John Dean – Crime Writer

I have lost count of the times an aspiring writer, and more experienced authors for that matter, talk about those moments in the writing process when they hit a brick wall and their novel grinds to a standstill and they simply do not know where to go next.

How do you get going again? Well, what works for me is the application of logic in the form of a game I call Consequences.

Every action in real life, and so in fiction, has a consequence. Something happens, it will lead to another action, that action, in turn, provokes its own reaction.

Or someone says something, someone else reacts, their reaction in turn leads someone else to react and suddenly you have written a page and punched a hole in the dreaded brick wall.

Sometimes authors contrive to make writing complicated when it is, at its heart, very simple.

If you want to read dozens more hints for authors – and all for free – you can do so in the dedicated sections on this website.