Let Them Talk…

How many times have you been in the following situation? You sit down to write a chapter in your latest Work In Progress, only to find you can’t come up with anything that doesn’t read as slightly more interesting than paint drying. You end up writing and deleting a paragraph as time ticks by. Next thing you know, an hour has passed, and you’re still sitting there staring at a blank page. Writer’s block is no fun, but we all go through it as writers.

I sat down yesterday to work on my latest work in progress. I knew the setting. I knew how I wanted to frame the scene. It was a partially built high-rise in Tokyo. Our protagonists exit the elevator. The sun had set, throwing a lavender glow through the partially finished level. On the far end of the level, they make out a silhouette standing in front of an opening where office windows will eventually go. Only, I couldn’t get it to come out right. I knew the scene; I could picture it in my head. Hell, if it was a script, I could write something similar to what I did above, and it would work. But this isn’t a script or screenplay. It’s a novel. So, I needed to figure out the right way to convey the mood and atmosphere of the scene. I did the write-and-delete routine a few times before stopping and taking another approach.

Instead of working so hard on describing the scene, I decided to focus on my character’s conversation. You see, conversation is natural, we all do it. Put two people together, even if they are strangers; chances are, one will attempt to start a conversation. That one is usually me. As someone who spent countless hours in a van driving from gig to gig and spent almost fifteen years riding around in a work truck for a glass installation company, I know that having a conversation is the natural way for humans to pass the time. I’ve spent hours talking to coworkers and friends about myriad topics. The point is that conversations are what make the world go round. So why shouldn’t it be the same with the characters in your book?

So, instead of agonizing about framing the scene with the proper gravitas, I concentrated on what my protagonists were discussing. Then, as the conversation continued, I filled in the rest of the scene between the lines. In the end, everything worked out (at least as far as writing the book; I can make no promises for the characters), and the introduction set the stage and took us right up to the meat of the scene.

It took me a long time to get comfortable with conversations in my writing, unlike real life, where I rarely shut up. But, as I’ve leaned more and more on the experiences I’ve accrued over the years, I have discovered that genuine conversations can add a lot of authenticity and humanity to your characters. So, next time you feel stuck on a scene, get in your character’s head and let him start talking. Next thing you know, you’ll be fully immersed, and the chapter and the writer’s block will be behind you.

– Ryan