Wednesday's Writers Block - Week 13

Got Writer’s Block?

Yeah, it happens to the best of us.  Life gets in the way and your brain is taken in another direction and before you know it, it’s been days or weeks since you last looked at that book you’re trying to write.  You’ve forgotten little details.  What eye color did you give your hero?  What town was your heroine born in?  Perhaps you need to jumpstart your creative mojo, and that's what this series is designed for. Not to explain writer's block, but to help you move in a different direction.

Years ago I wrote a six hundred page fantasy novel. I had three main characters: Aria, Quill and Sinjin. Half-way through the story I realized I had to push Aria's arc, and the only way to do that was to kill one of the men she had come to trust and rely on. So I had to kill Quill. It was an epic sword fight followed by Quill being killed with his own sword. I cried and cried, but it really made my heroine Aria grow.

If your goal is a HEA, then I don't recommend killing off your hero. But that doesn't mean you can't kill him off in your head just to see how your characters would act. Or how would you act? If you aren't sorry to see your hero killed off, then maybe there's something that needs changing.

#13 Kill the Hero

If your hero died right now, what would happen next? Who would keep up the mission?

>Write a eulogy for your hero from another character's point of view. Could that character say any of those things while the hero is alive?

> Jot down your character's last will and testament. Who would get her stuff? Would she want to be buried, and where? What would her tombstone read?

>Consider options short of literal death: prison, coma, exile, alien stasis. Anythign that takes your hero out of action can work.



It's almost newver a good idea to kill your hero in the middle of your story. But sometimes it's a great idea. Might this be one of those times?

If your hero died right now, who would take over her function? What would her opponent do next? What would her friends and family do? Imagining the hero dead is a great way to find out how indispensable she is.

Alternately, if everyone werongly believed your hero was dead, what would she suddenly be free to do?

Happy Writing!



***John August designed these cards to help writers fix plot holes, spice up stock characters and

rethink your themes.  They, of course, do not guarantee you’ll get published or that you’ll become the next J.K. Rowling, and of course they are only a tool to help you think outside the box. I make no monetary gain with them nor do I expect anything in return.  I do not own the contents in these cards. If you're interested in them, here's the amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Writer-Emergency-Pack/dp/B00R6ZLIOY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502046610&sr=8-2&keywords=john+august