Write What Feels Right

Imagine, if you will, that you get a great idea for a character. You put them into a situation in which you know they will thrive. You even give them an emotional conflict and perhaps even an external one.

Woman, thinking.

This all sounds like the perfect start to writing a great book, doesn’t it?

If you’re a plotter, like me, you next begin plotting the story, coming up with the major turning points and thinking of the scenes you’ll need to write to get your character to each beat and on to the end. You’ll write out detailed character sheets figuring out all the things about your character that make them fully developed and believable, leaving room for that all-important growth and how and whether they’ll attain their goals — or, at least, you’re trying to do this.

Or, if you’re a pantser, you would dive right in and begin writing. And maybe you’d get the first fifty pages done, but then ideas just begin to peter out.

This movie simply isn’t playing in your head. You can’t see the character, you can’t hear their voice, feel what you’d expected them to feel.

The magic just isn’t there.

Some writers in this position would go for a walk, spend time in nature, or go to the gym to see if they can’t refill that creative well. Others would seek out other writer friends for help, support, or guidance…