I came across a stumbling block this morning.
I’m re-writing a section where my main character loses her virginity to a gay man and am developing how they knew each other and how the sex came to be.
Stuttering Along
I’m working hard not to edit as I write. Before, I would typically write, read, back space over a few words, and re-write again. Over and over. Instead, I am plowing forward and letting the words flow out.
But yesterday and today, the words were stuck inside my fingers.
Frustrated, I remembered something Freddie Mercury said in Queen’s One Vision Documentary.
“I like to capture a song really quickly so that’s it’s fresh and then you can work on it afterward. I hate trying to write the song and if it’s not coming, ‘Oh, c’mon. Let’s try this here.’ It either comes quickly and then you have it, like the basic skeleton, and then I say, ‘Yes, we have a song.’ Then we can start putting in all the clever bits.
“But if a song’s not happening, I just normally say, ‘Oh, let’s forget it. Let’s try something else.'”
Closing & Opening
I thought that might be a bit of good advice and randomly moved to a different section of the book. My thought was to let my intuition drive my choice.
Scrolling down the chapters, my eyes lit on the section where my MC has tea with her mother. Those words were already forming in my mind and I opened the page in Scrivener and my fingers started typing.
Her mom went from the front door to the kitchen, leaving Lisa standing in the middle of the living room with her suitcase, not knowing where to put it. She was surprised her mom didn’t have plastic on the furniture like she’d always had when she was a kid. The room smelled odd without the reflective covering over every sitting space.
“I guess mom thinks I’m old enough to sit on furniture now and not make a mess.”
Lisa chuckled to herself and hoped she didn’t spill her sweet iced tea she knew was coming at any moment. Some manners cannot be ignored and serving iced tea was done out of habit, not friendliness.
It felt good to move on to a different section and not fret about the words.
Not Always So Easy
I do understand there might come times when I struggle for words. There will come times.
But for today, Freddie’s words soothed me and helped me move on to something more flowing and easy.
I liked that a lot.
Navelgazing Writer 