If You Don't Know How To Do It, Teach Someone Else

Do you ever find yourself staring at the blank page asking yourself, "how do I make this character compelling" or "how do I make this subject interesting to somebody other than me?"  It's easy to lose hours, or even days, doing just that.  What I find funny, though, is how easily we can answer that question when somebody else asks it.

If I asked you how to make a character compelling, I bet you would have an answer.  They might be stock answers, but if they are true for you, then they're still good.  Somehow, when you are not the one asking the question, you magically have the answer to it.  You can solve everyone's problems but your own.  Fortunately, there is a way around it.

Pretend that somebody else is asking you.  Heck, pretend that one of your characters breaks the fourth wall to ask you how to be compelling.  If not,just imagine yourself in a classroom, in front of a group of students, and one of them asks you the question you are pondering.  You don't have the ability to blow it off and you can't keep them waiting.

Start answering the question.  You may stammer or stumble over your words or trip on your tongue, but you can start working on that answer.

Put yourself on the spot.  Make yourself uncomfortable. You will find anything possible to get out of that feeling.  And if the way out is answering some puzzling question, then you have fixed two problems: being uncomfortable and knowing the answer to your question.