{"id":2350,"date":"2016-10-05T12:34:48","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T12:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/?p=2350"},"modified":"2020-01-18T09:33:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T14:33:07","slug":"writing-past-a-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/writing-past-a-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Past a Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working on my most recently published book, I ran into a significant problem.\u00a0 To move the novel forward, I needed my protagonist to have a confrontation with a minor character.\u00a0 I knew what this woman’s role was in the book and how she drove the plot forward.<\/p>\n

But the woman herself was a blank.\u00a0 I had no idea what she looked like, what she sounded like, what kind of house she had.\u00a0 None of that was real.\u00a0 And so I did when I’ve learned to do after many years as an author: I let go.\u00a0 Consciously, that is.<\/p>\n

I knew I would be musing about it freely and without stress if I focused my attention elsewhere.\u00a0 Walking my dogs was one choice.\u00a0 Working out at the gym was even better.\u00a0 Freeing my mind and focusing on repetitive physical activity (treadmill, weights) has always helped me write.\u00a0 Even if I’m not consciously writing, my subconscious is beavering away at the problem,\u00a0 pondering the questions I’ve posed myself.<\/p>\n

After a few weeks, the answers came to me when I did something a bit different: I worked out three days in a row instead of taking a day off between workouts.\u00a0 Suddenly I could see this woman limping up to her front door past the impatiens.\u00a0 I knew why she had planted them, and why she limped.<\/p>\n

Better still, I heard her speaking her first line to my protagonist, and once he answered, the scene took off.<\/p>\n

But I didn’t head right to my PC or make any kind of notes.\u00a0 I let the scene build.\u00a0 Adding layers and complications.\u00a0 Making connections with other parts of the book.\u00a0 Many words, many realities.<\/p>\n

After so many years of writing and publishing, I knew my own process well enough to know that I wasn’t ready.\u00a0 I wanted to have a draft in my head since the scene\u00a0 would anchor a whole chapter and push the book to its dark climax.<\/p>\n

Writing isn’t just the physical act of clicking keys or wielding pen or pencil or even dictating.\u00a0 It takes place invisibly–to everyone else but us authors.\u00a0 That’s why it sometimes feels so magical.\u00a0 And that’s why it’s often hard to answer the question “What are you working on?”\u00a0 I often don’t want to say, and sometimes I’m not entirely sure.<\/p>\n

It’s actually a lot easier when someone asks me “Are you writing a new book?” My reply is “Always.”<\/p>\n

\"writer-ionesco\"<\/a>Lev Raphael<\/a> is the author of Hot Rocks<\/a>, a health club mystery, and 24 other books in many genres.\u00a0 He teaches creative writing at Michigan State University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Working on my most recently published book, I ran into a significant problem.\u00a0 To move the novel forward, I needed my protagonist to have a confrontation with a minor character.\u00a0 I knew what this woman’s role was in the book and how she drove the plot forward. But the woman herself was a blank.\u00a0 I … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[774,298,497,95,197,290,214,775,495,132],"class_list":["post-2350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-amwriting","tag-advice-for-writers","tag-authors","tag-creative-writing-2","tag-mysteries","tag-the-writers-life","tag-the-writing-life","tag-writers-block","tag-writing","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2350"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5499,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350\/revisions\/5499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}