Fresh Starts and New Beginnings featuring Andrea Speed

     I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions. I figure if you’re going to do something, you should do it at any time. Waiting for the new year almost seems arbitrary.

     But the new beginnings thought intrigued me. It is the new year, so it’s a symbolic time to start new ventures … and to start new on old ventures. Which is what I want to talk about today – starting new on an old project.

      I’m not talking about writer’s block, which is a whole different issue. What I’m talking about is a project you’re a few thousand words deep in, when you notice you’re bogging down. The words aren’t coming so easily anymore, and it feels like you’re slogging through ankle deep mud just attempting to write on this thing. Maybe it’s bummed you out so much you feel depressed. I think many writers have been there, if not most.
     So what do you do? I have a couple of suggestions, and I suppose their worth a shot. I’ve done most of these, and found them helpful.

1. Rethink the POV – Is the right character telling this story? What if you changed it, even if only for a chapter? Sometimes the wrong character is telling us what’s going on, or input from another would be helpful. Now nobody likes head hopping, but if you make a clear delineation between which character POV it is (like a chapter break), I think it’s okay. When there’s a lot going on in a story, I like to see alternate angles from the other people involved. Not everyone experiences the same thing the same way.
2. Have something unexpected happen. There’s some writing advice that basically says “When in doubt, have someone come in and shoot someone”. It’s not bad advice, actually. It doesn’t just have to be a shooting, though. Have something explode, have a fender bender, have a sudden visit from an old friend/relative/ex, have a bar fight. Your character doesn’t even have to be participating in it. Weird things happen all the time, and we are all slaves to entropy. The same can be true of your characters as well.
3. Flip it. This might be called the “Tarantino effect”. Scramble the time frame in which you’re telling the story. Now, out of sequence can be really tricky to pull off, but some people can do it really well. You could even tell the story backward, with the end first and the beginning at the very end. But keep in mind there will always be a segment of the audience that bloody hates this.
4. Change the main character. This is drastic. But maybe if the story isn’t working, it isn’t just a guest voice you need. Maybe you need a completely different main character. I have done this, and I won’t tell you it’s easy, but when the right character shows up to claim his rightful story, the result is glorious. But it takes a lot of work on your part.
5. Why a happy ending? Oh boy, is this one tricky. If you find yourself struggling to pull everything together into a happy ending … why does it have to be a happy ending? Why not kill ‘em all and let the gods of publishing sort them out? Or go for bittersweet, where some things work out and some don’t? You’re going to have people who hate you for this. Killing them all will earn you the most vitriol, but even bittersweet will have its detractors. Still, it’s your story, not theirs. You end it how ever you want. Blast audience expectations.

     If all else fails, you can always write something else. But don’t throw it away! You never know when the right time for a character or a plot will happen.