The Write Stuff - Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book
Tip #3 - You Will Solve That Problem!
Every Problem Has a Solution
You’ve been grappling with a problem and you just don’t know to solve it. It haunts you during the day, keeps you up at night. Along with not knowing the answer you’re also gripped with the fear that you’ll never know how to solve it. That fear is causing you to second-guess every idea or worse, it paralyses you, making it even more impossible to imagine you will ever have the answer.
But you will. You will know.
It might be later today. Or in a week. Or a month. Or in six months. But the answer will come to you. Trust that.
No matter how hopeless you feel, no matter how many different solves you’ve unsuccessfully tried, you will find a path through.
We’ve all grappled with thorny problems in our lives. Dealing with writing issues is no different. It might take some different action on your part. It might take time. But the answers will come.
Your subconscious is a powerful machine. While we remain blissfully unaware, it spins in perpetual motion, chewing through problems, generating potential solves. So give your unconscious mind the time it needs. Write something else. Go for a walk. Go shopping. Clean the shower. Clean the whole house. Listen to music. Binge a TV series. Then get back to writing. When I do this I’m always amazed how often the answer to a problem miraculously appears the very moment I return to the computer. And if it doesn’t, I just give it more time, as much time as the problem needs. Patience is a virtue and, sometimes, a necessity.
But maybe your situation needs conscious effort. So take yourself somewhere and brainstorm. There are lots of problem-solving prompts out there and if they help, find one that fits you. For me, writing down all the possible things that could happen, no matter how ridiculous, is a sure-fire way to help me out of most conundrums whether they be story or character related.
Sometimes we don’t have the answer because we don’t have all the information we need. So do some research. Do lots of research. Bonus: while you’re doing that your subconscious mind will be spinning away, trying to come up with a solution.
However, sometimes you’re in the pit, you’re stuck, which becomes a block and spirals into an existential crisis. What’s always helped me when I’m at the bottom of that well is the idea that stories are exhibitionists. Stories want the spotlight. They want to be told and in order to be told, every problem within them needs to be solved. Sometimes it takes time to figure out just how to do that, but they are stories after all. You can forgive them for being a little dramatic.
