Venture Out a Bit
IN AUGUST my wife and I took our three kids to the beach for a birthday party. It was a hot summer day, and we were headed down to a beach that is not known for surfing. Before we left the house, I strapped my surfboard onto the surf racks on top of my car, figuring I would maybe paddle around a little bit with the kids and teach them how to feel at home on a surfboard.
When we arrived, I watched the water for about 10 minutes. A couple of nice little waves started rolling in. I urgently smeared some wax onto my board and glided straight into the water without bothering to slither into my wetsuit. That afternoon, one set of waves after another rolled into my little spot, and I had them all to myself. I looked a mile north, at a very busy surf spot, and it seemed as if there must have been 200 people in the water. Poor suckers — if they only knew how enticing the waves were at my own private, secret spot!
Sometimes a perfect little “secret spot” will hide in plain sight. As writers, we are often prone to fall into our cozy and safe comfort zones. We tell ourselves that we are merely good at creating “commercial fiction” (whatever that is), or romance novels, or suspense, etc. We repeat these mantras to ourselves until they morph into some type of self-fulfilled destiny.
Sometimes the best way to break out of the comfort zone is to just decide to do it, and then DO IT. You’ve never written a Western tale before? Give it a go. You may find yourself sauntering beside your main character through a saloon with your thumbs stuck firmly into your belt loops, with your boot heels clunk — clunk — clunking along the dirty hardwood floor. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, there are no special formulas for any particular type of writing. In fact, there are not really any rules to writing fiction.
If you have been suffering from writer’s block, perhaps it’s because you keep trying to write the same type of story over and over again. The next time you find yourself confronted with an empty page that is yearning to be filled, don’t grab your surfboard and paddle out at the break with hundreds of other desperate wave riders just waiting to get in your way and cut you off. Go to the empty beach; the place you have never been to before. You might discover that you fit in there much better.
J.S. Lender’s new novella + short story collection for young readers, Emma and the Starry Night, is on sale now!
