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About Robin LaFevers

Robin LaFevers is the author of seventeen books for young readers, including the HIS FAIR ASSASSIN trilogy about teen assassin nuns in medieval France and the upcoming COURTING DARKNESS. A lifelong introvert, she currently lives on a blissfully quiet hill in Southern California.

Recent Posts by this author:

  • Breaking Through Writer’s Block
  • Finding Focus in a Fractured World
  • Creativity’s Ebb and Flow: An Unexpected Journey
  • Success–Taking the Long (No, Longer Than That!) View
  • Mining Our Characters’ Wounds
  • The Perils of Perfection
  • Protected: Your Unique Story
  • Butt In Chair: A Cautionary Tale
  • Some Thoughts On Quiet Books, Timing, and the Ever Elusive Market
  • The Things We Carry
  • Pre-Writing: Discovering Your Character’s Secrets
  • The Surprising Importance of Doing Nothing

    • Breaking Through Writer’s Block

    By 10 Comments

    Depending on the writer you talk to, writer’s block seems to be either:

    (A) Something writers’ dread

    (B) Something they run into without warning

    (C) Something they don’t believe in–an easy excuse people use to avoid doing the hard work. A way of letting fear get to you.

    It can be easy to discount something you’ve never experienced. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. A number of years ago, there was a well known child behavior expert who confessed to not  understanding why so many people had so such difficulty in applying proven child rearing philosophies to their kids. He had a system that worked and genuinely thought people were making it far more complicated than it needed to be. Until the day he was blessed with A Difficult Child. Then all of his proven systems went flying out the window and he had to scramble to come up with new ones. He was forced to admit that those parents hadn’t been wrong after all. There really was such a thing as a difficult child. It’s not a bad idea to keep that story in mind when declaring there’s no such thing as writer’s block. It is quite possible that you simply haven’t run into it YET. Life’s journey is long and you may still find yourself on a road you blissfully thought didn’t exist.

    It doesn’t help that the term writer’s block acts as a general catch all, covering a huge variety of very real, frustrating, energy-depleting and wildly different set of problems. So today, I thought we could unpack writer’s block and examine eleven reasons people find themselves stuck, then talk about ways to get unstuck.

    1. Nothing you write works and you’re getting nowhere.
    This isn’t being blocked, it’s being stymied. You’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere in the story and need to find your way back. In this case, step back and take a look at the big picture. Pull out your trusty plotting tools if you use them. Return to the last place where words were flowing. Look at the actions the characters take, the decisions they make. Were they forced? Cliche? What if they made a different decision? Experiment with a few different choices they could make and see if that opens up new possibilities.

    2. Your characters aren’t cooperating and won’t DO anything.
    In this situation, you’re often lacking the emotional fuel for the story. Go deeper into your character and do some journaling or writing prompts to discover their deepest feelings, motivations, and concerns. If you already know those, look for tangential ones—feelings and motivations that might even be hidden from the character. Another approach is to do a stream of consciousness journaling as to what they’re thinking/feeling immediately after the last scene you wrote. Or before the one you’re planning to write. You should find some breadcrumbs and ideas there.

    3. You don’t know what happens next.
    Usually the techniques in #1 or #2 will provide answers here, but if not, there are a couple of additional approaches. Do some worldbuilding to see if the environment will provide clues/plot ideas. Or research. Oftentimes plot solutions, surprising twists, unexpected angles can be found through research. Or consider doing some journaling from the antagonist’s POV. Map out the actions they’re taking to provoke/engage/block the hero. That, in turn, will give you some solid ideas of what the protagonist will need to do to block them, if not launch a counterattack. [Read more…]

    Finding Focus in a Fractured World

    By 23 Comments

    Whether we like it or not, recent world events have forced most of us to hit the pause button. For some, that pause comes at a relatively decent place where we can stop and see it as an opportunity (if we can set aside our anxiety long enough.) For others, the pause has us teetered on the brink of a freefall that we cannot even begin to see the end of or how we will land. No matter where we are, all we can do at this point is wait. Wait and stay home and see if that will be enough to flatten … [Read more...]

