Writers in the Storm

by Colleen M. Story

Is “doomscrolling” hurting your writing creativity?

If you haven’t heard of the term, it describes the act of consuming a lot of negative information at once, typically online.

It’s become more popular over the past year, but it could ruin your writing sessions. Here’s how and what you can do to protect yourself.

What is Doomscrolling?

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, doomscrolling gained steam as people began scrolling their news and social media feeds for information on how to protect themselves. Things got worse during the George Floyd protests and later, during the 2020 election, as we all compulsively scoured the Internet in search of ever more terrible information.

Strangely enough, we feel productive while doing it. We’re gaining information about current events and informing ourselves about issues we have a reason to be concerned about.

The problem is that we often keep going even after we’ve gathered the basic information we need. Like witnesses to a train wreck, we simply can’t pull our attention from the constant stream of disasters.

Why Do We Doomscroll?

Experts point to several possible reasons. For one, most of us felt disconnected during the pandemic, with our only remaining connections to the world coming from our devices. Even amidst all the bad news we could share it with our online friends and thereby reclaim a little of the connection we were missing.

We were also feeling confused and frightened, so we turned to the news for more information as a way to protect ourselves. The hope was that the more informed we were, the better we’d be able to handle whatever might come our way.

Strangely, doomscrolling can also help us feel safe. The riots are occurring in another city, not ours, we think. The death rates are higher in another state than in ours. It’s not that we don’t have compassion for others. We’re just scared and looking for ways to reassure ourselves.

Unfortunately, whatever the reasons for doomscrolling, it can become a bad habit that can easily derail your writing practice.

How Doomscrolling Messes with Your Writing Practice

1. Doomscrolling increases stress, which destroys creativity.

Exposing yourself to negative news on a regular basis increases your stress levels. According to a 2017 study, watching the news triggered persistent negative psychological feelings, including stress and anxiety. In a recent survey by the American Psychological Association (APA), more than half of Americans said the news caused them stress, as well as anxiety and insomnia.

Stress, in turn, is terrible for creativity. In a 2002 study, researchers analyzed more than 9,000 daily diary entries from people who were working on projects that required high levels of creativity. They found that stress, in the form of time pressure, resulted in less creative results.

If you’re regularly doomscrolling, you're hampering your creative muse.

2. Doomscrolling negatively affects your mood, which inhibits creativity.

It’s true that positive thoughts encourage creativity, while negative thoughts discourage it.

In one experiment, scientists found that a positive mood facilitated work on a project while a negative mood inhibited it. A later study found similar results—those in a positive mood produced higher creativity ratings than those in a neutral or negative mood.

Doomscrolling typically increases negative thoughts and feelings, worsening your mood and making you less creative.

3. Doomscrolling can create sleeping problems, robbing you of creative energy.

When you spend significant time scrolling on your gadgets, you expose yourself to blue light, which in turn, can mess with the sleep hormone melatonin. In 2018, researchers found that greater screen time was associated with insomnia and shorter sleep periods. Negative news, on top of that, can leave your mind reeling with worries and anxieties that can be hard to quiet down.

All of this causes next-day fatigue, which is definitely not conducive to writing. You know how it goes when you’re staring at the blank page with heavy eyelids—not good.

4. Doomscrolling creates a vicious negative cycle that increases anxiety.

“The more time we spend scrolling,” clinical psychologist Amelia Aldao explained to NPR, “the more we find those dangers, the more we get sucked into them, the more anxious we get. Now you look around yourself and everything feels gloomy, everything makes you anxious. So you go back to look for more information.”

Not only can this habit cut into your writing time, but it can also leave you in a state of mind that discourages creativity. Who wants to sit and write a story when it feels like the world is going up in flames?

“When uncertainty is high, it drives our brains to seek as much information as possible to feel in control,” says Jacqueline Bullis, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in McLean Hospital's Center of Excellence in Depression and Anxiety Disorders. This can make us feel slightly better in the short term but ultimately has the opposite effect.

“In the long term, these behaviors are increasing our anxiety by feeding into this belief that if we have enough information, we can control what happens,” Bullis said. “The more we seek certainty over what will happen in the future, the more anxious we will feel.”

