maintaining focus
July 13, 2006
I discovered a fantastic book about generating story ideas out last night. If you’re like me and suffer from major writer’s block - you can’t figure out what you want or need to write about - then this book might help you out.
It’s called “Developing Story Ideas” by Michael Rabiger and I think it just came out. The paragraph that stuck out for me as I was flipping through the book - the paragraph I kept reading over and over while waiting in line to buy it last night was this:
Paradoxically, you maintain focus by abandoning everything that ensures against risk. To stay focused, you must stay in the here-and-now…Never look ahead at where you are going or back at where you have been. Never allow your ego to start judging how well you are doing, for then you become a divided being: One part tries to go on playing your character, another part subjects you to the imagined scrutiny of the onlookers. You become painfully self-conscious, self-judging, and dysfunctional. Everyone knows this utterly disabling condition from youth.
And often it can keep you from writing what you want.
The book itself is written very well - little to no fluff - concepts are stated clearly and succinctly - and it’s packed with exercises to help you generate story ideas that might be just below the surface of your subconscious.
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