Research As Writing Inspiration & The Cure For Writer's Block

One of the most common questions I get when I do school and library visits is how I deal with writer's block. My answer is not a popular one, but it remains the same.

I don't necessarily think writer's block exists. If it does I haven't experienced it yet, so if / when I do I will come back to this post and eat some crow. For now I call it procrastination, something all writers are familiar with, and I think procrastination itself is a symptom of fear.

I always have ideas, I just don't necessarily know how to execute them. Typically if I've hit a scene that is dragging or I simply don't know what happens next, it's because I don't know enough about my topic to deliver. For example I was recently writing a scene that took place in the back of an ambulance. I had no idea what the medics were wearing, what machines they had back there, what kind of language they would use to communicate with each other. It took three days and the exchange of over 25 emails with an EMT friend in order to finish that scene - which is only two pages long.

That's a snail's pace, and incredibly frustrating. But diving into the research for the particular disease that afflicts my main character was enlightening in more ways than just medical terms. I'd reached the halfway point on the manuscript and was wading into waters that went over my head. I vaguely knew what I wanted to have happen in my plot, but knew I needed a juicy subplot in order to avoid a saggy middle.

Some research provided me with exactly what I needed. Just a few lines out of a medical journal provided a simple fact - candidates for heart transplants wear pagers to be alerted when a heart that matches them is available  - and suddenly I had a supporting character, a subplot, and an entire backstory for her that would could nicely draw out a few of my main character's less-lovely characteristics.

One line of research provided me with enough material to fill at least a quarter of the gaping back half of my book. Being a pantser isn't for everyone, and I know that if I were a planner I could have avoided this particular gaping hole of almost-writer's-block that stared me down last week. But I stared back, did some research, emailed some friends, and it flinched first.

Writing, Publishing & Marketing Advice From Beth Revis

Today I am very happy to welcome to the blog bestselling author Beth Revis. Beth is the author of the NY Times Bestselling Across the Universe series, published by Razorbill/Penguin in the US and available in 17 countries. A former teacher, Beth lives in rural North Carolina with her husband and dog.

Beth has published a three-part series to help aspiring authors find their way through the maze of writing an publishing. Learn to avoid the common pitfalls and find your own path with Beth's PAPER HEARTS series.

Your PAPER HEARTS series is a three-pronged look at writing, publishing and marketing. How important do you think it is for a writer to be good at all three?

For a writer, the only thing you need is to know how to tell a good story. For a career author who wants to make a living at writing, I think it's necessary to know the business side of it, too--which includes not just writing a query, but deciding the best publishing path for your specific career, and then exploring the tools to help you position yourself for continued success. 

My books are definitely not going to be a cure-all, but I want to get people to ask themselves the questions necessary to sustain a career. What is more important to you, specifically: one book published or a career in writing? Are you more willing to sacrifice time or money when it comes to marketing? Are you more comfortable being social or innovative? How can you best help your career? Publishing, like writing, is not a one-size-fits all.

The idea came about after your collected Wattpad project had reached critical mass. Can you tell us more about your motivation to help aspiring writers?

I think part of my motivation just comes from the way my brain ticks. I used to be a teacher, and I loved that job. Not the grading papers or dealing with parents, not that, but the actual teaching part. I loved helping students, I loved discussing new ideas and just...just teaching. I really loved that job. This book comes about in part because of that. 

When someone asks a question, I want to be able to help them find an answer. So I started hanging around writing boards, like Reddit, Miss Snark's First Victim, and Facebook forums. I found that I was answering a lot of the same questions over and over, so I started to compile it all in Wattpad. A few months ago, after I hit my first 100,000 reads, I realized that I was looking at not one book, but three, and I might be able to help more people if I published them.

Volume three focuses on marketing... something that many writers are uncomfortable with, claiming that they're artists, not salespeople. Are there effective marketing strategies for even the shyest of scribes?

Oh, absolutely! That's the beauty of the internet! :)

But beyond that, there are ways where you can let your books do the talking. I am not a fan of the "hard sell"--where you stand up and actively approach people and engage with strangers. It works for some people, but not for me. So I try mostly to focus on ways you can engage no matter what your level. 

But a big key to marketing is just being plugged into the community. If you're most comfortable with Twitter, use Twitter. Not as an advertiser, as a user. See what makes you click links, which contests you are tempted to sign up for, which books you notice, and you'll be well on your way to finding the method of marketing that works best for you.

Only the first in the three volume series focuses on the actual writing process. How do you think an author's position in the publishing industry has changed over time?

When it comes to publishing, good writing will out. The first book is on writing processes, and it's the longest of the three books, but at the end of the day, the entire book is summed up with: "make art the best way you can." 

Publishing is more cut-and-dry. There are specific methods of publishing that work and some that don't. And sure, there are exceptions to the rule, but learning how to write a good pitch paragraph is important whether you are traditionally published (and need to add it to a query or a website) or you're self publishing and have to put it on the back of your book. Authors have a ton more options now to publish, and it is possible to stand out as a self publisher, and the best thing you can do for yourself is just learn and then be as professional as possible.

The title, PAPER HEARTS, is intriguing. What does it mean to you, personally?

I've latched on to that phrase for years. A paper heart is fragile, easily torn. But writers build their lives around paper, and even if one piece is easy to tear into shreds, a stack of papers--like the kind that make a book--is strong.

The Beauty Of Pantsing It: The Character You Didn't Expect

I've got a lot on my plate right now, but I mean that in strictly the metaphorical sense because I definitely just clean plated my breakfast. Farm eggs, man. Can't beat 'em.

The first draft of my fantasy series, GIVEN TO THE SEA, is due somewhat soon, and I also need to do an edit on my 2016 release THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES, which is a rape-revenge vigilante justice contemporary. It's possible that one day I will write something where the description doesn't make people cringe a little, but don't hold your breath - that's what I keep telling my mom, anyway.

So with all this work staring me down, the coffee pot on overtime and the cats tossed outside so they can't sit on my face, I've actually been getting a lot done. The fact that it's been raining non-stop in Ohio for the past two weeks has been a big help, as my outdoor soul isn't contending with much guilt from nice breezes and warm sunshine.

All that being said, it's still work, and cranking out the words is never easy. There's always the author's biggest enemy - procrastination - staring you in the face (well hello blog post, I should write you, yes?). But what stalled me the other day was something else, something that I only have myself to blame for.

I'm a pantser, complete and total. Whenever I turn in a synopsis to agent or editor it comes with a heavy warning that some people I earmarked as survivors may actually die, and I might decide to kill those who got a reprieve in the initial concept. I also might wander down paths I didn't know existed, which is where my subplots always come from. It's a lovely thing when an organic subplot pops up, and that happened to me yesterday, in the form of a character I didn't know existed.

He had a few things to say. He's quietly masculine and made of honor, and while I only meant to give him a line or two of comfort to a stricken female, he showed up again a few chapters later and kept talking. I was like dude, what are you doing - I didn't even give you a name, so shut it. And suddenly I had to give him a name, because he kept talking to my female character and the pronouns were getting old, and once I'd given him a name I gave him a wife and a kid, and suddenly he had a subplot and possibly his creator had a little crush on him.

This is why I love being a pantser - a subplot I never intended, but neatly ties together my overall arc came about organically, nicely tied up in a cool dude with armor and a conscience.

I'll take it.