Simple Tricks for Staying in the Room

by Jane Kirkpatrick

My forty-first book will be released in May (Across the Crying Sands, Revell) and I’m busy writing book two in the three book “Women of Cannon Beach” series.  I’m discovering some of the same old negative voices creep in to make me leave my computer and clean the grout which seems much more important.  To combat those destructive forces, I have a few tips for making me stay in the room and write. I hope they help you as well.

1. When writing, I standardize character names. New male characters are John and female are Mary until their personalities form. Otherwise I waste time in baby books or have too many characters with names that start with B.
2. I like to think that storytelling is like a horse race I’m rushing to finish and can then work on revisions once I know where the story is going. In the meantime, to prevent myself from meandering on the internet looking for pictures of rural living rooms in the 1890s, I make a note in the margin. “Describe this room later” or “check when lead pencils were first used.”
3. Sometimes I don’t seem to have any words or know where the story is going. The worst thing I can do is leave the room. Instead I’ll just write what I’m feeling like “I don’t know what to write next. I’m scared that I can’t finish this book. What is that the character worries about? What scares her?” And from there, I usually have a next step.
4. In my earlier titles, I’d read a chapter to my husband and if he was moved, I knew I was on the right track. But if he said “I knew she was going to do that,” it became the kiss of death to me because I didn’t want predictable, I wanted interesting characters doing interesting things. So I’d rethink that section and rewrite it to get more unexpected actions but that were still congruent to the character.
5. I also used to write until a chapter was finished but that made it harder to return the next day. Now I stop in the middle of a sentence so I always have a place to pick up. The blank screen fear gets washed away.
6. In Ron Carlson Writes a Story, the author talks of his practices. One he noted was that the first sentences should be hummus for the author, less a draw for the reader. I like that thought. Perhaps mentioning a mystery or suggesting a wound that will be explored later. It’s also a reminder that a good writer finds a way to show a reader what the story is about in the first paragraphs. Shakespeare could do it in the first sentence. Remember Romeo and Juliet? It begins “Two houses….” That’s something I’ll work on in re-working the first chapter over many, many times. But first I have to get it down and that means staying in the room to write it.
7. As a writer of historical novels, I really like history and details that make a story authentic and rich. But I also know that I have to start writing before I think I should. If I waited until I have all of the “facts” I think I should have, I might never start writing. Yes, sometimes I’ll discover a tidbit of history that would have enriched the story had I known, but I might never have found that tidbit if the book hadn’t gotten finished. So I make myself go into the room to write knowing there’ll be things I don’t yet know and that’s alright. What matters is getting the story down.

I hope these help you make your own list of how to stay in the room.

Jane Kirkpatrick is the award-winning and best-selling author of 40 titles including A Sweetness to the Soul and Where Lilacs Still Bloom, a Carol Award winner. She speaks around the world about the power of story in our lives. Jane’s next title is Across the Crying Sands available May 20, or preordered at 40% off through Baker Book Publishing. Find out more about Jane at jkbooks.com, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.