You Get What You Focus On

It's easy to feel negative.

The media is always telling us we're on the brink of economic collapse - or war - or the AI invasion - that it's only a matter of days before the biggest slump since last crash and this one will take away the value of our property, our savings, and our livelihoods.

Many would-be writers are tightening their belts, ignoring the call to write in favor of the day job. They're giving up their dreams in droves, convinced that it's all too hard...

Uh, did I miss something?

Doesn't anyone remember basic economics from school?

I thought it was well-known that economic activity goes in seven year cycles - apparently something to do with the sun - and that boom and bust years are natural and inevitable.

Smart stock market people know there's never a bad time for investors - there's just alternate opportunities. While some stocks slide, others climb. 

 

When the market is overpriced, it adjusts itself by devaluing. When stocks and interest rates are high, people stop buying. When stocks are cheap, new investors snap them up and the investment picks the market back up again. This is how it works. The world economies have been surviving like this for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

 

Except now the computers already control the stock markets and make many of these adjustments automatically. It's called progress.

So why is it that now, today, things are supposed to be so much worse?

Could it possibly be because we're collectively making it that way?

That by tightening our belts we're actually starving the economy of the investment it needs?

Maybe you think I'm naive - but I did study Economics! And one thing I learned well is that much of the stock market is driven by good old human fallibility - and perception.

What the market focuses on is what it gets. Boom and collapse become self-fulfilling prophecies - every time - because, as humans, we believe that's how it should work.

Prosperity and hardship, security and scarcity are all illusions. They are not real concrete things - they are merely 'feelings' you have about yourself and people, the world around you.

Real success and genuine happiness have got nothing to do with money. 

 

You either feel good about yourself, your situation, your world, or you don't. Prosperity comes from within.

Do you have less chance of being a professional writer now than you did last year?

Of course not.

If anything you have a better chance - because so many other writers are throwing in the towel!

Don't you be one of them.

Stick with it. Be positive. Fight back. Come up with new angles. Write more, submit more, publish more, be the exception.

Often, to make progress, we just need to change the way we think - and remove our own negativity when all around us are in train wreck mode.

If you really believe we're heading for a crash or a war or a robot invasion (to continue the metaphor), get off the train. Go for a walk in the sunshine. Move towards your goal feeling light. Remind yourself that when you believe in yourself and your talent and capabilities, things always work out for the better.

It's self-doubt and lack of motivation that will kill your ambitions every time.

I'm convinced that if we all got together and decided the crash/war/invasion wasn't going to happen and even if it did, so what - the apparent looming crises would all dissolve, as if by magic, overnight.

Don't buy into the doom and gloom.

It's not real.

And if it's not real, surely it can't hurt you.

Be happy, be grateful for what you have, make big plans and move into the future with confidence.

You have a duty to believe in your dreams, and take action consistently.

To quote the old 80s pop song: "The Only Way is Up!"

Keep Writing!

Rob Parnell's Writing Academy

Your Success is My Concern

How To Write When You Don't Feel Like It

 

One question I get asked all the time is, "How do I write when I'm not inspired or have nothing to say?"

Many new writers feel good about what they do and can work on pieces of writing because they are inspired. But many times they are taken aback when the inspiration fades and they are left with the 'task' of simply finishing a story, an article, a book, or a novel.

It can be quite alarming to feel like a writer, know your writing is good, but dread picking up where you left off on that manuscript!

Rest assured, this is normal.

It's not possible to be inspired, excited and even happy writing all of the time. Sometimes the work just has to be done.

Here are a few tips on maintaining your enthusiasm for writing.

Develop Multiple Projects

Diversify your writing portfolio. Be open to new ideas and commit to 'having a go' at different types of writing. Sometimes, when the idea of finishing a large project is too daunting, a sense of achievement can be gotten by completing smaller tasks - like an 800 word article, or a short story.

When Hemingway was uninspired he wrote short paragraphs - and spent hours editing them to finish up with 100 to 200 word vignettes. This is good practice - and can give you a great sense of accomplishment.

Make Lists and Schedules

We all know the importance of having goals. Without having something to aim at, how can you ever hit a target?

Sure, write down your objective. But go one stage further, break the process of achieving your goal into smaller chunks. Make a list of the baby steps necessary to complete a project. Put them in order and commit to spending ten minutes or half an hour, today, on at least starting your list of writing-things to do.

