Although Beth Caudill grew
up in West Virginia, she currently resides in North Carolina with her husband,
two sons and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who makes an excellent lap warmer.
Blending the analytical and creative sides of her brain, she delights in
creating fantasy worlds for others. Catch her online most days, except when NCIS and Once Upon a Time air.
Read more about her at her website.
Creating Something Positive When Your Muse Deserts
You
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| Author Nightmare – The Blank Screen of Doom |
Writing a story is always an
adventure. No matter how many books you’ve created, the process is full of
wonder and frustration. Interesting things happen when the process no longer
works.
I needed to take some time
off last year after publishing Enchantress’
Destiny, the second novella in my Paranormals of Arilase series. I was homeschooling both my sons and
the oldest, who had started high school, was not adjusting well. We made it
through summer, and he started a new private school with small classrooms.
My youngest is still at home
and while he started middle school, I do have time to write. I thought I’d be able to make good
progress in the fall. Except my writing went nowhere. My usual process wasn’t working, I couldn’t get a handle on my
characters, and words didn’t magically appear on the page.
I can’t express how frustrating
it was for me to know I finally had the time to write, but the stories that had
always been in my life weren’t there when I sat down at the computer. I’d get
glimpses of scenes while driving or in the shower, but when I was at the
computer there was nothing. Just a black well of emptiness.
I needed to try something
new. But staring at Character and Plot Worksheets gave me hives. Line upon line
of information to fill out. As a
pantster, my muse shuts down every time I look at them. (You can search on “Character
Worksheet” and find tons of examples, anywhere from 3 pages to 20+ pages of
information.)
That’s why I’d developed my
digital story bible. I could fill
in a limited amount of information and add to it as I wrote. But now I needed to do something
non-digital. Something tactile to
help my creative muse along.
In college I had to write
notes, even when professors provided copies of lectures, in order to remember
things. A recent
study also discovered that students have a better understanding of material
when they hand write their notes versus using a laptop.
I needed to create my own
paper version of my digital process. Something fun to design yet still provides
the information for my story. An area for brainstorming, characters, plot,
world building, and research. Pages
for notes and sections for maps and character sketches.
Here is an example of one of
the plot pages from the Mystery Writer’s
Mini Story Bible for Bedside and Travel.
When I started, I thought it
would be ten to fifteen pages. In reality, I ended up with fifty plus pages to
capture everything necessary for one story.
While I write mostly
fantasy, I have friends who create science fiction, historical, and urban
fantasy stories. We all need to collect similar information; only specific
details may differ. With feedback from my friends Judy
Teel and Sky Purington, I put
together a collection of six print mini story bibles for writers to store their
initial story ideas.
Best of all, I’ve been able
to make progress on writing again.
I’m hard at work on the third novella in my Paranormals of Arilase
series.
The Mystery Writer’s Mini Story Bible for Bedside and
Travel
Imagine. Discover. Write.
The Mystery Writer’s Mini Story Bible for Bedside and
Travel is your first stop along the
path to writing. You set the pace for exploring the imaginary worlds and
conflicts within your stories.
Each book section includes
an area for you to brainstorm words associated with your idea, detail pages for
up to five characters including picture and attire frames, diagram and notes
for cataloging your plot points including the murder layout, space to sketch
settings and scenes, lines for recording your research and more.
Keep your story details in
one convenient journal that easily travels or resides next to your bed. Ideas
come at all hours of the day, don’t lose your thoughts because you couldn’t
find paper.
