There are times when writer’s block slams us with the inability to progress. A flat scene is fixable, but an empty page with no fresh ideas numbs the creativity.

It might be the overwhelming responsibility of getting the whole story on the page. Maybe a specific scene is difficult to build into the criteria you have in mind.

Here is what it might look like to use this strategy:

1. Start with just one verb. One action that the whole scene is about.

Verb: Choose an action word to describe what is happening or what your character is doing in this scene. Examples: running, hiding, chasing, abandoned, etc.

Let’s use the word abandoned for this exercise to build a scene. Here is what it might look like to use this strategy.

2. Ask yourself the following sensory questions:

How does abandoned look?

Abandoned looks like a person alone by themselves in a room, or sitting to the side at a social function, it looks like the solitary light bulb that hangs from the ceiling, it looks like someone who is different than anyone else.

How does abandoned smell?

Abandoned smells like musty old books, the dust of an antique memory chest, the weeds of an abandoned baseball field.

How does abandoned taste?

Abandoned tastes like a dry bread crust, a gulp of salty ocean water, a moldy piece of cheese, etc.

How does abandoned sound?

Abandoned sounds like the grind of metal on metal, a lone rusted swing blowing in the wind, the howl of the wind through the trees, etc.

How does abandoned feel to the touch?

Abandoned feels like the silk of cobwebs, the dust of an abandoned house, splinters from a warn porch swing, etc.

3. Put the details together to create a scene.

*Pick a setting where we find something that can showcase the POV character being abandoned. Let’s try an attic.

*I’ve already painted many sensory details. Weave these into the scene.

*Find something abandoned in the setting to use as a metaphor, like a doll from childhood that is in the memory chest.

The next time you struggle with writer’s block, try to start with just one verb to jumpstart your creativity.

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Huddle Coach, Michelle Lim

Our Huddle Coach, Michelle Lim semi-finaled in the 2011 Genesis with Death’s Apprentice and received Bronze Medal Recognition in the 2010 Frasier contest with Singed. She is the vice president of MN N.I.C.E., a local chapter of ACFW. At My Book Therapy she coordinates the e-zine’s Genre Java Column and is the Brainstorm and Huddle Coach,our program for local craft groups. Michelle taught elementary school for eleven years. She lives in Minnesota with her husband Hui Hong and four rambunctious kids that keep her life full of laughter and suspense. Contact her at: huddles@mybooktherapy.com.