Author Joel C. Flanagan-Grannemann

Today we have budding fantasy author Joel C. Flanagan-Grannemann. He tells me he has been writing since childhood, has a B.A. in writing from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in Bradford, PA, and has lived in Columbia, SC for more than twenty years with his wife and editor, Jay-Jay Flanagan-Grannemann, and a coterie of cats. And today, he’ll be talking about the dreaded writer’s block. Take it away, Joel!

This summer I was able to attend my first convention as a guest, ConCarolinas. I had a great time, talked to some interesting people, made some new contacts, sold a book, and got to feel like I was part of a community that I’d only seen from the outside before.

I was supposed to be on a panel about writer’s block, and I was pretty excited about it. But at the last minute, I was moved to another panel instead. It was fine. I was the new guy at the con, and things happen. But I had already thought about something I wanted to talk about, and I never got the chance.

So I’m taking this opportunity as a guest on Jeri’s blog to talk about my take on writer’s block!
(Caveat: Everyone has their own experience and writing process. This is merely mine. You do you!)

I don’t know if I have ever truly had writer’s block.

Well, that’s a lie! I did. For years.

Twenty-two of them, to be exact. I stopped writing after college and only started up again in September of 2019.

But that’s not what this is about. (If you’re interested in that story, though, check out the Interviews page on my website!)

Writer’s block is such a broad term. Yes, there have been times when I haven’t been in the mood to write, or I’ve lost interest in what I’m writing, or I’ve gotten stuck in a scene and didn’t know what my characters would do next. In broad terms, this would generally be considered writer’s block. Not knowing what comes next is what plagues me the most.

Maybe two years ago, I had just finished the first draft of a book about my character Rose, the Queen of the Human Realm, who first appears at the end of my second book, Talia: On the Shore of the Sea. That book was very difficult for a pantser like me to write. Rose’s character arc was very defined, and there were a lot of plot points that had to be hit along the way. Who she is at the end is not who she starts out to be, and I had to make sure that her journey was authentic and served both her as a character and the series as a whole. I was also exploring a part of my world that I hadn’t been to before, so I had a lot to think about. And the ending was very emotional.

At the end of Rose’s story, I was pretty drained. I didn’t want to jump into editing, or just move on to another book. I needed a break.

So I started a short story about this teenage couple and the very dramatic tale of how they first met and fell in love. It was set in contemporary times, and in my childhood home, so I didn’t need to make up anything about the setting. I knew it. So I could focus on the characters.

I do a lot of prewriting. I think a lot about my characters and run through scenes in my head before I write them. I even plan out full conversations between characters. When I sit down to do the actual typing, I usually have a place to start, or a scene to build to.

So, I was writing this gift-giving scene between the main character (from his first person POV), his girlfriend, and his parents. I knew what the parents were giving the couple and what the couple was giving the parents, but I had no idea what the couple were giving each other.

I thought about this scene for days, maybe even a week, but I could not crack it. I had everything leading up to the exchange, but after that, I drew a blank.

And I was getting close to having to write that scene.

So I decided to take the advice I’d heard many times on DVD commentaries. The directors always seem to say, “We’ll figure it out when we get to set.”

I started writing. I got through everything I knew, and when it was time for the couple’s exchange, they turned to each other, and each pulled out a simple silver ring.

And it was perfect. Not only for their characters, but for the whole mythology, not only of their love story, but of the wider world they’re a part of.

I just had to trust myself, and trust my characters to tell me what was next. Get out of my own way, and let the story flow. Sometimes you need to get to a place where you’re merely the conduit for the story. Let the characters take the wheel (or the keyboard!) and show you what the story is and what they want or need to do next.

So maybe if you’re stuck, just start writing. If you go down a blind alley, you can always turn around. Or maybe find a window, or, as my characters tend to do from time to time, bust straight through the wall.

Trust yourself. You know your characters and your world. Let them run.

If you’re interested in Joel’s books (an epic fantasy retelling of Sleeping Beauty: What if Maleficent were Aurora’s mother, and what if she wasn’t really evil?) you can find out at  ServantsoftheMoonandSun.com.