TOUR: Forbidden Life

Kimberly Kinrade talks about Beating the Drama of Writer's Block

To create better drama in your writing, you need to beat the drama of writer’s block.

This may be obvious. But when your curser is sitting on a blank page taunting you with the repetitive blinking and your mind spins and lurches, sifting through everything and settling on nothing, writer’s block can be debilitating.

So, how do you beat it?

I’ll tell you a secret that may make you hate me.

I never get writer’s block.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I definitely get lazy, or distracted, or addicted to tweeting. I have many things that keep me from writing. But I never get blocked.

How?

I shall fill you in on my dirty little secret.

The Games We Play As Children

My brother and I have this game we play. I now play it with my husband, who is also a writer. (And no, not THAT kind of game. Get your minds of the gutter!)

How does it work?

1. Pick a subject, any subject.

2. Then pick a genre. (poetry, short story, scene, essay, anything you want!)

3. Now, TIME IT! You and your partner (or partners) decide on a short time (1-3 minutes) and write about what you picked.

4. Finally, share and laugh.

A real life example.

The Subject: A woman in a living room, naked with a gun.

The genre: scene

The results…

My brother, Neil, wrote a scene about a woman who was using her gun for some special time when… oops! It went off!

I wrote a scene in which a woman was pregnant, trying to give herself an abortion in a very unlikely way. #itdidntwork

Now, say what you will about our mental stability, we rocked those stories and went on to write more. Poems about cigarettes. The alphabet as a story. A Dear Mom letter from camp. (You DO NOT want to know what my bro did with THAT one!)

You get the idea!

Why this works.

These games free up your creative muse. They get you thinking about things in a new and fun way and force you to write from a new perspective.

They also break you out of any block.

These games stood me well when I went to college and had deadlines for papers.

They saved me when I wrote professionally for newspapers. When you are on deadline of a few hours to get a front-page news story in, you don’t have time for blocks.

The truth is, we don’t really get blocked at all. We just get trapped in our own minds, over-thinking what should be a creative process.

By playing with our muse, rather than forcing it, we free ourselves to be the creative genius we most desire.

So get out there and play! If you don’t have a partner, play with yourself. #again #mindoutofgutter

Your muse will thank you. And so will your readers.

TOUR SCHEDULE
10/22   Bookish Things & More  Review and Interview
10/22   Andrea Heltsley Books   Review
10/22   My Other Book Blog  Review and Giveaway
10/23   A Soul Unsung  Spot Light, Guest Blog, and First Chapter
10/23   The story of a girl...   Review
10/23   Rea's Reading and Reviews   Review
10/24  For The Love Of Film And Novels   Review, Interview, First Chapter, and Giveaway  
10/24 Simply Infatuated   Spot Light and Giveaway
10/25  Lissette E. Manning   Review and First Chapter
10/25 Andi's Young Adult Books  Spot Light,, Guest Blog, Review, First Chapter, and Giveaway
10/25  A Date with a Book  Review, First Chapter, and Giveaway
 10/26  Princess of Pages  Review
10/26    Michelle's Paranormal Vault of Books    Guest Blog, Review, and Giveaway
10/26   Doctor's Notes   Review and Giveaway
10/29  Nette's Bookshelf Reviews  Guest Blog, Review, and Giveaway
10/29  The Avid Reader  First Chapter
10/29   Guilty Indulgence   Spot Light, Guest Blog, First Chapter, and Giveaway
10/30  Reader Girls  Review, First Chapter and Giveaway
10/30  A night's Dream of Books   Review
10/30 My Cozie Corner Review and Giveaway
10/30  The Clumsy Coquette  Review
10/31 Dahl's Doll  Spot Light
10/31  The Bunnies Review   Review
10/31   Eternally Books  Spot Light,, Guest Blog, Review, Interview, and Giveaway