Meg Chittenden Waves
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Symbols and Getting Stuck

So far, I've tried to cover all the important ingredients that any novel requires. I'd like to add one that you can get along without, but that can add piquancy to your novel. To return to last month's symbolic use of a breadmaker--just as caraway or sesame seeds can add to the flavor of a loaf of bread, symbolism adds to the flavor of your novel.

Many ordinary objects can be used as symbols. A bridge can be used to show a transition from one way of life to another, or as a means of bringing two people together. That's a rather overdone symbol, however. In one of my novels, the hero wore a cowboy hat that had belonged to his dead father. He wore it all the time because to him it symbolized his father. Symbols, used sparingly and with freshness, can make your writing more powerful, but don't make them too complicated. If the reader has to strain to work out the connection, you've overdone it.

Sometimes, after several days of writing, the words might stop flowing. Suddenly, you feel like Wile E. Coyote, airwalking off a cliff over an abyss, legs churning like propellers.

If this happens to you, don't panic; just take a break. Go for a walk, clean the refrigerator, wash the dog--letting the part of the story you are working on wander around in your mind. After a while, trigger ideas by thinking cause and effect. Such and such has happened: what would happen as a result of this? What would this character do because of this?

Sooner or later, you will find your story people are talking to you again, and you can rush back to your writing area and go to work.

If all else fails, take a tip from H.G. Wells: "If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn't expecting it."

Try three o'clock in the morning. I've had some of my most creative ideas then. Insomnia is a writer's best friend.