I’m All Out of Love

Hello Loyal Readers J Thank you for stopping by.  I am Terri Molina, multicultural romantic suspense author. In other words, my characters and settings take place in border towns along the gulf coast of Texas.

For the past year I’ve been in a bit of a funk….and if you read last month’s post, you’ll understand why. And as if that’s not bad enough, I’ve also been hit with a debilitating case of writer’s block. The events of last year really built up a wall on my creativity and writing is becoming more like a chore than something I enjoy doing. Even writing this blog is drawing a blank….and I was given a theme!

As you can tell, writer’s block is frustrating. Over the years (because it’s not the first time I’ve dealt with it) I’ve tried to figure out ways to curb it. Like with any syndrome, I did a lot of research on the best way to deal with it and of course many of the answers were obvious:

• Read more books
• Watch movies
• Take a long bath
• Go for a walk
• Take a road trip

So, because I’ve done these a time or two hundred, I decided to ask my friends for advice and see what it is that keep them at the computer day in and day out. 

 

Question:  How would you define writer’s block and what do you do to overcome it?

 

Robert Gregory Browne, bestselling author, former screenwriter

• Well, I don't believe in it. Never had it. My feelings is that you simply have to sit down and write, no matter how bad you might think it is. Just put words on your screen. Sooner or later they'll start to make sense.
   
  Toni McGee Causey, best-selling author of the Bobby Faye novels.
• I agree with Rob. If a writer is feeling blocked, then the issue is often not what they're writing, or trying to write, right at that moment, but choices they've made earlier that aren't resonating with their subconscious. Writer's block is (to me) simply the subconscious's way of saying, 'hey, you, you're missing an opportunity over here.' Often, the answer isn't obvious (hence, the feeling of being blocked), but if you sit down and write out all of the wrong stuff, the terrible stuff, you clear the logjam and the good stuff can start flowing again. You just have to give yourself permission to write all the crappy stuff first without worrying about whether it's good or not. It's probably not good. That's the point. Get it out of the way and then the stuff that's been percolating below the surface, the wild "what ifs?" will rise and give you the twists and inspiration you'd been looking for all along.
  
  There can be other emotional issues that swamp a writer--bad health, death of a loved one, etc. These things can slow some writers down and that's just life. In these cases, you have to just recognize it for what it is and give yourself time to be human, and then sit down, even when you don't feel like it, and write anyway. The words will come, in spite of how awful life may have gotten.
   
  Karin Tabke; National bestselling, award-winning author
• Right there with Rob and Toni. 'writer's block' for me is when something is wrong with my story and my subconscious is refusing to go forward with what it knows is wrong. I can sit there and stare for days at a flashing cursor, but it isn't until I start to write, even free writing that my thoughts loosen up. some days it's sheer will power to get words down. but I also give myself permission to let the crazy go when nothing else seems to be working. b/c sometimes there are some gold nuggets in the crazy.
  Allison Brennan; NYT Bestselling author
• What Toni said. When I get stuck, I re read what I have and most of the time find where I derailed.
   
   
  Sage advice from some of the best in the biz.  They are who encourage me to keep my butt in chair.  And that’s why I love them. J 
   
  I know the writer’s block is a state of mind….that fear of failure thing. And I know, the best way to get over it, is to just get out of my own head.  There are just some days, I need more convincing.
   

Hey! That's My Book!

       Belated Happy New Year Everyone!!  In case you're a new reader, let me introduce myself. I'm Terri Molina. :-)

So, the other day I was reading the January issue of RWR .....Romance Writer's Report....it's the magazine issued by Romance Writers of America. Anyway...there was an article in there by ErinQuinn and Kris Kennedy about the similarity of some books. For instance, when Erin was writing her Mists of Ireland series, she read Karen MarieMoning's Fever series and started freaking out about how similar the stories were, down to having the exact same character!  If you have the issue, read it, it's a good article. 

So, while I was reading, I kept thinking...Yep. Happened to me too!  Shortly after I completed my novel Forget Me Not, I met Allison Brennan at an online forum. She had just released her first book, The Prey (great first book!).

Because Allison was one of the first "real" authors I'd interacted with, I bought the book... well, that and because I love romantic suspense and was looking for new authors to read besides Nora Roberts and Jayne Krentz (not that I don't still LOVE them). 

So, anyway, it was several months before I had down time to sit back and read.  Forget Me Not was making the rounds and I'd already completed Dark Obsession (coming soon) so I figured, let's read Allison. Well, you can imagine my heartbreak when I started reading. Not only were the plots similar (kinda, sorta), they practically opened the same way!  Of course, they weren't the same book...exactly. But the similarities were close enough that my second agent (who turned out to be a waste of two years) didn't want to submit the book to anyone.  It was five years after Allison's book came out that my book finally got published.  But, another heartbreak happened even after that and again, it was from another one of Allison's books...or rather a non-book.  Shortly after Forget Me Not published I'd gone to read a blog post Allison did at the MurderShe Writes blog. She was talking about the first book she'd ever completed. The one that was so bad it was under the bed, gathering dust, and would never see the light of day.  Then, she proceeded to describe the plot and some of the really bad scenes and...

I. Thought. I. Was. Going. To. Die!

The scenes she described (in some not so nice ways---I think too convoluted was mentioned once or twice) were some of the same scenes I'd written in my book!  Right down to end!  Needless to say....I didn't mention I'd written the same book.  haha

But, really, there's no getting around writing a book or characters similar to someone else. As Erin says in the article, you're likely both researching the same thing so it's likely that the research will end up in your story.  Plus, there are no original plots or archetypes.  Just like there are no original titles.  If you go to Amazon and plug in your title under Books, you'll find hundreds if not thousands of titles that are the same.  Yeah, that can be frustrating too.  In fact, shortly after my novel House of Cards debuted, a TV show on Netflix called House of Cards launched and became a big success.  Thankfully, the plots aren't the least bit the same.

So, what do you do if you find you're writing a book that's already been written?  Well, for one, don't read that book! And, two, just write yours. They may be similar, but, unless you're copying the other one verbatim (plagiarizing), your story will still be different because it's you writing it; your voice, your style, your story.