![]() ![]() It may be a poor substitute for actual travel, but research and imagination can transport writers and readers alike to strange new places. Imagination is the writer’s most powerful tool, so although travel may be limited, our fiction can take us to places we cannot ourselves reach right now. The wandering hero drifts from place to place, and each location adds colour and depth to the story, whether it’s a small town and its feuding families, or corruption and crime in the big city. By way of contrast, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels take place in a variety of different locations. Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels, for example, are so rooted in Edinburgh it’s almost impossible to imagine them set elsewhere. Setting is an element often neglected in fiction, but when used to good effect it can be hard to imagine the story happening anywhere else. So, while travelling the world from one glamorous location to the next isn’t possible for writers at the moment, our characters can travel the world – and even beyond it. Travel is restricted across much of the world in early 2021, leaving many holiday plans on hold or cancelled. Writers are like Globe-Trotting Supermodels If nothing else, you can have a bit of fun trying something new. And who knows, a short story or flash fiction piece might give you ideas for your next novel. A little bit of change can be a good thing, so trying your hand at fiction in another genre might be just what you need to get you writing again. Iain Banks was one notable author who regularly switched: a commercial novel like The Wasp Factory would then be followed by a Sci-Fi novel such as Consider Phlebas or Against A Dark Background. Most writers work in one or two genres and rarely stray beyond them. If writing in smaller chunks of time or working on shorter fiction doesn’t feel like enough of a challenge to get you writing again, there’s another option for you: genre. These all help a writer become more adaptable, and more confident in their craft. Themselves in their characters’ shoes, change viewpoint characters from chapter to chapter, and write dialogue in the style of someone who exists only in their head. ![]() Perhaps we can’t disappear in a crowd like Jason Bourne, but writers possess a certain chameleon-like nature, and express it through fiction. The absolute worst that can happen is you have another story gathering cobwebs somewhere, but you might well end up with a finished story you can submit to a magazine for publication, and renewed enthusiasm for your next project. If you’re struggling to get going in the new year, then trying a shorter standalone piece might help you get back into your rhythm again. At the end of it you’ll have an end product, whether it’s flash fiction, a short story, or a novel. Practice for writers, on the other hand, involves actual writing. If you want to run a marathon, for example, you’ll need to put in hard hours running shorter distances. However, one commonality is that both require practice, and in this regard, writing has the edge. There aren’t many similarities between writing and sports, and only one of the two activities will help you lose that excess Christmas weight. For writers who work in blocks of time rather than word count targets, start with a smaller block of time than usual, and extend it a little with each writing session. Start small, even if the aim is to write a single paragraph on day 1 and build from there. The key here is to ease yourself back into it. It’s surprisingly easy to find distractions when you’re not in the right frame of mind, whether it’s browsing Amazon, looking at cat videos, or following a trail of links through Wikipedia. You might find the words don’t come, or everything reads like an accident involving a monkey and typewriter. If you haven’t written for a while – or are starting as a New Year resolution – getting going can be tough. Writing is like a good dessert: little and often is better than wolfing down a whole cake in one sitting. Here are some tips and tricks to help you get comfortable in that writing chair whether you’re just starting out, coming back to it after a break, or are just looking for a new challenge. ![]() Whether you took a break from writing during the holiday season, or just find it difficult to get going again after too much good food and drink, getting writing again can be harder than it sounds. It can be difficult to get yourself back into the writing chair in the new year at the best of times, and 2020 wasn’t a great year for anyone. ![]()
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