Creative Writing Tips – Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

If you hit a wall, have fear to even put pen to paper in the first place or just don’t know where to start, I’ve got you!

Challenge yourself – step outside your comfort zone.

If you hit a wall, have fear to even put pen to paper in the first place or just don’t know where to start, I’ve got you!
Just do it!
Easy right?
I know it can sound so simple, but then you have a pad and paper or laptop screen and it’s glaringly blank. I get it. It’s exactly how my every book I’ve ever written starts out. All writers have a blank page as their starting point.
Don’t be scared.
It’s OK. You’re OK.
You just need a plan. You hear it from me all the time.
But what if you aren’t a planner and you can’t even think of what you want to write, so how can you plan it?
Try something new.
Challenge yourself.
It could be a new genre, a new style, a new character, a new project, but try something you haven’t tried before.
What’s the worse that can happen?
Let me talk you through the options, so you get the idea.

Write in a genre you love to read but you have never written in before.
But I haven’t got a genre in the first place I hear you cry. OK, not a problem for you then.
Stick with what you know.
You love to read romance, write a romance, love dragons, write about dragons.
You know what you love, but somehow you always end up writing about something totally separate from your reading pleasure. So give that new favourite genre a go.
Now you probably know the Stephen King quote that if you don’t read you can’t write, well it sounds a little harsh, but I agree.
You need to read fiction to understand fiction.
I have a really low boredom threshold. I read all sorts, but there are some genres I rarely read, including, you guessed it, dragon fantasy. I’ll never say never, though. But in short, if I don’t read it I won’t write it. I don’t know what readers want, what they expect, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find a new genre.
I love crime. I read it almost constantly. I also watch it almost every day, on TV and film. Real life and fictional. I could write retro-style noire, Scandi dark, cozy village, damaged cop, even romantic crime has a place on the bookshelves.
Look at your bookcase, choose a genre you love to read but have never written and give it a go.

Do you always write in a particular style?
Maybe the omniscient narrator always takes your reader through the plot. The one who sees it all. Why not try from a different angle?
Romance is often written in the first person, with alternating chapters for the two characters. Have you tried that?
How about a murder mystery from the ghost victim’s perspective, or a family drama from the pet dogs?
Go wild, be outrageous. It doesn’t matter, no judgment or expectations, it’s just for you to get those creative juices flowing.
Once the words tumble out, you’ll soon get back on track and maybe with a whole new idea for a book.

Almost all fiction will draw you in and keep you reading because of the characters.
Plots are mostly quite formulaic, but your characters are why your readers come back.
Banish that blank page with a detailed description of your main character.
Tell your reader all about them.
You won’t be sharing this with them. It’s ultimately just for you. OK, maybe you’ll give it away as a bonus later, but for now, it’s literally yours alone.
Describe them, what they wear, how they look, what they love or hate. Go deep. I even grab images of faces from the internet so I can visualise them.
The better, more intimately you know them, the more you can immerse yourself in the plot as the story comes together. And the added bonus, you’ll never get their hair colour wrong, or forget where they live.
Tell me now, what music does your lead character listen to?
Don’t know? There you go. Add some depth to those people so your characters are engaging for the readers.

It will also give you default writing prompts as you go. No more writer’s block.