Dream, Focus, Fantasize

There's nothing wrong with imagining your success, and visualizing how you will feel and what might happen as a result of you finishing a project. It might be that 'seeing' your book published in your mind's eye is exactly the impetus you need to keep writing, especially when the process is slow and painstaking.

Attach Rewards

Reward yourself every step of the way. Everything from a nice cup of tea at the end your next page to a glass of wine - or three - at the end of a writing session.

Promise yourself a treat on completion of a chapter, or give yourself a holiday at the end of a novel. Consciously associate the reward and the work in your mind, let each inspire the other.

Do What You Enjoy Most, First

Why break your back and your spirit doing the most difficult tasks first? Do the thing you enjoy first and you'll feel happier and more energized when it comes the next item on your list. (You do make lists don't you? It's long been proven that the most successful people in life are those that list their objectives, daily, if not hourly!)

Write Out the Problem

First understand that there's no such thing as writer's block. You're either writing or you're not, there's no middle ground.

A builder who is not doing anything does not have builder's block. He is a lazy toe-rag charging me $95 dollars an hour to drink my coffee on my veranda.

The best way to overcome a writing block is to write down what you think the problem might be - and keep writing until you have written past the block. No other solution works as well as this.

Do Something Else

This is my secret weapon. When I can't think of what to write, I get up and walk around, or go sit in the garden for a bit. Other times I'll cook, or clean the dishes, or Hoover the carpet - it surprises me just how quickly ideas come when I take a short break.

Hm. What would happen if I got a cleaner in? Actually I know. In the past, I've always ended up helping them!

What I don't do nowadays is put on some music or have the TV going in the background. It never really helped and was way too distracting.

Deadlines

I've noticed that I'm very productive when something absolutely has to be done, whether I want to do it or not.

Sometimes a producer or publisher will need to have a manuscript in by a certain time and, against the odds, I'll be able to come up with thousands of words I didn't know I had in me.

Try setting artificial deadlines. Create your own sense of urgency and write, whether you want to or not, right up until the project is done. Sometimes this is the only way to complete the project.

When All Else Fails, Fake It

Whatever your mood, go to your manuscript, start working on it and keep going for ten minutes.

Pretend to be enjoying yourself. Pretend that what you're doing is important. Pretend that your writing absolutely needs to be done - for whatever reasons.

I guarantee that after just a few minutes, you will feel your mind 'catch up' with the pretence - and you will begin to enjoy the writing process.

It's weird how this works - but it does.

If this doesn't work for you - or indeed, if all of the above fails to work for you - it's probably time to consider an alternate career, as Mark Twain once famously said, like chopping wood.

In the mean time,

Keep writing!

Your Success is My Concern
Rob Parnell's Writing Academy

The Hydra Syndrome

 
Have you ever noticed how you, as a writer, see-saw? 

For one heady moment you know you're brilliant and then, later, with just as much clarity, you know what you do is awful. It's the writer's curse.

I've noticed this happens at certain times in the writing process.

When the ideas are fresh and you're starting out on a project, the adrenaline is flowing, the words are spewing on to the page - everything seems so clear, so clever, so you.

And then after, when you look back, the words seem dull, the structure contrived and the talent - well, non-existent. But then... later, it can seem smooth and inspired again... and then, even later... dire.

Hold up! What's happening here?

I call it The Hydra Syndrome or, for short, THS.

You may remember that the Hydra was a mythological creature with many heads - and each time one was cut off, another sprouted in its place.

And the trouble with being a writer is that we too have many heads. Some are kind and benevolent, some are harsh and critical. And it doesn't matter how often we try to quash one head's opinion of what we do, there's always another that will have the alternate point of view.

It depends on our moods I think. When we're happy and confident, our words seem to fire all the right neurons on the brain, the synaptic gaps are bridged with ease. There's more than just the words in our writing - there's a whole world of meaning implicit.

But then sometimes when we're tired and listless, our brains are foggy and the words seem empty, unable to quite convey the richness we wanted to invoke.

At other times, we feel nothing. We see the words for what they are - just words: pale shadows of reality with no depth, no power, no meaning.

Whenever I'm suffering from a bout of THS, I have to remind myself that, when reading through a different head, I thought my writing was fine. But then I think, am I deluding myself? Maybe the bad head that hates my writing is the true head? Maybe the happy head is a liar and is secretly chuckling behind my back... oh, the woes of writing!

The other day was a good example.

