Today we kick off our first Writing Community Hour over at The Rogue MFA YouTube channel. We gather every other Thursday at 4pm PST/ 7pm EST. The complete schedule is listed on our community page.

Bri put together a great post called 5 Ways to Write When you’re Not Writing, because sometimes you’re motivated, but maybe not necessarily inspired. We can also help you get unstuck. If you want to join, but you don’t know what to do in the hour this graphic can help.

No matter where you’re at, we can’t wait to hang out with you and get some writing done together. Here are a few more ways to approach it.

If You Want to Finish Something

There’s nothing quite like the dopamine rush of checking a box or crossing something off a list.

  • Write a character’s backstory that outlines their internal conflicts, their trauma responses, and why they’re just so darn stubborn/independent/brazen/nihilistic
  • Clean up that one scene that you know isn’t quite working, and that you’ve been avoiding, because you think it’s going to take way more time or work than it actually will
  • Write a list of the worst things that could happen to your characters, followed by a list of scenarios that will bring the worst to life, followed by a list of ways each character might each handle the scenario. (Hello, nascent plot outline)
  • Read the articles you’ve been saving in your “research file” instead of just squirreling them away like a bushy-tailed archivist
  • Write the pivotal emotional moment for your characters that you’ve been avoiding. This could be anger, a confession, declarations of love, grief, etc…

If You Want to Figure Something Out

When things stop being inspiring, or you know that something’s just off, here are some questions you can ask to help get you back on track.

  • Do my characters make choices or do things just happen to them? OR if they’re making choices, do they actually have consequences? If your character didn’t get what they wanted, and would be fine after a nap and a snack, the stakes aren’t high enough. Let them make a decision that could fuck their whole life up.
  • What character could I remove entirely without it impacting the plot? Who’s not earning their keep here, or which characters are doing the same work in the story? Sometimes we run out of steam because we’re writing the same scenario, relationship, or problem with two separate side characters when one would be far more potent. Redundancy can make your work drag.
  • What promise did I make in the first chapter and am I delivering on it? This helps you to identify where your B plot may have taken over to the point where the whole book has shifted. It’ll shed light on where you’ve gone off course in the story, and how to get yourself back on track.
  • What would happen if I cut my favorite scene? Oh, this one’s a heart breaker. Especially when you love it and it’s the most beautiful writing in the whole book. A beautifully written scene that doesn’t belong will run your story off the rails and not in a good way. You can always paste the language into a new doc and use it in a later project, so it’s not gone forever. But the key is to get honest about whether or not it’s serving your story. If not, give it the boot.
  • What feedback do I keep hearing and also keep dismissing? Sometimes it’s not the feedback itself, but the mountain of work required to fix the issues. Once we dig into it, we often find it’s not nearly as hard as we made ourselves believe it would be. Sometimes, we dismiss feedback because it isn’t immediately obvious to us how to fix the issue. You have an hour to brainstorm ideas.

If You Want to Improve Your Writing

Choose one scene where something important happens and:

  • Focus on your character’s interiority. Instead of focusing only on what they do, dig into what they think, feel, and fear in that moment. What connections and conclusions have they drawn? What do they believe, know, or understand that they didn’t before this scene started? Help your readers see the change.
  • Focus on your character’s movement. Sometimes, you’ve created a rich inner world, but the characters themselves feel like they’re floating in space or the conversation reads like talking heads in a room. Get into their movements, mannerisms, and body language that supports or belies their inner state.
  • Ratchet up the sensory details. We understand the world through our senses, and when you add sensory detail to your story, your world and characters feel more real to us. Rely less on sight, and see how you can incorporate smell, sounds, taste, and touch, particularly texture. If you want guidance, grab the free mini course, and use that as your structure for the community writing hour.
  • Sharpen your dialogue. Cut it by 30% and you’ll make it faster, less monologue-y, and it will sound more like real people talking. Let them cut each other off, stammer, change the subject, and tell each other no.

We can’t wait to see you at The Rogue Community Writing Hour!