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.

Old Skills and New Skills

We’ve reached the middle of January and the new year has yet to shed all of it’s glitter and shine. It’s a great time to pursue goals and think about trying new things…like new writing skills? This week we’re asking if we try new skills each year or with each book. 

To date, I’ve written four complete novels and roughly a dozen intros with synopses. Over the years I’ve found my writing groove: best time of day, chapter structure, outlining, and word count expectations. All of this was determined by use of a spreadsheet. I don’t sit down to work on any novel without first pulling up its spreadsheet. 

Yes, I’m a Virgo. I’ve got spreadsheet skills.

I’m not going to say I won’t learn new tricks or processes, because I fully expect to. I want to grow as an author, I don’t know how you can write multiple novels without growth, though I expect it to be a gradual thing. For now, I do feel comfortable with my writing skills and how I go about turning thought into book. At this time I’m not looking for new skills, I’m looking to strengthen the ones I’ve got. 

My spreadsheets—they’ll continue to be tweaked as I determine which parameters need to be tracked more closely. My plotting graph—that’ll stay the same handy form that it is. And Scrivener—it’s capable of gobs of options I don’t use, but the ones I do are irreplaceable. 

That’s the rundown on my writing skills. How about yours, do you try out anything new when you start a new manuscript?

Creative Development: By Book or By...

This week's topic: Do I look for new skills to try each year or with each book?

Intentionally? By series. I definitely like to attempt something new-to-me with each series for three reasons: 

1. I'm always trying to improve as a writer
• There's a difference between the natural growth that's a result of practice versus the deliberate pursuit of a challenge, of reaching for a higher rung. 
• Book-to-book within a series my storytelling inevitably improves as I become more comfortable with the characters, the world, and the conflicts.
• Series-to-series I push myself to take on a creative challenge. Sometimes I succeed (and those series make it to print). Sometimes I fail (and those messy attempts never leave my cloud storage).
• I keep an eye on the higher rungs that are my creative goals. Similar to what Jeffe mentioned on Sunday, there are series I want to write but lack the chops to do my concept justice. Those partially drafted Book Ones languish in notebooks or on my cloud, waiting for the day I have the skills to properly convey my vision.
2. It prevents me from writing "the same book with different names." 
• I don't feel I've reached my fullest potential as an author yet. I certainly don't want to lose my creative drive by repeating a storytelling formula that's comfortable or easy. I like the excitement of challenging myself and improving.
• Note: There's nothing wrong with developing a storytelling formula that works best for you (and your readers) and applying it over and over and over. There are plenty of famous authors who use a tried-and-true method to great financial success. Many readers find comfort in knowing exactly what they'll get from that author.
3. No Bait & Switch
• Once I introduce a series, I don't want to change the voice, style, or structure whilst in the throes of the greater story arc. I feel that's an injustice to the reader, a violation of the storytelling promise I made in the opening book.
• By contrast, I don't want to be locked into a specific storytelling style for the rest of my career. I feel that changing my style from series to series is a clear enough indicator to the reader of Achtung! Different Book Ahead!

Sometimes we grow as authors through intentional acts, and sometimes we grow through myopic focus (hello, contractual deadlines) where we don't realize the breadth of what we've accomplished until it's behind us. In whatever manner your progress happens, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on how far you've come--even if it's not as far as you'd hoped--and be proud of yourself. You did it. Congratulations! 

Leveling Up - Whether We Want To or Not

This week at the SFF Seven we're asking each other: do you look for new skills to try each year? Or with each book?

My first reaction is that this isn't an annual process for me, but an ongoing one. Because it's absolutely something that happens with every book. And not because I plan it that way! Quite the reverse. With 65 published titles, I often go into new books thinking something along the lines of "This one will be a fast and easy write because x, y, z."

I am, inevitably, always always wrong.

That's not to say that some books don't write easier than others, but they all pose unique problems. It seems to be the nature of the beast, that the creative process goes to a new and more challenging place every time. 

