All writers should know how to skip. I'm not talking about skipping rope, skipping rocks across a lake, skipping for joy, or even skipping out on a bill. Instead, I'm talking about skipping ahead in your writing. Why would a writer do such a thing? The easy answer is to jump ahead.
There are times in a writer's journey when there's a stumbling block in the road. It can be a sentence, a paragraph, or even a word. (Trying to find the right word is where I tend to trip from time to time.) When that happens, the brain seems to disconnect from the fingers and all writing comes to a dead stop. So, what's a writer suppose to do? "I know!" (The hand raises from the back corner of class) "Skip!" That's right--SKIP!
To skip: to move with leaps and bounds.
When writing a story or a book, we all hope that we can start at the beginning, follow the plot, tie up all the strings, and write an ending that will amaze. Wouldn't that be perfect? However, there are times when writing out of sequence, or skipping, is an answer to a writer's prayers, and there is no rule that says a writer has to write in chronological order. But just like skipping rope or skipping a rock takes practice, skipping ahead takes a plan. Here are three important necessities to skipping.
Once you have those three things in mind, you can move ahead by writing a snippet of dialogue, a scene, a descriptive paragraph, or even the ending. All you need to remember is that there is a delete button on the computer. Don't be afraid to use it. I've been known to write an entire chapter, but in the end it didn't work and I cut it from the book. So, don't give up when you hit a roadblock, feel free to skip ahead and keep that brain working and the fingers trying.
There are times in a writer's journey when there's a stumbling block in the road. It can be a sentence, a paragraph, or even a word. (Trying to find the right word is where I tend to trip from time to time.) When that happens, the brain seems to disconnect from the fingers and all writing comes to a dead stop. So, what's a writer suppose to do? "I know!" (The hand raises from the back corner of class) "Skip!" That's right--SKIP!
To skip: to move with leaps and bounds.
When writing a story or a book, we all hope that we can start at the beginning, follow the plot, tie up all the strings, and write an ending that will amaze. Wouldn't that be perfect? However, there are times when writing out of sequence, or skipping, is an answer to a writer's prayers, and there is no rule that says a writer has to write in chronological order. But just like skipping rope or skipping a rock takes practice, skipping ahead takes a plan. Here are three important necessities to skipping.
- Know your story.
- Know your protagonist.
- Know your plot twists.
Once you have those three things in mind, you can move ahead by writing a snippet of dialogue, a scene, a descriptive paragraph, or even the ending. All you need to remember is that there is a delete button on the computer. Don't be afraid to use it. I've been known to write an entire chapter, but in the end it didn't work and I cut it from the book. So, don't give up when you hit a roadblock, feel free to skip ahead and keep that brain working and the fingers trying.
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