Walls have ears.
Doors have eyes.
Trees have voices.
Beasts tell lies.
Beware the rain.
Beware the snow.
Beware the man
You think you know.
— Catherine Fisher
Not everyone wants to spend an evening roaming around an abandoned prison, especially one with a strong anecdotal history of supernatural activity and sightings. Maybe that’s totally up your alley, but you’d never consider eating dinner alone in a fancy restaurant, jumping off a cliff into a sparking pool far below, or going on a big trip all on your own. How often do you force yourself to try new experiences? What was the result? Was it really as terrible as you anticipated or was it just uncomfortable? Did you even, maybe, have a little fun or feel a little braver afterwards?
We can all get trapped in our own little writing worlds, too. What’s the writing task or genre that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck? Be brave. Break out of your shell a bit and write something that makes you feel uncomfortable. What can you learn from spending a little time with a new genre?
Some ideas to play with:
- an erotic poem
- a gore-filled short story
- a romantic letter
- a YA scene
- a conversation in a regional dialect or foreign language
- a children’s story
- a description of a fantasy world
And your character shouldn’t always feel too safe either. What makes them feel uncomfortable? What risk do they need to take to move forward and complete their character arc?