I have two caveats to this:

1. I do kind of look at this on a yearly basis because of my agent, Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary Agency, who sets up annual chats with all of her clients at the beginning of each year. (She jokes that she has to dig some clients out of their caves once a year for this. You know who you are.) I really love this about Sarah because it's part of what she brings to the table: long-term career strategy. She says she keeps a goal book for each of her clients and we revisit those goals and set new ones each year. For me, a big part of this conversation is always how can I grow and expand? What do I need to do to level up?
2. The second caveat is that I save some ideas for when I have the chops to execute them. Writers often talk about (and are asked) where they get their ideas and how we choose what to write next. (See above for that.) For many of us, ideas arrive all the time, but that doesn't mean we're ready to write them. The second novel I ever wrote was like that - only I didn't know that I didn't have the chops to execute the concept. So, over the years, I've gradually been adding skills as the stories demand them. In Shadow Wizard, book one of the Renegades of Magic trilogy, I added extra points-of-view (POVs). That was the first time I wrote in more than two POVs. In book three of that trilogy, Twisted Magic, I had five POVs. Who knows where it will end??

Except that someday (maybe?), I'd like to go back and rewrite that second novel. I bet I could pull it off this time.

 

Inspiration and Community

 

Although I'm an introvert, I gain a lot of inspiration from the people around me--writer friends and groups, my family, and, of course, my book friends (they count, don't they?). After a day of work, parenting and household chores, and writing, it's great to take a little time for myself and connect with someone(s) who will make me laugh or make me think or make me cry. All good things to fill up the creative well. 

Thanks to the FaRoFeb group

Let me begin today with a big thank you to all the FaRoFeb contributors for 2023. They gave us insights into being a writer and writing fantasy romance, thoughts on current topics, and tips and hacks we can use every day. I've learned a lot and gotten to know my fellow authors better. I'm so proud of our group and thrilled to see what FaRoFeb has in store for 2024!

Family matters

My extended family is big--I have 11 aunts and uncles (not including their spouses) and over 40 cousins, all of whom are amazing individuals and are creative in all kinds of ways! Many of my characters begin with one or more traits from a family member, as they are wonderful inspiration. As we have grown older, we see each other less often, but Facebook and family weddings (and funerals, sadly) give us opportunities to catch up. I have so many fabulous memories to remind me I'm loved and I belong. My family gives me the courage to express myself creatively and believe in myself.

Reading Women

Like all good writers, I am a confirmed bookworm. Like many of us, my childhood was filled with fairy tales, science fiction and fantasy, and world myths--a perfect training for writing fantasy romance. In addition, I have advanced degrees in English literature and teach at the postsecondary level. One of the great joys of my job is reading books and stories and calling it work.

I will read almost anything as long as it's written well and isn't misogynist or racist, etc. Now that I'm older, I've decided life is too short to waste my time and energy on hateful or toxic materials. Fill the well with good stuff, I say!

Today I read for fun and also to learn the craft and spark new ideas. I love learning about plot reveals and turns in crime fiction, creating action-packed scenes in suspense, and how to make a relationship compelling in contemporary romance. From fantasy and science fiction, I explore new worlds and societies, from historical novels I glean ideas about setting descriptions and family dynamics. Women's fiction helps me see the nuances of telling women's stories and seeing a variety of viewpoints. We can learn from everything!

Happy new year and wishing you lots of inspiration for 2024!

Pick Your Size Well Refilling

Refilling the creative well is like drink sizes at one of those massive gas station / truck-stop arrangements. You can get the kiddie cup, something approaching medium, or the ridiculous, last-for-days and have-to-pee-every-hour grand gesture hydration solutions. Filling the creative well comes in all those sizes, too. If it doesn’t for you, I argue it should.

Kiddie cups: These little sips are daily practices. Work out, maybe. Meditation. Breathing exercises. Yoga nidra/NSDR. That twenty minutes after work and before the dinner rush wherein you sneak- read a few pages of a book. Journaling. Singing when you’re alone in the car. Spending ten minutes outside in the early morning sunshine admiring the trees and plants and flowers. The daily kiddie cups may be small, but they keep the well topped up and the workings clear of debris. There’s a saying among hikers: It’s the water in your body that keeps you alive, not the water in your canteen. Refilling the creative well feels very much the same. In the throes of stressful daily live, whether there’s a deadline or other pressures, most of us can’t afford anything more than a few short, stolen moments to pour a few ounces back into ourselves. A few ounces at a time won’t keep us topped up, but they will sure slow the draw down.

