Where to take your character (or yourself) when you feel stuck

500 words, twenty minutes, a character free-write, a scene: whatever it takes to get us to the page

Hello dear writers,

Today, we will write. 500 words, twenty minutes, a scene: whatever it takes to get us to the page.

Today, I’m thinking about the grocery store. If we go there alone, nothing usually happens, except our thinking, which might also be 50% of everything. And yet so many choices take place. And those choices shape, in seemingly small ways, what our next days look like, and what our physical body feels like.

But also? It’s a thing to do when a character seems enigmatic to you. If you can’t reach them, take them shopping, or out on ordinary tasks we all need to do. Take them out to the grocery, and see if they choose berries in winter. What do they bypass? Notice how they feel when walking down certain aisles.

Or are they home for the holidays and visiting the store they frequented as a child? Are they traveling, and admiring the eggs stacked in the middle of the store, non-refrigerated and without a sealed container, vulnerable and bright, like light bulbs? Or is this the everyday place they go?

How freeing—to know your setting, and then, just, to let them be in that place, where nothing dramatic will (likely) happen, and yet, meaningful aspects of your character (including yourself) may be revealed to you, nonetheless.

Writing Inspiration

Two texts you might enjoy that feature a grocery store:

“Crying in H Mart” by Rachel Zauner

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Sending you so much love to you as you write today, and always,

TS

P.S. Two cool things happened this week: Miami U selected me for the 2024 Outstanding First-Generation Advocate Award and Rachel Grimm and the awesome students at UC Clermont were great hosts for a talk I gave on writing historical fiction. Special shoutout to the writer who sketched during my talk and shared it with me afterward! (I’d share with you all but I forgot to ask for permission.) love love love

.