SciFi/Fantasy author CB Williams volunteered to share her recent experience with my new Story Consult service.
Story consults have always been part of the overall editing package, but after several author requests for consults while they were in the middle of their manuscript, I decided to offer it as a separate service. Without further ado, here is CB Williams!
I was stuck. My writing was suddenly boring.
Truth be told, I was bored, too. Didn’t even want to finish my manuscript.
As for my characters, they were considerably annoyed…at me, for writing them into a boring standstill. We all felt like we had been walking uphill in sand for days. (For a very funny peek at what the characters were doing: http://chroniclesofcammy.com/2015/04/18/getting-my-nature-on/)
“Just keep writing,” I told myself. “It will get better.”
It did not.
So I did what I should have done a couple thousand words ago. I contacted Faith Freewoman for a story consult. We negotiated the cost, and I outlined what I’d written, where I was planning to go and how I wanted to do it. I included a list of issues that were bothering me (aside from the boredom) and sent it all in an email.
A couple of days later, Faith came back with her analysis, which included a plethora of ‘what ifs’ and ‘why nots’…all sorts of suggestions, questions and directions that got my creative juices going as we batted ideas back and forth.
It was fabulous! It was fun!
Best of all, my characters and I are longer bored.
If you have reached an impasse in your storytelling, I highly recommend a story consult from Faith. They don’t call her Demon for Details for nothing!