The Stop, Deepen, Ramble Technique And How To Use It Properly

Sometimes, your manuscript will light on fire. Your stories won't make sense--burn; your characters don't make the right choices--burn; and there is no use of Stopping, Dropping, and Rolling. You're stuck in your burning story, and you don't know what to do.

Writer's block sucks.

Like a straw.

No, forget I said that.

Writer's Block just sucks.

Like a vacuum..... Never mind.

And it happens to me too, I've had times most recently actually, that I was writing (even my planned novella, Project Pure-Blood) and I had to stop and think about what on God's green Earth was going on because I couldn't, for the life of me, continue writing until I knew what I was doing.

And so I've developed something I call the Stop, Deepen, Ramble Technique, which I titled so it would read like the Stop, Drop, and Roll rule.

I've used this technique multiple times when writing and I come upon a scene I don't understand or character I thought I knew, or a setting that needs to be more scenic. And this happens all the time, but sometimes I can't figure out what's going to happen next or who the person is or where they are while I'm writing.

Your manuscript is on fire, here's what you're going to do about it-

STOP~

Stop what you are doing. Immediately.

And no, this doesn't mean you lift your hands off the keyboard and leave your writing desk, it means you bring your hands into your lap, but stay seated, and don't close your computer, for heaven's sake.

Just stop writing.

Make sure you remember what was so hard to get through, what you were pushing to write through even though you had no idea what you were doing. This is important, essential, for the next part.

But first, just make sure you stopped writing. Don't turn off the music or shift in your chair, all that will change how your mind remembers the thing you weren't originally trying to remember (which, in this case, is the hard thing that gave Writer's Block the chance to get you in a choke hold).

DEEPEN~

Okay, now we've stopped and aren't running through the burning walls like a madman anymore. We're still seated, still staring at the story, but it's time to do something about it.

Now, we're going to Deepen our minds, go further into your story. If it's a character that's giving you trouble, get into their heads. How do they think? How do they look at the world around them. Go into religion, philosophy, culture, and think about what they would say or do next that had you so caught up before.

Drop right into their life and observe everything. And I mean everything.

Maybe it's a setting you're having trouble with. Maybe a fantasy palace you have no idea how to make consistent or a forest that is nothing like a real forest and you have no idea how it looks. Breathe, then fall. Right down into the depths of the place you were writing. Go into that inconsistent palace and observe what you actually like about it. In your mind, you are the character looking at this palace with their own eyes. What about the inconsistencies are ugly, what about them are pretty and work with the world?

And the forest? Go there, in your mind. You want your readers to feel like they're in the forest with you when you read, the only way that can happen is if you're there first. And stay there, in that character's head or that palace or that forest, until it's time for the next step.

RAMBLE~

Grab your story's notebook and a pencil or pen (do not do this on your computer, you want to stay grounded for this, and one way to make sure that happens is to have the subconscious knowing you have to keep that pen to paper. It will force you to make mistakes, which is essentially if you're going to fix them) and start to make notes. All the things you see in that person's head or in that otherworldly forest, put them down. Ramble in giant, run-on sentences. Write words no one will ever understand. Make your handwriting intentionally messy.

You want it to be as nuts as the place you're in.

Roll our those flames. Get new inspiration. Brainstorm really, really, really hard.

Then, when all the fire is out, you rise again and turn, smile at the camera, then get back to work.

It seems like a pretty simple technique, I know. I've been using it subconsciously for years to get through mini writer's blocks, and my subconscious hates difficult tasks.

I hope this was helpful to your story and your mind. Go write that book, now, with new courage.

And don't forget to Stop, Deepen, and Ramble. ;)

The End