Entering the Writing “Zone”

Sometimes when we enter the “zone,” things pop up in our stories that we don’t quite know what to do with. They skew the story we’ve planned into uncharted territory. Being able to allow the story to unfold on its own, so to speak, will raise the bar in your writing. Here’s a strange scenario to play with.

Write Over the Hump

Your new girlfriend/boyfriend invites you over for dinner. Afterwards, you sit together on the sofa and look at his/her family photo album. But there are no pictures of your friend anywhere in the album, just blank spaces on the photos where he/she might have been standing. Write about why this could be and what it means for 10 minutes, starting now.

Why were there no pictures of your friend in that album?

About Susan Tuttle

Susan Tuttle is a professional freelance editor, writing instructor and multi-award winning author of 21 books—6 nonfiction on writing (Write It Right), 6 suspense novels and 7 collections of award-winning short stories. She also has stories in both volumes of "Deadlines", the new anthology from the Central Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime (SinC), Tales from a Rocky Coast, and the SLO NightWriter anthology. Under the pen name Susan Grace O'Neill, she is the author of the Journey With Jesus series: Lord, Let Me Grow (Parables) vol. 1, and Lord, Let Me Walk (Lent). She is currently working on volume #2 of her Skylark P.I. series (a PI with paranormal abilities), as well as 2 YA fantasy series. And she teaches fiction writing in both the morning and afternoon every Wednesday. Email her if you're interested in joining her class. And follow her on Twitter and FaceBook.