Skillsets That Take the Pressure Off Writing

As writers, one of the most important things we do is tell stories. But sometimes the pressure that comes from trying to craft a compelling story can just grind our progress to a halt or build up too much tension in our own minds and prevent us from getting those words on the page. 

When that happens, it can help to fall back on other skillsets to help reduce that tension and figure out a way forward. These are a few of my favorites to turn to when the pressure of a story starts to get to me. 

As a bonus that really isn’t a true skill so much as it is an activity, I’ll add that walking is just one of my favorites. It’s gentle and contemplative, and it allows me to process things from my stories to life. So if you just need something to organize your thoughts, walking is a good option. 

But for something a little more, here are my favorite choices for taking the pressure off writing, having some fun, and sometimes getting a new perspective. 

Cooking

It’s rather handy because we do all have to eat. For almost as far back as I can remember, I’ve loved cooking meals and snacks inspired by what I was reading. Soon I realized I could transport that excitement and gain inspiration by preparing meals that were inspired by what I was writing. Bound By Blood (which probably should have been titled Bound By Soup) is the first book where I actually really delved into building out segments around recipes and in which I cooked almost everything I wrote about. But it helped so much in completing the draft and getting the right mindset down that now I incorporate it far sooner. 

Thinking about what my characters would eat and their general culture provides so much inspiration, and really it’s just fun to create recipes based on scenes or that I could imagine being prepared at certain points. Not all of them though. And never spider. Never again at least. There are some limits to how far I’ll go for creative inspiration in storytelling. So if I am writing about a character or world that is far afield of my actual tastes (or frankly budget), I just come up with fun alternatives or focus on what makes me feel inspired to keep going (which sometimes is basically just cheese). 

Drawing

I chuckle a bit because of how truly dreadful I am at drawing. While I am a decent cook so long as you don’t expect artistic presentation, my drawing skills run in the opposite direction. Once when I was trying to explain to an artist what I wanted for a cover illustration, I roughed out a sample image, and the artist messaged back “lol, I can see why you’re hiring an artist.” I definitely agree.

But that doesn’t mean that drawing doesn’t help take some of the edge off of writing as well. While I don’t do it every day, I regularly sit down and work on sketches. Being dreadful at it and accepting that also removes even more pressure. All I am trying to accomplish as I draw is expression, and a good drawing session with terrible lines and roughened forms. After one of those, I often find the words come along far smoother

Dancing

While perhaps a little less obvious, dance is another of my favorite skillsets for taking the pressure off. And, like drawing, it isn’t actually because I’m good at it. The best term for what I do is probably balter. Graceless but enthusiastic. 

There’s something about switching on music and moving in time to it (or even in rough approximations) that shakes up the mind in all sorts of good ways. Even better if it’s to music that reminds you of the story you’re working on or the characters or the world.

For each story I create, I have at least one playlist. Sometimes one for each of the characters if I need to get into their heads. 

Putting that on and dancing around the room to it can help me enter that space while also getting the blood flowing. And on low inspiration days when I have the energy, songs like “Bad Romance” are just excellent for enjoying movement period whether they actually fit my story or not. Even on bad pain days when I can’t really move my legs as much, chair dancing and interpretative swaying are fun options.

As a bonus, sharing those playlists with readers is also quite fun. In fact, all three of these include creating something that you can share with your readers if you want to let them in on that part of your life. (If you’re feeling really bold, I suppose you could record your dances and share those too, but that would probably increase the tension for me).

Amid the hosts of skillsets out there, cooking, drawing, and dancing are the three I love most for getting the pressure off storytelling. 

What about you? What skillsets help you reduce the pressure from writing and get you into a better place for your storytelling? 

Jessica M. Butler is a USA Today bestselling romantic fantasy author who never outgrew her love for telling stories and playing in imaginary worlds. She lives with her husband and law partner, James Fry, in rural Indiana where they are quite happy with their two cats and all of the wildlife and trees.

Find her at https://jmbutlerauthor.com/.

Building Skills

 

This creative development question is my topic. It came to me because years ago, a friend who is now a very successful author decided to write her second book. She sat up in our local writer's meeting and said, "I want to make readers cry. I'm going to try to write a book that makes 'em cry." It stuck with me. She's continued with having a goal for each book - something that stretches her skills and at the time, I was envious of and intimidated by the conscious decision to attempt something like that. What if you failed? I've since gotten over that fear of failure silliness. New skills are new skills whether you execute them perfectly the first time or not. In the spirit of 'what doesn't kill me makes me stronger' nothing new that's attempted is ever wasted.

At the moment, however, I have only one goal. Recover from burn out and finish the book I'm working on so I can write the book that was due a few years ago. My goals for books are currently in a really simplistic place. I want to tell a competent, compelling story. I'll worry about technique after. I need the story to feel right before I can fuss with heightening whatever skill I stumbled on accidentally -  which is what usually happens. As an example, the book I'm currently working on requires that I learn how to handle a little bit of horror technique. I have no clue whether I'm doing it correctly. That will be for readers to decide. I'm *trying*. But it wasn't a conscious decision. It was simply what this story needed. It's the story that intrigued me enough to write and as I wrote it, the story revealed to me that it needed a reasonably high creep factor. This was a skill I did not (and to this day, may or may not) possess. But yes. I sought out a class. A couple, in fact. 

My next book requires me to tackle a theme that isn't entirely my forte. We've been eyeing one another, that theme and I. There's been research and some free writing around the associations and emotional loads. Now lets see if it will mature into a plot that won't bore readers to death. If I don't stick the landing, so what? I'll still have learned something that I'll carry forward into the next story. And the next.

As a part of the recovery process, I'm doing my best to keep writing as nourishing as possible. Some days that means fun. Some days that means challenging. Some days it means trying things I've never done before - with the awareness that such experimentation might not end up being ready for anyone else's eyes. That's okay. I look at it as building strength. It's also a useful way to break up writerly monotony. Experiment builds upon experiment, and eventually, there a new skill is likely to emerge.

Planning for specific skills for each book? No. Not yet. I'm not there yet. I aspire to be. Working on it. For right now, the stories lead the way. What they want, I attempt to deliver. Succeed or fail, I at least give it my best shot and trust I'm learning from the process. I expect that at some point, I'll learn enough that I'll be able to declare an objective like "I want to make them cry!" and be able to rise to the challenge. But for today, finishing is good enough.