5 Ways to Stop Doomscrolling and Boost Writing Productivity

Nothing good comes from doomscrolling, so the only thing to do is to stop. Here are some tips to help you do that:

1. Limit your exposure to negative news.

Set aside a certain amount of time to check the news each day, and then refuse to go over that time. As to how much is too much? Go by how you feel after you’ve finished scrolling. If you notice an uptick in anxiety or negativity, you need to cut back more.

2. Choose to get your information only from trusted sources.

Be selective about your media. Rather than falling down negative rabbit holes online, watch and read the news only from your trusted sources, then let it go. Bookmark your trusted sites and vow to check them only once a day.

3. Remove anxiety-provoking leads from your social media.

If you follow people who are constantly posting negative news, it may be time to unfollow them or to at least hide them from your main feed. Feel free to explain that you're taking a break from negative news if you like, but don't worry too much about what others think. Your health and ability to write is what matters most.

4. Soak yourself in inspiring news.

As a writer, it is your responsibility to take care of your creativity. That means inspiring yourself as often as you can with music, art, walks in nature, photography, workshops, books, and more.

Rather than immersing yourself in negative news, make a point to surround yourself with inspiring resources of information and inspiration. Do so for just a week and you're likely to see an increase in writing creativity.

5. Unplug at least once a week.

Choose one day a week to avoid social media, the internet, and the news completely. Use that day to allow your mind to rest and recuperate. Take a notebook and head to the park for some quiet time. Make an afternoon trip to the library and see what you can find that might inspire you. Spend some quality time with your family, or take your dog for a walk.

Reconnect to the other things in your life that you love and watch your mood and your energy soar.

How do you avoid doomscrolling? Did you do this more than usual during the pandemic?

For more help managing your time and increasing productivity, see Colleen’s award-winning book, Overwhelmed Writer Rescue.Get your free chapters here!

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Sources

1. Amabile TM, et al., “Creativity under the gun,” Harvard Business Review, 2002; 80(8):52-61, 147.
2. Garcia-Navarro, L. (2020, July 19). Your 'Doomscrolling' breeds anxiety. Here's how to stop the cycle. NPR.org.
3. Heid, M. (2020, May 19). You asked: Is it bad for you to read the news constantly? Time.
4. How much news is too much news for good mental health? (2020, October 31). McLean Hospital | Mental Health Treatment, Research, and Education (Belmont, MA).
5. Mastria, S., Agnoli, S., & Corazza, G. E. (2019). How does emotion influence the creativity evaluation of exogenous alternative ideas? PLOS ONE, 14(7), e0219298.
6. Study links screen time to insomnia symptoms and depressive symptoms in adolescents: Regulating screen times may improve sleep health and reduce depression. (2021, January 12). ScienceDaily.
7. Szabo, A., & Hopkinson, K. L. (2007). Negative psychological effects of watching the news in the television: Relaxation or another intervention may be needed to buffer them! International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 14(2), 57-62.
8. Vosburg, S. K. (1998). The effects of positive and negative mood on divergent-thinking performance. Creativity Research Journal, 11(2), 165-172.

About Colleen

Colleen M. Story inspires writers to overcome modern-day challenges and find creative fulfillment in their work. Her latest release, Writer Get Noticed!, was a gold-medal winner in the 2019 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards, a 1st-place winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards, and Book By Book Publicity’s best writing/publishing book of 2019.

Colleen frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Find more at her motivational site, Writing and Wellness, and on her author website, or connect with her on Twitter.

by Kris Maze 

Editing a manuscript can be a daunting task, but it becomes easier when using time-tested dialogue suggestions. While I tip-toed through my first chapters, I discovered how to use this handy writers’ multipurpose tool. Slogging through stalled and unproductive scenes, the simple act of allowing my characters to speak had many purposes, and solved my writerly problems. 

With proper use of dialog, I could:

• Keep an active plot moving during slower scenes
• Break up sticky sentences
• Tackle info-dumps
• Intensify the tension
• Incite reader curiosity

Dialogue is an essential part of a well-crafted story, but what does an author include and avoid?

Adding dialogue can move the plot forward and develop the characters, but too many words can bog down your tale. By sprinkling in dialogue, I improved the readability of my manuscript and built confidence in the work I will send to beta readers and editors.

