Following my post on Seasonal Writing, there was a bit of discussion prompted by the fantastic Madicienne on Twitter on things that could be done in this time that aren’t as taxing as actual writing but still help with the creativity and the ideas. And that gave me the idea for a short blog series about how to work on your stories when you’re not feeling like actually writing anything, inspired by the fun things I do to play around with story ideas when I’m either not in the right head space to write, or just straight up procrastinating. 

This week I’m going to start with sketching! I’m not talking about working hard at producing concept art for your stories. I’m talking about rough and scrappy doodles. It’s a great way to think about characters, plan how things should look, or even just a way to keep your attention on an element in your story while doing something else. Headshots help give a feel for a character’s look or personality. Another type of sketch page I like to play around with is a character page, with expressions or items that are relevant to them. I find that doodling these things out can help me round out a character or even work out ways to incorporate additional character aspects into the plot. 

I’ve had a lot of good story ideas while sitting with my sketchbook. So, while I haven’t actually gotten any words on the page, I have given myself a bigger arsenal to fire at said page when I sit down again next. Plus, it’s just good fun, isn’t it?