Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

The difference between a good story and great story is like the difference between a pop song and a symphony. While many pop songs work well, are catchy and appealing, and you may even fall in love with them for a time, a symphony is something of far more weight, depth and significance. In a symphony, the composer takes a theme and explores it, breaks it down, reinvents it and shows it in many different lights until the listener is aware that the composer fully understands his art, and can relate in musical form the reasons for him wanting to develop a particular musical idea in the first place. A symphony is not just a tune or three strung together, it's an exploration and a celebration of the human condition. So it is with writing stories - or should be. A simple story is one dimensional: A character has an agenda that is thwarted once, twice, maybe more, until his goal is achieved.  That's it.  Easy to follow, appealin...

I've always been loath to tackle the subject of writer's block for personal, largely superstitious reasons - but still I get asked what writers should do about it, all the time!  So here goes:       1. Crisis, What Crisis? First off, you need to deny that there is any such thing as writer's block. This debilitating condition can only hurt you when you give it the privilege of a concrete name. Take away its name and you begin to take away its power over you. Tell yourself,  there is no such thing as writer's block . There is writing and not-writing. Only writers have a name for something they're NOT doing. Think about the absurdity of builder's block, or doctor's block, or pilot's block. Any kind of inability to write is similarly absurd. Writing is like breathing - something you learned to do a long time ago without thinking. Stop thinking about it - and just do it.     2. Stop! In the Name of Love. If you've run out o...