The blank page: part 3

My third tip for what to do when you're staring at a blank page is a writing prompt that's especially good for visual thinkers.

Find an image that embodies your story somehow. It could be a photograph, a painting, a line drawing, or a sculpture. Anything visual. Have a look for something that inspires you online, in a gallery, in a magazine or coffee table book, or from your own photo album.

Once you've chosen your image, use your imagination to enter the scene. Then pick up your pen and start writing with all your senses. What are the sounds, smells, feelings, flavours, and sights? Write down as much detail as you can and then push yourself to write even more. 

A page rich with sensuality makes your writing come to life. Readers are drawn in by it. This is just as true for non-fiction as it is for fiction.

​Your writing doesn't need to be polished to start. Just begin with whatever comes to mind in whatever order. The piece may or may not end up in your story. The point is to hone your craft. It's a rehearsal for describing a scene vividly.

A page rich with sensuality makes your writing come to life. Readers are drawn in by it. This is just as true for non-fiction as it is for fiction.

If you do end up with some material that's worth including in your manuscript, then work on a second draft only after you've finished scribbling down your initial ideas. The second draft is when you can start thinking about the structure of your paragraphs and sentences. How can you order them so they add momentum to your story? Are the sentences varied and well-paced? Are you building tension or offering respite?

Would some dialogue or other noise add to the sound environment of the story? What effect do the smells and sounds have on the mood or tone of the story? Is the sensory experience pleasurable, disorienting, frightening? Can you find more precise and original wording for the feelings you describe?

Think about your point of view. Are you writing as the subject of the image or an onlooker? Maybe you could enter the image from the point of view of one of your characters. To get some really good exercise out of this one, try writing several versions of the same scene from different points of view.

You'll also want to think about the role the scene plays in your story. It's got to be an important one. If you use all five senses for every single scene, your narrative will wind up overwritten (and your book will chew up a lot of trees). Save this technique for the high points in the arc of your story or the climax, when you really want to captivate readers.

There's nothing wrong with doing this as a simple exercise and leaving it at that. Practice the skills of vivid sensory description, so that when you do write the climax of your story, you'll be prepared to tackle it.