Writing, like any other artistic or creative undertaking, is far from an exact science. We ain’t masters of the game. We don’t have a special rulebook. But we do know a thing or two about writing that’s helped us out from time to time. And here’s where we share our secret voodoo methods with you!

No Man Is An Island

Nobody creates in a vacuum. We’re influenced by our surroundings, by our interests, by TV and, perhaps most importantly, by the people we know and love. I consider my friends and family to be one of the most important resources available to me as a writer (sorry internet).

It’s rare that I write something from start to finish, or rather from outline to final draft, without getting some measure of input from people I know. I am constantly talking to people about whatever project I happen to be immersed in at any given time. Sometimes I’m sure they want to hit me to stop me from going on and on. But I do it just to get a little feedback or sometimes for the chance to get a different perspective on a story. Frequently I talk to people about my stories to get help when I am stuck.

It’s different from collaboration. In collaboration you work in tandem with another writer or artist to create and flesh out a story that contains equal parts of both creator. I love collaborating on stories with people, brainstorming, creating a world and characters together, coming up with solutions to problems, etc. But I don’t do it on every project. When I’m writing a story myself, the world, the characters, the situations are all me, 100%. Almost.

There are always those times that, when writing a story by yourself, you run up against a wall. You’ve backed your character into a corner and can’t figure out how to get them out. Or you’ve gotten to a point where you can’t visualize how to get a person from point A to point C. Or there’s some dialogue that doesn’t sound right to you, but no amount of tweaking makes it sound any better. What do you do then, when it’s just you? It’s as simple as mentioning the problem to a friend. Make sure it’s a friend who’ll be interested in discussing the problem with you though. Talking about it with someone who has little or no interest in your fictional little world is an exercise in futility.

Now remember, this conversation, with whichever person you’ve decided to talk to, isn't about collaboration. You’re not relying on them to fix your story or come up a new character or plot twist. The conversation is really just a way for you to get the problem out of your head and in front of someone who hasn’t been beating themselves up over it for days. It’s extremely helpful to be able to look at a story with a fresh perspective. Your friend may not offer up any solutions that you’ll actually use but they may say something, a keyword, an idea, a simple suggestion that will send your creative mind off and running.

I had an idea for a Superman script recently, a really solid idea that I was itching to write. I had the beginning and the end all perfectly mapped out. But the middle wasn’t right. It was too complicated, too out of character, etc. I just couldn’t figure out how I was going to get the beginning of the story to meet up with the end in just the right way. Then I went to dinner with a writer buddy of mine. I brought up the problem and told him I just wasn’t sure if I could make the story work. He immediately came back with “Well what if this happened instead.” And there it was. The answer to the problem. A way for me to tie everything together. The pieces suddenly all fell together in my head. And it was so much simpler than I’d been trying to make it.

This tactic has saved me on more occasions than I can count. Without talking to my friends about my stories I might never get that prod, that push, that simple suggestion that could help me understand my story a little better. So if you hit a snag in a story and have no idea what to do next, pick up the phone and call a buddy. They’ll probably say just the right thing and you’ll be off and writing again in no time.