What If Your Assumptions Are Wrong?

When did you hit the last roadblock in writing? A place where you came to a point that you still needed to figure out?

Today? Yesterday? Every day?

It’s a normal part of writing. If we had it all figured out from the beginning it would be a pretty boring story, most likely.

The problem with story development can be that we take certain things as given and we don’t question them. We only thing inside of the realm of things that we have set in stone.

When you confront a story problem, try to liberate you from the things you think need to be as they are. Because maybe they’re not. Maybe there is something about your protagonist that you always saw one way or another, but if you free yourself from that – albeit just for a moment, all kinds of possibilities will open up.

Allow yourself to question everything.

It’s the same in life, by the way. Growing up we learn certain things, get accustomed to other things and after some time we think that’s our truth (often based on opinions of others): I can’t dance, I can do this but not that, I’m not pretty enough, lahdidah…

You believe what you make yourself believe.

A friend of mine was told all her life she can’t sing. Until she tried it out. And she realized, not only COULD she sing, she also liked it a lot.

Question your assumptions – and whole new worlds of possibilities will open up for you.

How to learn to spot the assumptions about yourself that are so deep you don’t even notice them?