Writers Tricks of the Trade VOLUME 8, ISSUE 4 | Page 32

Imagine you’re writing a scene and the
location is so familiar you can navigate it
with your eyes closed. You drive the same
route every time so it’s easy to describe
where your characters are. Ah, but now
you have a problem. You’ve determined
that the series will always take place
within these boundaries, and fans of your
series know it almost as well as you do.
That’s becoming boring because nothing
unexpected is left.
Break the mold
It’s time to experience new things so
you can write about them. That doesn’t
mean you have to leave your comfort
zone or take an ocean voyage. This solu-
tion for gathering a wealth of creative in-
formation is so easy it’s one of those
things we don’t even have to give great
thought to. For the next five times, take a
different route. It doesn’t matter if it takes
a little longer. In fact, it’s better if it winds
through unfamiliar territory. Observe
everything with a writer’s eye during
each of these trips. This gives you a whole
new arsenal of ideas to use while staying
in the same neighborhood.
Apply the same change of scene to
food, clothes, and books as well as any
other facet of your writing you want to
spice up. If you’re basically a plain food
person, what about trying the Indian or
Thai restaurant down the street from the
one you always go to by habit? Even if you
don’t like the food, now your protagonist
knows what it tastes like. You’ve experi-
enced the ambiance of the restaurant, the
servers, the aromas—everything you
need to create a scene with a fresh per-
spective. And, who knows, maybe you will
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
discover a new favorite food as a bonus.
Do you always dress in muted tones?
Try adding some vibrant colors and think
about how you feel when you look at
yourself in the mirror. Again, those are
feelings you can transfer to your charac-
ters.
Read books or see movies in different
genres
I write mysteries and I love reading
them, so most of the books I read are
some form of mystery. I did a Spotlight
interview with author Jeri Westerson
when I was writing the columns for exam-
iner.com. She writes medieval noir mys-
teries. Sound intriguing? It did to me. It’s
almost as though she created a subgenre
of her own, or at least one I hadn’t heard
of. I read The Demon’s Parchment because
it sounded fascinating. Will I try to write
historical mysteries after reading it? Ab-
solutely not—it’s not my thing. But I’ll
stow some of the details in my memory
because maybe in a future book one of my
characters will be a history buff, or per-
haps something they read in a historical
mystery triggers suspicion about some-
thing happening in modern times. You
never know how you can use information
once you’ve absorbed it. It helps to keep a
file of details like that for easy reference.
Talk to strangers
That doesn’t mean you should flit
around scouting up people on the street
to talk to. But don’t be shy about making
contact with the person sitting next to
you in a restaurant, on a plane, or in a
movie waiting for the show to start.
Once a long time ago, my brakes gave
out on a new car and I rear ended the car
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W INTER 2019