm of a ‘pantser’ as opposed to a ‘plotter’. Sometimes I just get the feeling and the spark that I want to write, but what I want to write remains unclear. Does anyone have any advice for when you’re staring at a blank document and you want to write, but you’re blanking on ideas and you just want to write whatever? How do I let go of the internal high-standards I’ve set for myself to avoid judging something on a first draft?
There are all kinds of suggested prompts out there in cyberspace - and it depends of course if you’re writing essays, memoir, non-fiction or fiction - but Dorothea Brande’s exercise ideas have always seemed to me the most sane and useful. You can read the book for free online:
One of her suggestions is that you just sit and start to write out whatever’s on your mind - not as an intended topic for the whole session, but to get your head working on getting words out and down on paper. The chapter in the book on this is the most useful advice I’ve ever used - and I don’t write fiction. This kind of exercise has now become commodified as ‘Morning Pages’ and suchlike, but I have a notebook called Clarity Pages (an equally daft name) that I have been using as prompt to get on with things for well over two decades now. It doesn’t matter if you write nonsense, it just matters than you write. Our creative engines are highly inertial, so once writing, with that inertia overcome, you’re likely to carry on, and ideas will come.
I use pen and paper as being a rotten typist that’s the least source of inertia, and this is the recommended route as there is supposed to be some kind of symbiosis of thoughts and handwriting that makes it the best. But I have no experience with the alternatives, so I can’t judge them.
Also well worth a read is Annie Lamott’s Bird by Bird - a very lovely book.
But seriously. This goes in the same direction Ascher suggests:
Shift the goals. Of course your inner critic wants a masterpiece, and your ego fears rejection (even from you own inner critic). Tell them: “Don’t worry, I’m just going to type those five pages of ‘whatever’ to warm up my fingers”. So, there’s nothing to critique, only if you fail to produce quantity.
Or set aside some regular writing time “just for fun”. Write bad prose. I mean really bad. Start with the intention to write the worst draft ever. This way you can only fail upwards. And you will.
I like this mindset and you perfectly articulated what I’m going through. It’s this constant push and pull between inner critic and ego. I’ve thought about the idea of having a timer for 25-30 minutes and just writing without pressing delete and just thinking about it… It’s honestly kind of liberating!
If you write the wrong thing, and you know it is not the right thing, knowing why it is not the right thing leads to writing the right thing.
So, when blocked, write whatever, anything.
Have your protagonist run while in an elevator, … who cares? Now you know he/she needs to rather use the stairs. – Or stop running. (Unless he/she is very, very stupid. … Or amazingly small.)
My point being that there is no wrong thing to write. It can only be either the right thing, or pointing at it.
My current WIP started from using a collection of art prints as writing prompts.
For plotting, the two most useful questions for me are “why did this happen?” and “what happens next?” which work backward and forward from a “known” scene.
I’ve played with tarot cards a bit for sorting out character motivations. If the “mysticism” of tarot doesn’t appeal, think of it as a form of applied psychology.
Ooooh I love the idea of using tarot cards for character motivations that’s a super unique way to approach that! I’ll check out “The 3 AM Epiphany” ASAP thanks for sharing!
One fun side effect is that all kinds of “themed” tarot decks exist. If this technique works for you, try finding a deck that vibes with the particular project.
!