What I Write When I Don’t Know What to Write

Buckle up, friends and readers. We’re going on a ride and I’m not sure where we’re going, but it’s either going to be boring as hell or a rousing good time. Only the end will tell. You see, this is a blog post without an idea.

A chorus of followers: “Ugh, Vickie, we know, you wrote about writer’s block already.”

Me: “Yes, I did, and thank you kindly for noticing. But that is not this.“

Writer’s block, as I might have mentioned, is when you have a story, and characters, and maybe even a plot, denouement and ending, but you have no idea how to get it out of your head and onto the page. This is not having an idea. As a fiction writer, not having an idea is an actual tragedy and one of my biggest fears. This is why, when I’ve had an idea, I write that shit down, even if it’s terribly vague, just in case the idea machine in my head one day stops working. I’ve been lucky so far, in that my Big Brain Machine continues to churn out ideas, even if only at a sporadic pace.

When I first started this blog, I made a list of ideas so I’d have some things to fall back on. Well, I’ve used most of those ideas and we’re only three months in. I’ve been trying all week to think of something but this is still me:

That’s the problem with trying to have an idea. The harder you try, the more your brain turns into an obstinate fucker who just doesn’t want to produce. I’m surprised I have the capability of speech when I’m trying to have an idea. Not only is the Big Brain Machine down for the count, it’s taking the rest of the brain with it, by God.

Getting an idea is an entirely different prospect. An idea usually strikes on an arbitrary Thursday (or any day) when I am literally thinking about everything else and also nothing at the same time. I’ll be at my day job, writing a random email, when suddenly that Big Brain Machine spits out a “What if…” and everything stops.

Me: “Yes, what if? I hadn’t even considered….”

And then, the whole brain is all in on whatever the idea is, and sacrifices its whole self to it. Sometimes it lasts only ten minutes, and sometimes, I spend the rest of the day thinking about it, and it stays with me, gathering speed and detail as I go about my days. Either way, as soon as humanly possible, I write that idea down (and any other details that have struck) because there’s nothing worse than having an idea and then losing it, because it’s likely that it’s never coming back.

Currently I have around fifteen ideas for fiction, and as discussed above, a handful of blog post ideas left, but I’m saving them for a more appropriate time–or for when I’m really desperate. How do I decide which idea to work on? It depends. Blog posts are different–I want them to be timely and I need to make sure I have enough to say about something before I try to write it (this one is turning out remarkably well, I think).

For fiction, I usually work on the idea that won’t let go. That’s the idea that I’m still thinking about even after I’ve written it down. It’s the idea whose characters have a good story and–praise be!–tell me their names. It’s the idea that can be boiled down to a sentence, but that sentence doesn’t contain the whole of the idea. The idea I’ll be working on for NaNoWriMo this November hit me in early February and has had a vise grip on my brain ever since, leaving little room to work on another story (hello, writer’s block), or think of a damn blog post, even though that is a more pressing need.

I hope that idea writes without much trouble, and I hope you all enjoy it when it gets to you at some unknown future time.

Well, that ride is over. Wait for the vehicle to come to a complete stop before unbuckling, exit carefully, and go out into the world and do what makes you happy. And hope that I come up with something more engaging for next time.