How to Reduce Ossification in Writing

For me the most effective way of getting over ossification is simply to give it some time.  When I’ve finished another project and come back I often see the story with fresh eyes.  This allows me to get over the firm belief nothing really needs to be changed, and to see clearly what should be preserved

Unluckily people like Ericka aren’t always going to have time because they are under contract.  I think most of them are going to have to rely on their editors to guide them in what needs to be dealt with.

Now that I’ve been through the process a few times I know what it feels like to be ossified.  I make myself step back and pretend to be someone who has never seen the story before.  I try to see a completely different set of images as I read than what I had in mind as I wrote.  Surprisingly often I can actually come up with a radically different story then what I thought I was writing.

I don’t always try to force the material to match what I had in mind.  Sometimes a new reading will actually show me something better.  Then I simply tweak the words to heighten the new vision of how the story goes.  More often than not going with a new vision will produce a much better story than what I thought I was writing to begin with.

I you have a CP you trust completely, you can pass the material to the CP.  This only works if there is enough trust.  Otherwise, ossification trumps a CP’s opinion and you only end up arguing.

I know some people will do a kind of outline of their book after they have written it, one even puts it in a spreadsheet.  Then they can look at the story from a structural point of view, maybe charting the hero’s path, or checking the GMC.  This is also a way around ossification.

Regardless of what tool you grab to deal with it, I think the most important thing is to be aware of the phenomenon, and be prepared to deal with it.

Alice