I'd just finished editing (for about the twentieth time) the first 9500 words of my new novel, intending it for submission. I was pretty darn proud of what I'd done. As well as the words being perfect (or so I thought) there seemed also a profound depth of hidden meaning, subtle interconnectivity and the odd clever nuance that would have my readers in awe, enrapt... and yet...

I gave it to Robyn, my partner, to read. As she did so, I waited, butterflies threatening to burst out of my stomach like the alien in, um, Alien.

At least she read the whole thing in one sitting. I was dreading that she'd put it down and say, "I'll read the rest tomorrow." That would have hurt. Big time.

Anyway. At the end she said, "Yeah, it's excellent." But, of course, because she didn't say it's brilliant, I was disappointed.

"What's wrong with it?" I cried.

"Nothing. It's really good." Really good? What's that supposed to mean? She must hate it!

Tentatively, I ask, "Anything that might need fixing?"

"Well, there's a couple of typos." Typos! Gah - after twenty passes! How could that be? "Nothing major," she added.

"And?"

"Well..." Here it comes, I thought. "You've got a couple of point of view issues. You tell the story from one guy's point of view in one chapter and I think you should do it from the hero's."

I slumped. Reality check. Thanks, Robyn.

She was right of course. I have to go back and fix it. But now I'm thinking my 9500 words are heavily flawed, and will remain so, until I've dealt with the problem. Now I wouldn't show my submission to another soul because it's dreadful, awful, until I've rewritten at least two large chunks of it. But then, maybe then, it will be perfect! Yay!

And to think, I used to wonder why my mother thought that writing was a silly way to make a living. Maybe she was right. I can find at least one of my Hydra heads that would rush to agree with her.

But I think the real point is that we need to be critical of our writing - at least some of the time. If we thought that what we did was always brilliant, we'd lose objectivity and we wouldn't want to improve, wouldn't know how to improve even.

Being hard on our writing sometimes is what makes us better writers.

But at those other, special times, loving what we do is what keeps us doing it!

Keep writing!

Creating Better Writers
The Writing Academy

Making Resolutions That Stick

Probably one of the most frequent questions I'm asked is how can a writer sustain the momentum required to finish writing projects.

    According to surveys, writing a book at some point is the secret desire of 90% of the population - as though writing a book somehow validates us as humans - and perhaps makes us a little more immortal. But only around 1% of people will ever rise to the challenge - and even they will falter more times than not. Of these would be writers, less than 1% will ever FINISH their books - and just to be even more depressing now, only a handful of that one percent will ever get to be published.

    Faced with this punishing reality, how do we find the strength to carry on writing?

    Let me answer by first telling you a story.

    Once, a very long time ago, I asked a professional motivational guru how I could become rich. I say it was a long time ago because in those days I was very cynical and I asked the question as more of a challenge than a query. The guru gave me a quick answer:

    "Want to be rich."

    I gave a dismissive grunt at this and asked, "Yeah, so what if that doesn't work?"

    She smiled when she said, "Then you didn't want it enough."

    At the time I took this to be a cop out. I congratulated myself, smugly, that I had exposed her phoniness.

    Now, of course, I know better.

    Because this is precisely how life works. In order to make anything happen, to get things done, achieve results, you have to want them enough.

    But, but, but...

    Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Knowing this isn't getting you any closer to the 'how'.

    How do you get yourself to want something that much? I mean writing success is one thing - but all that work! Isn't there an easier way?

    Well, yeah there is actually - and all it requires is a little shift in your perspective - and a whole lotta dreamin'...

    Now, I could list a bunch of 'things to do' to help you create a little writing success but that can wait for another day. Today, I want to tell you about the single most important aspect of success.
    
Today's the Day

Success is not a place or a time or a circumstance.

    It's a state of mind.

    And it's happening to you right now - all you have to do is to reach out and grasp it.

    Take a few moments - actually the rest of the day - and imagine that you are rich, fulfilled and able to do anything you want, whenever you like.

    Pretty cool, huh?

    Now ask yourself: How would you feel? What would you do?

    This is the shift in perspective I was talking about. You're never going to help your subconscious deal with writing success unless it believes it's already happening. Because it's only when success is actually happening to you that you will begin to make the right decisions for your writing career and enable yourself to perpetuate the writing life you want.

    Writing for a living requires commitment. Some things will work out, some things will not. That's the reality. You can't wait for the good times and then expect everything to be fine from then on. It doesn't work like that.

