The Rule of Twenty
I was listening to one of the RWA workshops on CD yesterday and I heard Irene Goodman’s talk “An Agent’s Views from the Front Lines.” It was a great workshop, and one of her more interesting tips came from Debbie Macomber. It was about a way of getting your imagination out of a rut.
Sometimes when you’re in the middle of a book, you hit a stalling point. It could be that your conflict isn’t as strong as you thought it was (Oh, me! Pick me!), or possibly you can’t think of a way to solve that particular problem. Debbie Macomber suggests the rule of 20.
You take out a sheet of paper and number it from one to twenty. At the top of the paper, you list your problem. For me, I listed the problem of my marriage of convenience. It wasn’t the heroine’s motivation for getting married…the question was–why HIM? Why the hero? Why couldn’t it be any Joe Schmoe? So I started listing the reasons, as many as I could. This is where the 20 reasons comes in handy.
Once you get past reasons eight and nine, you start getting silly. You start making up the craziest reasons you can think of. :mallet: By the time you’re at reasons fifteen and sixteen, your brain is thinking in a new direction. And by the time you finish the list, your answer is on it. By forcing yourself to think outside of the box (and believe me, you just want that list done!), you’ll find that one of your wackier answers might actually work. :crazyjumping:
Good luck!
Michelle posted in Writing @ 6:29 am | Viewed 867 times
Margery Scott Says:
I’ve heard this before, and I can say from experience, if you can stand the stress of coming up with 20 responses, it does work :thumbsup:
Bonnie Ferguson Says:
:headbang:Sounds like a cool idea:typing:
kacey Says:
that is a good idea. I used to do this, but haven’t in a long time. :duh: Thanks for reminding me of this!
Caro Says:
Oh, I like that one. Thanks for sharing the tip.
Rene Says:
Oooh, that’s a great tip. I’ll have to keep it in mind.
Melissa Says:
I think I’ve heard of this before – but the trick is to make myself remember it when I need to!
Tori Says:
What a cool idea. I need to remember it….
Crystal* Says:
I feel the need for a post-it note moment. I seriously need to try this.
Grins*
Silma Says:
Oh I sure gonna need this now. I’m stuck in the middle of story, and I can’t seem to know where to go from there. :starwars:
Amy K. Says:
I’ve done this frequently and yes, it’s very helpful. Painful sometimes, but helpful. :duh:
Suzanne Says:
I like this! I’ve heard of doing this before, but I’ve never heard of doing 20 ideas. Man. That’s cruel. :angry:
Danica Says:
That sounds like fun!:typing:
Jill Says:
This is a good idea, I’ve never tried it. Odd considering I get stuck in the middle EVERY time …
Steph T. Says:
I can do this pretty easily for other people – I call it the ‘What ifs.’ But when I try it for myself…:duh:
Larissa Says:
What a GREAT tip! Thank you!
Teresa Says:
That’s a great tip. I should try it sometime.