Medium-ish: These rehydration investments are bigger investments, whether in time, effort, or cash. A class. An entire day alone with no one else setting the agenda. A solo trip to an art gallery or a museum or a bookstore. A day of enjoyable outdoor activities. Sailing, hiking, biking, exploring, whatever. It can be short writing retreats or a local conference. The point of the medium-ish creative well refill project is to tip a lot more into the well to bring the levels markedly up. If you’ve watched any ancient Egyptian archeology shows in the past decade, picture the Nile measuring systems the Egyptians built to keep track of flooding. They knew that if the Nile floods didn’t hit a certain height, it meant famine and they could plan. We’re using our medium drinks to bring up the level of the Nile. We don’t want creative famine. So, we need a cadence of regular pours to inch that level back up above the uh oh mark.

Grand gesture: These are huge, major investments in well refilling. They’re great emergency measures akin to getting an IV in the ED. The grand gesture can be life and soul saving after major burn out. Everyone’s grand gestures will look different. It could be a major conference (San Diego Comicon, DragonCon, etc.) It could be a longer-term writing retreat or even an artist-in-residence situation. The grand gesture is meant to be a big adventure, preferably undertaken solo. You shouldn’t have to share your Big Gulp. Not when you need it. It’s supposed to shake you up. It’s supposed to be faintly scary. Refilling the well like this should feel a little wild and uncontrollable as if you might be swept out to sea by the force of the flood. I mean, okay. My analogies are breaking down and getting tangled up. In my case, it was a ten-day trip to Ireland. Ten days of beginner mind because everything was new and bright and shiny and well-filling. Your grand gesture may, like mine, be a once in a lifetime event. That’s fine. I just hold that everyone trying to refill a creative well should indulge in a grand gesture at least once in life, understanding that grand gestures may need to be scaled to accommodate budgets, schedules, and envious spouses.

 

3 Ways I Refill the Creative Well

Happy 2024! What better way to start the new year than by talking about inspiration. And not simply where do we find inspiration, but three sources of inspiration. 

I have forever, and will forever, love hearing about a story’s origins. When I fall in love with a book I want to know what inspired the place, the characters, the events. Isn’t it fun to hear an author say the idea struck them as they sat in a specific place and watched [fill in the blank with basically anything that’s ever happened and it’s likely to have inspired someone]. That’s where my mind goes when I hear: book inspiration. But what about a source of inspiration? 

A source insinuates a well, a continuous refilling. A place, or a mood, that is guaranteed to inspire the story muse. Now that’s a horse of a different color. And here we all thought simply being inspired was the trick! 

Well, what do I do when I’m drained—besides take a nap? I give in to my husky pup and go outside. Like Jeffe said, nature refills my well. Fresh air combined with rain, sleet, snow, or sun revitalize me. I suppose gardening and getting my hands in the dirt fall into this category as well. But being outside, which pretty much always means I’m at least walking if not doing more, can unlock my brain like nothing else can.

As a runner up I’d say yoga is another source of inspiration. Not necessarily the physical act of yoga, though that feels fantastic and the more limber the body the more limber the mind, but the mental aspect is what I would pinpoint as the source. You can yoga with friends, you can yoga with goats, you can even yoga in a high temp dance-like studio. Or you can yoga and focus on your breath and slide into the quiet headspace where I’m emotionally and mentally refilled. You can call it meditation, though I’m still learning and meditate better when I’m doing certain poses since it helps me focus on my breathing or certain muscles and then suddenly I’m not thinking of anything else! Yoga is a source because when I’m done I’ve got clear headspace and am ready to create!

And in third place, which sounds sad, but really isn’t, would be reading. It doesn’t matter how wonderful or flawed the writing is, reading is a source of inspiration for me because it jumpstarts my imagination. Love them or hate them, characters interact with your imagination. Homey or alien, worlds make you feel like you want to hang around or run away screaming.  And head-scratching or applauding, plot lines are like parallel universes, one choice spins the story in a whole different direction.

There you have it, my three sources of inspiration that I return to again and again. What well do you draw from?