What to do with the Voices on a Rainy Day

If you write, you have demons. That's the bad news and I wanted to get it out of the way right off the bat.

You have evil voices in your head who delight in tormenting you, tearing you down, criticizing your every word choice and convincing you that your work is terrible. I don't even have to mention the specific things they say, you've heard it all before.

But I'll list a few just because I'm a little masochistic like that:

• This dialogue is freakin' boring.

• That scene you're rewriting? It sucks.

• No one will ever read this, and if they do they'll hate it.

• You have no talent.

• This story is worthless.

• You're wasting your time.

You get the picture. This is what I listen to every day. My demons also tell me I'm incapable of writing anything without another cup of coffee, but that's certainly the nicest thing they say to me.

Yes, I hear these things repeated in my head constantly and you know what? After a while (anywhere from ten minutes to an hour depending on the day) and a refill or two of coffee, I've had enough.

I give my demons the proverbial finger and get to writing.

See, I've figured out a couple of things on my journey to becoming a 'soon-to- be-published author'

• Why should I care if no one reads my work? Sure, it's always more motivating and makes me want to dance around the room whenever I get a reader who says they love my story, but here's the thing: Your biggest and best fan should be yourself. If you don't love your story and want to wrap it up in rainbows and puffy white clouds and take it with you everywhere then you need to dig deeper to find the story that makes you happy.

• How could I be wasting my time by doing something creative? I'm using my brain. I'm not harming anyone or anything. With a little luck, I'm having a positive influence on my readers by helping them exercise their imagination and be transported to other worlds. Plus, between you and me, I've spent weeks and weeks hand-knitting scarves that cost way more in yarn than paper and they just sit in my closet most days of the year. Writing is an awesome activity!

• The only way to get better is to be boring, flat, sucky, etc. You should see some of my 1 st drafts to my most popular stories. No, wait. I stuffed those in my wood burning stove.

• Lastly, I've learned to love my demons. I let them out to play whenever I'm working on character development.

That's right. I set my demons free from their cages to swarm over my characters like a scary plague of locusts on a regular basis.

Picture this: It's a rainy day and you are a few pages into a new project when you know you have to introduce your MC's estranged family member. You can't just let this older brother pop in with some leftover cake and have the siblings sit down to discuss the weather.

The dialogue would be boring. No one would want to read it!

Now is the time to dig up the ugly demon who keeps bugging me about that. Let's unleash him and see what he whispers to your main character:

• Your brother will play your weaknesses, he always has

• He's trying to use you

• He left you high and dry when you needed him the most, and his problems are no excuse for that

• The fights between your parents were all his fault and you were the one cleaning up the broken family ties

• If he loved you, he would have contacted you sooner

With all this suppressed frustration and anger ready to boil over, the conversation will be much spicier! But it's still not enough. If the MC blurts out her pain and accusations, her brother might apologize, then they'll both have a good cry. They'll friend each other on FB and send pictures of their kids and cats sleeping in weird positions.

That scene would be royally sucky. It wouldn't move the story along. You know what to do....Call out the demons!

• Five-year-olds blurt out their feelings. Adults know better. Duh.

• As if he would apologize. Grown men don't apologize, they bury their feelings. Everyone knows that!

• They cry? They actually cry? I think I'm going to be sick

Now the scene is taking shape. Demons are gnawing at your characters and making them question their every move. Both brother and sister are filled with doubt, pain and a good dose of rage against each other and the world. Let's take a look at how this scene could turn out summarized:

He calls. She freezes, the wounds of her childhood torn wide open at the sound of his voice. He needs to see her, but won't say why. She asks what could be more important now than showing up for their mother's funeral two years ago.

He hedges, but then insists. She gets angry and starts pushing the buttons she knows will hurt him. He accuses her of being the same as their father, which is why he had to leave the family so many years ago. She scoffs.

He says he has to see her, it's urgent. He has a letter with her handwriting on it, but it can't be from her.

She mocks him and hangs up.

Your personal demons go for a coffee break the second you finish writing the scene. They're exhausted. And hopefully, your readers will be turning pages to find out why her brother contacted her and what is up with that strange letter.

Before I end this, a note on writing villains. You'll need lots of demons and their vitriol for creating your villains. However, the best villains believe that they themselves are angels.

So embrace your inner demons and good luck on your writing projects! Remember, if you love writing, you are never wasting your time.