But what are the basic rules to follow? Here are a few resources for editing this important part of fiction.

Keep the Plot Moving

 Sprinkling in dialogue is a spark plug to keeping a reader engaged. The long chunks of backstory and scene description can use the vehicle of dialogue to take the reader along on your literary ride.

Consider whether your story with description (in bold) of a bucolic countryside, complete with rolling hills and picturesque farmsteads, could be enhanced by the characters bringing these details to the reader instead:

              “We’ve been driving for like, forever!” Sam put her foot against the side window as she glanced at fields of spotted cows. “When are going to get there?”

              “You’re being dramatic, Sammie. Someday you’ll appreciate going to Grammie’s farm.” Her dad feathered the brakes when he spotted a deer and its fawn grazing too near the road’s graveled shoulder. “She’s not getting any younger.”

              “Me neither.” Sam slurped the dregs of a Biggie Drink purchased at the last tiny town’s gas station. “I had plans.”

              “I know it’s hard on you, but it’s my weekend with you and I didn’t have to work.” The pickup crossed a one-lane wooden bridge over a babbling brook, bouncing them around the cab. “I’m sorry you’re missing the big gig of your friend’s band. I’m going to make it up to you.”

              “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

He dialed the radio to one of two available stations. “See? I’ll let you choose. Classic rock or country.”

              “No, thanks. Listen to what you want, I brought my own.” Sam placed the headphones over her ears and opened her sketchbook. She started to replicate a circled design painted on a faded red barn.

Break up Info-Dumps

For the clunky parts in my chapters, I focused on the long paragraphs that would slow down the reader. These sections of backstory could be delivered better through the voices of my characters.

In the example above, we not only see that we are driving on a country road to Grammie’s house, but we get information about Sam and her dad, too.

We can tell that Dad has part-time custody, and he tries to use their time together in meaningful ways. Sam is a teen and acts with typical indignant behavior, as kids do when they lack control over where they are going and with whom. She likes a certain band and is being forced to skip their concert to visit her relatives. Dad has a sense of humor and jokes about the radio station, which Sam shuts out with her headphones and snarky comments.

We set the stage for a relationship reconciliation for Dad, and a potential coming of age experience for Sam. All through dialogue.

Show Don’t Tell

The writer’s mantra we all love to hate when we see segments of lengthy exposition all over our work. (Just me? Okay. We all start somewhere!)

I found that my areas without conversation were filled with showing the reader what was happening instead of letting the characters' conversation weave the drama.

Showing the reader how the characters feel and revealing their motivations is the most effective use for dialogue. Consider it a shovel when unearthing a tough, rocky passage in your work. 

In the example above, we see how the father is excited about spending time with his daughter and is exercising patience despite her angst. Sam is angry for potentially many reasons: not seeing her friend’s band, having to spend the weekend on a boring farm, her drink is empty, her music choices are limited, and her parents are divorced.

Dialogue can roll down the window and let the reader peek into the world you are creating.

Tags? We don’t need no stinking tags!

I’m pretty sure I ripped that one off from a cheesy comedy, but editors often recommend that writers use their tags sparingly, or *gasp* not at all.

Tags are used to help the reader understand who is speaking, but there are other ways to show this and draw a reader into your story. Try to eliminate the following tempting tags problems common to many writers.

• He said. She said.  - According to online editing software, ProWritingAid, published authors use “said” as a dialog tag 60%, with “asked” at a distant second at 10%. These authors use nonstandard dialogue tags only occasionally. For these reasons, they recommend not using tags other than “said” and “asked” over 20% of the time.
• Adverbs with Dialogue tags - Writers may want to describe how a character says something, but it distracts the reader and takes away from the words they say. Try not to upstage your characters. Using actions instead allows readers to make inferences and imagine more fully developed characters. ProWritingAid suggests that authors keep adverbs to under 12% of their total in one work.
• Use the right words -If you still want to use unique dialog tags and you have over 12%, consider taking a hard look at the content of your conversation. Can you strengthen the wording to convey the emotion instead?
• No laughing matter - According to Writer’s Digest, some common dialog tags shouldn’t be used because they don’t make sense. Words cannot be “smiled, giggled, laughed, or sighed.” Use “said” and save these actions for use as intended.
• Hemming and Hawing - In real life, we pause and add filler to conversation. Eliminate those fillers when writing to keep the reader engaged. Try to avoid phrases such as “um, so, well” that slow down the dialog.