Achieve Your Writing Goals This Year

You need to decide, right now, that you are a writer - and will continue to be a writer from this moment on. And while you're about it, tell yourself you're already a successful writer - dwell on it, dream on it, and make it real.

    Because it's believing that you are already a good and talented writer that will get you to finish writing projects.

    I know this is true because, I've seen it over and over, no matter the actual talent of the writer, it's the one's that believe in themselves and dream about the writer's life that make it. Every time.

    I also know because a long time before we had houses and cars and money, Robyn (my wife) and I behaved in this way. Though we may have been naive and perhaps not that good to begin with, we never stopped believing we were meant to be successful writers.

    And believing made it so.

    Believing made us write more, made us read more, made us study writing, made us take courses and keep on learning as much as we could.

    We still do it today because writing success is not a destination but a lifelong education. You don't just wake up one day and say "Ah, now I get it, now I know enough."

    Writing is a way of life and it's when you immerse yourself in it totally that you gain the necessary resolve to finish things - and to then get them out there and published!

    To Your Success.

Keep writing!

Rob Parnell's Writing Academy

Is it Still Worth Chasing a Publishing Deal?

In the spirit of recycling, I decided to use an old newsletter from 2007. How different is life now? You’d think it would be very. But really, not much has changed!

    Getting published is every writer's dream. It's apparently what we want, it's what provides the motivation and gives us the spark to keep going, and keep writing and submitting until we finally crack the big one: a publishing deal, a proper one, with a real trade publisher who will promote our books for free - and pay us royalties every six months for the rest of our lives!

    That's the dream, right?

    But how close is this to the reality of being a modern working writer?

    Certainly having an offline bestseller can change your life. Desk bound introverts can become movie moguls (Dan Brown). Single-parent mothers can become very rich media celebrities (J.K. Rowling). And advertising executives can become household names (James Patterson).

    But I would argue that having an offline bestseller is not the only definition of success. Just because the average person in the street hasn't heard of a writer doesn't mean that they aren't rich and successful.

    I get this all the time. I’m judged by the fame of my work. If you say you're a writer and the stranger you're talking to doesn't recognize any of the titles you throw at them, they seem to think you're not really an author!

    It's a trap that we, as writers, must not let ourselves fall into.

    There are literally hundreds of thousands of professional writers out there who make a living, many are even very rich and successful, but whose names wouldn't raise an eyebrow. Not everyone can be in the media spotlight. All those TV and movie writers out there who get paid by the script or cable TV creation get very wealthy doing it - but you don't see their names plastered all over the tabloids. Ever.

    Look at the average author list of ANY publishing house - and you'll see at least 100 names you don't recognize to every one that rings a bell. Do you think these 'unknown' writers are unsuccessful?

    Why do we associate success with fame? And fame with success - when clearly some people are famous just for being famous - and not particularly talented? I think we need to get over this idea. Because it's the only way to see our own success in perspective.

    If someone could wave a magic wand, what would you ask for?

    Financial independence brought about by writing? Most writers I know would give their mother, grandmother, and firstborn for JUST this, never mind fame or a spot on a chat show!

    Which brings us back to getting a publishing deal. Sometimes writers are very disappointed by the reality of having a deal with a trade publisher. Rather than being the endpoint at which a writer can relax, kick back and enjoy a steady flow of money inwards, most new author's experience is very different. Getting published is not an endpoint - or even a starting point most times - it's a signpost on the journey of a writer's life. It's just one of the many signposts that indicate your ongoing success.

    Other signposts might include winning a writing prize or self-publishing e-books - or giving a talk about yourself or meeting with a movie producer. There's no particular order of things that you MUST follow in order to achieve writing success. It doesn't work like that.

    You are the best judge of your success. YOU decide whether you're getting somewhere or you're not.
  
     Many writers I know start writing and releasing ebooks AFTER their publishing deals - for two main reasons.
    
    1. Fame and riches do not necessarily follow from having a publishing deal.
    
    2. They look at internet writers of Kindle books and notice that, far from being 'lower' on the pecking order, they're better off and more respected nowadays.
    
    No longer is there a stigma attached to writing for the net - nor with self-publishing. In fact, technology has revealed the secret that publishing companies have been holding on to for centuries - that THERE IS NO SECRET.   

    An independent author has just as much chance of creating a bestseller than does a publishing company, most of whom grub around in the dark wondering what will sell - rejecting authors out of hand for no good reason - simply because they don't really know what they're doing!
    
