Narrow Your Scope

Creating can sometimes feel like an arduous chore to accomplish. When I look at a blank page, every single possibility in all the universe is available for you to choose from. This is paralyzing. I have too many options to choose from.

What helps me best is narrowing my scope. People create amazing things when they have restrictions. I know that I have written some of my best writing when I have had a requirement for it. It's kind of like being an interior decorator. It is a lot easier to decorate a house that somebody else built than it is to have to build a house that you will then decorate.

So give yourself some restrictions or some requirements. You can make them light or severe, commonplace or insane. You could give yourself a restriction of writing a story without using dialogue, or you could try writing a story without using the word 'the'. You could give yourself the requirement to include a scene at a zoo or you could give yourself the requirement to use the phrase, "lemon-flavored ginger snaps".

Whatever you choose, you can't go wrong. Limitations like these should get your brain thinking and your hands writing. And ultimately, that is what narrowing your scope is all about.