My iCloud is a catacomb of unpublished stories, Reader. Some of them barely saw the light of day before they lost their spark and fizzled out to be replaced by something new and shiny and full of possibility.

Others—like the one I was thinking about today—are half done with elaborate character profiles, and pages and pages of outlines.

So why is my cloud drive a digital graveyard of broken paper worlds? Because I ran into a creative wall in 2015 and stupidly kept trying to walk through it.

And sure I managed to scrape by with 3 published novellas and a novel over the next few years. But it was far from easy. The sort of not-easy that leaves you with bloody fingers and broken nails.

And then June 2019 rolled around and my therapist made the brilliant suggestion that I DSD—Do Something Differently.

So I thought, Hey why not? I’ve tried so many things already. What’s one more?

And then I wrote 200K words in 4 months. And I’ve never looked back.

What started as a simple summer experiment changed the way I write and even what genre I write in.

I’d felt like I was floundering and grasping for a foothold since I completed my trilogy. But working on the project and everything I’ve created since just feels…easy.

And that’s how it should feel. Storytelling should feel as natural as breathing. Not like trying to push a boulder up a muddy hill.

So, Reader, if it feels anything but easy for you right now…

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Here are 3 things you can do if you find yourself running into a creative brick wall:

Scene by Scene

My storytelling got a lot crisper, flowed better, and got to the point more quickly when I switched to writing by the scene instead of by the chapter.

This was mostly because I figured out all I had to do was solve this formula in a scene: Legendary Character + Action = Outcome. It made filling a blank page far less daunting of a task.

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Idea Wells

If you’re like me, Reader, then you have a bazillion and one ideas for any given story project swirling around in your head. So why not give them a place to live outside that gray matter?

Enter the Idea Well—a folder or digital file where all these “what ifs…” can live until they potentially find a home in your story. I like to house mine in a folder at the bottom of my Scrivener doc.

Then you have easy access to them to slot those ideas into a story timeline, outline, or whatever system or structure you use for story creation.

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Simplification

Back in 2015 after I’d completed my Marked Ones trilogy I explored different methods of story construction. I must have tried a dozen at least. Traditional 3 Act, Snow Flake Method, Story Beats… Ones with pages and pages of elaborate outlines and character profiles.

I even tried writing linearly by the seat of my pants like Stephen King (that was a colossal disaster 😬).

But what I discovered through all of this was that—for me at least—writing linearly will never work. And creating big elaborate outlines is a waste because my story creates itself as I write.

So what was the solution I discovered?

Having a simple outline—a framework that I could build my story on. It could be something as simple as those 3 Questions I explained in Quest 16. Or something a little more elaborate like the 8-part formula I’ve used for the majority of my stories these last few years.

But whatever you decide to use don’t forget: simpler lets the ideas flow easier.

And remember, Reader, however, you decide to DSD, anything’s better than banging your head against that brick wall for another day.

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Your cohort in storytelling,

Kat Vancil

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PS 👉 If you’re curious about my 8-part Story Alchemy Formula I’ll be releasing a course in the near future. You can join the waitlist here.

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The Saga Quest

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