    Most publishing companies loath their writers because we think we know what we're doing - and we don't listen to them. They give us the brush off because they have hundreds of other projects that don't make money - and don't have time for another that might. (Ours!)
    
    The writing industry is entirely geared to say 'no' first, last and everywhere in between. Sometimes I feel that the hacks who are supposedly there to help writers lack the passion and commitment that are the prerequisites of a working artist. They just don't get it.
    
    I guess the point is to encourage you not to think of agents and trade publishers as the be and end all of your life. There are a hundred, maybe even a thousand, other fine ways of becoming a successful writer.
    
    And, you should perhaps be targeting those too!

Keep Writing

Rob Parnell’s Writing Academy

Archetypes and Fiction Writing

  

I’m thinking of creating a new course on using Jungian archetypes to help with fiction writing. Would this be useful to you? That’s usually my main criteria for making a new course: will this area of study help my subscribers become better writers?

I touch on the use of archetypes in my hero’s journey course, but mainly in the context of the Tarot deck, which I find fascinating. The Tarot is like a story-telling manual that encapsulates history and all of the possible interactions of humans.

I should explain to those who don’t know that Dr Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist working at the beginning of the 20th century, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud. Jung developed the idea that archetypal characters like the hero, the mother, the trickster and various others continually reveal themselves in fiction because, on some level, we all recognize these generalizations as based on reality. A fascinating idea.

Using Freudian psychobabble to help justify and explain some character motivations has been common over the last one hundred years, especially for screenwriters. Could Jungian archetypes take us to any better places? As an intellectual exercise, yes, these issues are probably helpful to writers but, as for to supplying believable motivations, I’m not so sure.

Curiously Jung believed there was absolutely nothing wrong with having sex with his patients, indeed he seemed to think it might help them. In our more enlightened age this is troubling behavior. Today we would call that abuse. The risk of cancellation aside, these were different times. Despite his questionable transgressions, Jung’s philosophies are still interesting.

His groundbreaking idea that there is something like a shared collective consciousness that holds us all together is a good theory, a quantum argument for the ages. Synchronicity is a fascinating idea too. But archetypes require the kind of understanding that seems less appropriate with each passing year. Women are either maidens, mothers or crones - which is horribly insulting. Heroes are always masculine and, if they’re not, they are women dominated by their masculinity. I mean, come on. Who was he working for? The Catholic Church?

Archetypes are an interesting intellectual exercise but for storytelling I think they are limiting, even destructive to good fiction. We need to move away from stereotypes and think more laterally. I mean really, is presenting cliche ideas about personality and suggesting you use them in your work wise? What if you are striving for originality? How can it be original to use character “types” that allegedly present universal traits, especially when we live in a world that is certainly not totally black and white.

Besides, archetypes are often only identifiable AFTER the fact, and usually by their behaviors and their functions. Not always because they represented the intention of the author. I’ve never believed in making assessments about writing based on finished products. This is not the way authors create. We invent first and rationalize later.

In my view Jungian archetypes are simplistic and assumptive. Jung blithely assumes that the archetypes are part of a subconscious intelligence that may be simply a romantic imposition onto reality because they may not represent reality beyond what a well educated person may connect. This is reductionist and in this PC world, not helpful. Indeed modern psychologists think that seeing people as archetypes might be a sign of madness.

You need to free yourself of preconceptions and templates when you create. Inspiration should be free flowing and instinctive.

Sure, learn, study, take on board all the information you might need.

Absorb it, make it part of who you are. BUT when you’re inventing stories, plotting, building characters, let your instincts take over. Clear your mind and simply invent, imagine and dream.

Archetypes will limit your imagination. And make plotting harder. Trying to force square pegs into round holes will simply frustrate and irritate you. Best to come at a new project clean. Start with a “what if” question and set your spirit free.

Ask yourself questions and go for the first answer you get and then ask again. Often the third or fourth idea will be the most original but that doesn’t matter. Stick with the idea that feels right to you, even if you can’t explain that decision.

Try not to be formulaic but do make sure you are not stretching credulity.
There’s nothing wrong with “off the wall” ideas as long as they make complete sense to you and you know you can “sell” the ideas in your storytelling. But don’t go the painless route just because it’s easier. Think through the consequences of making a decision and see where logic takes you. There’s a fine line between logic and fancy. They have to work together to create a satisfying whole.

So. I would still like to know what you think.

Would you like to see a course devoted to character creation using Jungian archetypes as a starting point?

