*Disclaimer* I'm super tired and hungry right now so please forgive any spelling or grammatical errors that may have cropped up during the writing of this post.
First off, I just saw this video today and this guy has some really cool stuff to say about the messages children's movies send. You should watch it. Don't worry, I'll wait.
Is that not cool? His thoughts went in a different direction than I had been expecting them too and I'm so glad! Not because I thought it would be bad, but because what he ended up talking about is something I hadn't really considered but is amazing.
I love epic hero journeys, don't get me wrong, but his points about that message, verses one of teamwork, and what it may teach children are points that I can agree with. We don't need to burn all the epics, maybe we just need to even the balance a little bit.
Also, can I get an "amen" for the fact that female protagonists can be role models and the favorite characters of boys as well as girls?
Okay, moving on. ~~~
So I got severely distracted from my main WIP after reading Cinder. My creative processes are often directly related to what I'm taking in [which I think is the case for most people and why it's always the best idea, if you're writing in a genre new to you, to first start reading in that genre] so reading a fairy tale retelling immediately derailed my brain from fantasy, simultaneously switching gears and picking up a random story idea that I probably first wrote down like a year ago and forgot about. So for the last week or so I've been sidetracked writing up characters and contextual points for this new story which, while exciting, is certainly not helping Mona out at all.
In all honestly, it was probably easier to derail my brain than it might have been because I felt like I was kind of stalling out on Mona. I find that I'm really great at coming up with cool story ideas and characters but my excitement fizzes out before the story ever really gets written. Perhaps some of you can relate. This is my trial and one I've been well aware of since high school. I have notebooks chuck full of story ideas that are still waiting for some productive attention. It can be super frustrating, as in Mona's case, because I really care about this story and these characters. I want to write it but sometimes I just feel stuck.
When I encounter crisis such as this, I am reminded of how amazing the writer community is. You can find it anywhere and whether you want to immerse yourself in all of the blogs and groups or just a small portion, you can always find great advice and support. This week I found Max Kirin's tumblr and while I haven't read any of his books [yet] I love the variety of writerly things that he posts, from writing prompts to inspiring quotes to advice that he usually gives in response to questions from other writers. He's written a great post in response to people asking about how he gets his motivation back here and I'm excited to try out his idea.
If any of you have ideas or advice about how to regain that excitement or push through writer's block, please share! We all grow through the help of others and sharing our own little tricks and secrets is a great way to support each other. :)
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