    Creativity’s Ebb and Flow: An Unexpected Journey

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    As the year draws to a close, it is inevitable that our minds turn toward the passing of seasons, the ebb and flow of life, and the inevitability of change. This is particularly true for me this year as I stand poised, once again, on life’s Ferris wheel. But here’s the funny thing about Fortune's wheel—because so much of the ride is beyond our vantage point, we can never really know if the arc we’re on is poised for an upswing, or the stomach clenching dip of a down turn. My first post here … [Read more...]

    Success–Taking the Long (No, Longer Than That!) View

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    There has been a lot of chatter in the Twitterverse lately about sales numbers, hitting the lists, debuts, sales expectations, and (the often inevitable) disappointment. Writing a book is hard. Getting that book published? Harder still. Maintaining a career in publishing? Probably hardest of all. There is no question that all of those require a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And luck. Don’t forget the luck part, because that is a big component of anyone’s success. Furthermore, as … [Read more...]

    Mining Our Characters’ Wounds

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    While we can certainly be forgiven for not seeing our personal wounds as jewels, our most powerful wounds often have as many facets and hidden depths as an exquisitely cut gemstone. They are sharp, with hard edges that not only reflect back light but distort it somewhat. As writers, we know that our character’s wounds are some of the most fertile ground for creating a rich, fully realized protagonist. But before we can explore this with our characters, we have to understand it ourselves. And … [Read more...]

    The Perils of Perfection

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    Reading that title might have you scratching your head. What is tricky about perfection? What could possibly be wrong with it? Surely it’s a good thing to try our best and strive to improve. And indeed, conventional wisdom tells us that if we write the perfect book, have the perfect social media presence, and conduct the perfect marketing campaign—success will be ours! But perfection isn’t that simple and there is a difference between striving for excellence as a way to do our best versus … [Read more...]

    Butt In Chair: A Cautionary Tale

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    This is not the way I planned to do this. My idea was to simply slink quietly away for a few months, then just as quietly return to my monthly posting. But the Blog Mama decided a different approach was in order, and so here I am, announcing that I will be taking a temporary leave of absence from Writer Unboxed. Talking about it like this feels a wee bit personal, like I am oversharing or burdening you with TMI. But perhaps, instead, it can be a cautionary tale that will help keep you from … [Read more...]

    Some Thoughts On Quiet Books, Timing, and the Ever Elusive Market

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    This is a tricky conversation we’re about to have. For years we’ve encouraged you to dig deep and tell your most personal, individual stories using your unique voice. But once you’ve honed your skills and excavated your most powerful voice—then what? What if you build it and nobody comes? What if the stories you’re driven to tell are quiet ones? Or don’t hit the current market sweet spot? Or have already been done a hundred times before? Because sometimes the inescapable fact is, the things … [Read more...]

    The Things We Carry

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    Recently, as I was preparing for my Mortal Heart book tour, I found myself in a logistical flurry trying to pack ten days’ worth of clothes and personal items into one carry on. There was the big, obvious stuff;  four pairs of pants, eight shirts, ten pairs of socks, under duds, toiletries, iPad, reading material, pens, etc. However, there were also some rather unique items. Like the veritable cobbler’s bench worth of extra insoles, arch supports, moleskin and shoe enhancers that I might need … [Read more...]

    Pre-Writing: Discovering Your Character’s Secrets

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    I know a lot of you out there are gearing up for NaNoWriMo, and while you’re not allowed to begin your story until November 1, you are allowed to do pre-writing on your project, and frankly, I think pre-writing is highly undervalued, so I thought I’d talk about it this month. The reason I’m a big believer in pre-writing is because until I have a glimmer of understanding of my character’s emotional landscape and internal settings, I don’t know what sorts of story events will challenge them. I … [Read more...]

    The Surprising Importance of Doing Nothing

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    Pop quiz! Studies have shown that creative people are known to: A) Daydream. A lot. B) They lose track of time. C) Have wandering minds. D) Stare at the wall. A lot. E) All of the above If you picked E, you are correct! Successful creatives spend much of their time so deeply immersed in their own internal worlds that, in the eyes of the world, it often appears that they’re doing nothing. But of course, we know how very untrue that is. Our minds are busy working. Synapses are … [Read more...]