I’m quite happy to create one, even if only as an intellectual exercise.

Personally, when I’m inventing characters, I prefer to see them as real people with real motivations. I see them in my mind’s eye. I find it difficult to take seriously the visualization of archetypes. They’re a bit too nebulous for me.

But writing about them?

I can do that!

Keep Writing.

Rob Parnell’s Writing Academy

Random Writing Thoughts

Again, no time to do much creative work this week. Quite possible this newsletter may have to wait until next week. The weather is so hot here, they say record temperatures, that by the time I’ve made my TikTok video and watered the garden, it’s already lunch time. There goes the hour or so of my prime writing time.
 
As for editing my manuscript - which I mentioned last week - I’m still at a loss, though I have thought of another way forward.

To get me back on track with my novel, I’ve created an Excel spreadsheet that tracks which chapters I’ve finished. I’ve found that if I do a little - just a few minutes here and there - then I can progress slowly. At least something is getting done.

We’ve got the band coming over tomorrow and we’ve had to move the music studio into the house. Two months of relentless forty degree heat has meant the music room is just way too hot for five people. Better we play inside, with the air conditioning on full.

Honestly it’s no wonder so many early Australian immigrants abandoned outback living. It’s not just the heat, and the flies, it’s the fact there’s no water, not even damp drizzly days to break up the monotony.

On a different note, there’s a writer I know whose having problems. She keeps sending me cryptic messages about life and writing, the kind that people send when they’re on the edge of suicide.

I’m worried about her. But I wish she was more specific. I might be able to help her if I knew what the real problem was. As it is, she talks in generalities about abandonment (I assume her partner’s just left her) and about losing her way and having to relearn meaning and inspiration. She talks about being blocked but really I think she’s probably horribly sad and depressed.

She talks about a general lack of direction when to me she needs to drill down at her problems. Stop glamorizing her depression and start dealing with it.

But I know that trying to fix things is the classic male response - and apparently not always what is required. Females say they prefer to be heard, listened, sympathized with, and don’t necessarily want their problems fixed. It can be frustrating for both parties because, however well-intentioned either may feel, neither is receiving what they need.

This is the same writer who believes that her fictional characters need lots of back-story to work.

I don’t agree. I believe fictional characters, heroes especially,  shouldn’t be over analyzed. You don’t need to know everything about a person to find them compelling. In fact, just like in real life, it might be better not to know everything because a little mystery keeps you coming back. To know and understand everything about your hero (or your partner for that matter) makes them predicable and dull. Better to be surprised every now and then by their behavior. We need to be surprised sometimes. The world and the people residing here should not always act true to form. Your assumptions needs to be shaken, at least when it comes to writing.

Because, without sudden conflict there can be no drama.

There’s a lot of nonsense spoken by so-called writing gurus about these issues. To me, the process of writing needs to be simplified, not complicated. I feel strongly that if you’re going to help people write then you should make the process seem as easy as possible, not to fill potential author’s heads with a bunch of unnecessary obstacles.

Like the idea of creating a secret “wound” for your antagonist. The very idea is enough to give you a block just trying to get your head around it. And why would you need this wound? Surely the idea is simply playing into some Freudian trope that psychopaths need motivation? In reality that’s not the case.

Some people are just wired wrong. I’ve met enough sociopaths to know that there is often no “initiating event”. These people were born horrible. That’s what makes psychopaths evil - they have no conscience, no reason to be awful.

Besides, the motivation of the bad guy is usually an irrelevance. The only thing you need is an antagonist whose agenda is at odds with the hero. Whatever the hero wants or needs is thwarted by the antagonist. They have opposite agendas. Simple, clean, neat - and totally believable to a reader.

Why make life complicated? What’s the point of giving yourself headaches before you start. Stop thinking and just write, get it all down. If a wound occurs to you, and it fits, great, but if it doesn’t, don’t go there. It’s not necessary!

We should never get sucked in by imaginary blocks. As Douglas Adams once said, Writers' Block was invented by Californians who can’t write.

If you’re tempted to believe you have blocks, you need to get over yourself and stop imagining that there are gremlins out there bent on persecuting you. It’s not true.

The rest of us just need to get on with it.

      There's no such thing as Writer's Block. Don't buy into the myth! You've never heard of surgeon's block, have you? Or astronaut's block? Of course not.

      That would be just dumb.

Keep Writing

Rob Parnell’s Writing Academy