No worries

How did that happen?

Any links to Amazon are affiliate links.¹ • If this is your first time receiving posts from Diary of a Stage 3 Writer, you can find the origin post here, the full list of posts here, and you can fiddle with your subscription settings here.

In this issue:

No worries
Writing Prompt
WWT Tool Kit Craft Card

No worries

So I’m about six or seven thousand words into this next story. Writing it into the dark again. No idea where I’m headed. Not even when I brainstorm before I write.

The story started off with a weird detail I selected from a book that I couldn’t see working but went with anyway. It seems to be playing nicely so far. The words are flowing, so . . . yeah, that means it’s playing nicely, right? I’m choosing to believe that it does.

So then the story did some things that were reminiscent of the previous story. It’s a series character story, so I thought that was pretty cool. Consistency and whatnot. Woot.

Then I reached a spot where I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. And right away my critical mind² said:

“GRAB YOUR TOOLS, MEG!”

Right! My tools. So I sat down with my brainstormer. Brainstormed some things. Yeah, these could work.

Sat down with my old drafting computer, proud of myself for reaching for my tools so quickly, excited about what I’d come up with and…

Creative mind went somewhere else.

I tell you, if I sat down and tried to outline this character’s stories, I would not be able to do it. It’s just not stuff I would come up with. And yet obviously I’m coming up with it. It’s very weird.

So now I’ve got that weird detail I started with that’s going to have to pay off eventually. And I’ve also got this other weird event that just happened, and we’re not even to the first plot point yet, where the story becomes the story it’s going to be.³ And it’s all gotta tie together in some fashion.

My critical brain is freaking out.

My creative mind is silent—unless she’s at her drafting keyboard. Then she’s confident as all get.

But now I’m noticing a third mind sitting between them. We’ll call it “Me.” Or “I.”

I’m not freaking out. How crazy is that? I can see that critical mind has no idea where the story is going, could possibly go, from here. I see how that could cause some uncertainty and anxiety for a mind that likes to be in control. But I know that uncertainty is where the fresh and unique and magical happens.

Critical mind is worried about this story being dumb, not being “important.” How could it be with all these weird details and things happening?

Creative mind—I can only guess, because she’s silent unless she’s at her keyboard—is thinking, Don’t worry about it. Just wait, just watch, just TRUST. It’ll be fine.

And I say, Sure. Yeah. Okay. Let’s just watch. Let’s just wait. It worked out last time. It’ll work out this time.

What’s very cool is that I’m no longer in a place where I’m insisting that my project be anything in particular. Important. Perfect. Usually, for me anyway, those words turn out to only ever mean not done.

So that’s very cool.

Will this book suck? Eh, probably not.

Will it be great? Um . . . maybe? But, eh, probably not.

Will it be fun to write? You bet.

And the cool thing about fun to write is that that usually translates into fun to read.

So not great probably, but probably good.

Good enough for me.

Writing Prompt

• Character: ADVOCATE
  Light Attribute: Inspires you to put compassion into action.
  Shadow Attributes: Embracing negative causes or committing to causes for personal gain.

• Setting: An alley.

• Object: A compass, a pocket of dust, a vault.

• Emotion: IRRITATED. Annoyed, aggravated, bothered.

WWT Tool Kit Craft Card

As mentioned before, I’m making a deck of craft cards to quickly remind myself of techniques while also having a convenient place to keep track of elements like character, conflict, and theme specific to each story. This week’s card is a reminder of the structure points you might want to pass your character through.

Thank you for reading!

I hope this helped you, and I hope your writing goes well this week.

Keep at it,
Megan

WritesWithTools
site: writeswithtools.com
ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/writeswithtools
wishlist: http://tinyurl.com/WWTWishList

1. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, and links to amazon.com are affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase through a link, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support my work and allows me to continue writing for you. Thank you for your support!

2. Critical mind can be put to many a good use: keeping you on a writing schedule, reminding you to use your tools, making an outline of your scenes after you write them, updating your story bible. I find critical mind is much more willing to let creative mind have her job when he’s given his own very important job. They’re becoming a team. A sum greater than their parts and whatnot.

3. And don’t ask me what it’ll be, because I have no idea.