Using fewer tags takes a little practice and critical reading to find examples to model. I am thrilled to say my example above contains exactly zero tags in it. *air high fives for everyone*

Don’t be intimidated by the minutia of punctuation that typically gives me hives, try using dialogue to fix sticky parts of a manuscript.

5 Dialogue Constructions

Here are 5 constructions of dialogue to use in your writing. Experience the following benefits to your dialogue:

• Use these to increase the variety in your writing.
• Write with confidence! Let those curly or straight quotes take a seat to your clever character’s words instead.
• Improve the readability of your work.

I’m using American English Rules to compile this list, but punctuation standards may differ by region and country. Always check with the editor or submission guidelines to see what style, or dictionary they prefer.

My examples below come from The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, in a scene where Holden is arguing with his roommate:

Dialogue Formatting Demystified:

1. Single Line Quote - These have a line of dialogue within quotation marks and no tag. The sentence punctuation occurs within the quotes.
2. Single Line Quote with Tag - A quotation with a tag, either before or after the quote. Note the punctuation differences for each location.
3. Dialogue Tags within a Quote - add a natural pause with this strategic tag placement.
4. Quotes with body language or actions within the dialogue - adding body language and small actions can control pacing and add depth to the words spoken.

Then, when he was taking off his tie, he asked me if I’d written his goddam composition for him. I told him it was over on his goddam bed. […]

              All of the sudden, he said, “For Chrissake, Holden. This is about a goddam baseball glove.”

              “So what?” I said. Cold as hell.

              “Wuddaya mean so what? I told ya it had to be about a goddam room or a house or something.”

              “You said it had to be descriptive. What the hell’s the difference if it’s about a baseball glove?”

              “God damn it.” He was sore as hell.  He was really furious. “You always do everything backasswards.” He looked at me. “No wonder you’re flunking the hell out of here,” he said. “You don’t do one damn thing the way you’re supposed to.  I mean it. Not one damn thing.”

If you want more of a deep-dive into the mechanics of using quotations, this article explains why we place punctuation in specific parts of the sentence. It also explains more scenarios than I dig into here, with several simple examples to clarify these guidelines.

Hopefully, these writing tips will help to nail down the details of your newly renovated dialogue and help pick up the pace of your story.

What tools do you recommend we add to the writing dialogue toolbelt? Is there a grammar point you struggle with as a writer? Add some writer encouragement for better editing and share your thoughts with us today!

About Kris

Kris Maze is an author, freelance writer, and teacher. She enjoys writing twisty, speculative fiction with character-driven plots. After years of reading classic literature, mysteries, and thrillers, she began to write and publish her own books. She also writes for various publications including a regular post at the award-winning Writers in the  Storm Blog. 

When she isn’t spending time with her favorite people and pets, Kris Maze is taking pictures, hiking, or pondering the wisdom of Bob Ross. You can follow her author journey at her website at KrisMazeAuthor.com

by James Preston

I remember being 14 years-old and getting my first driving lesson, which consisted of sitting behind the wheel of my dad’s 1960 Ford Galaxy while it was parked in our driveway. The idea was for me to get familiar with the pedals and controls, but I used the time to entertain my mom.

“Truck! Look out, big truck!  Oh, no, we’re on the train tracks — train, it’s a train!”

I let go of the steering wheel and dove down into the footwell. Next to me, my mother was laughing so hard she couldn’t stop.

The Ford was a stick shift, with the lever mounted on the steering column — the infamous “three on the tree.”

She took the time to get me familiar with the care because changing gears adds a new level of complexity to driving, and so does shifting writing gears.

What does shifting gears with your writing mean?

What does it mean to shift writing gears? Why would you do it? Below, I’ve offered a few examples of writers who cross genres successfully. Hopefully, by the end of the post, you will be able to describe the process involved and state whether or not it’s for you.

And if there are big trucks ready to run you down, we’ll try to show you how to avoid them.

Shifting Gears Definition

If you are like me, you write genre fiction. In bookstores and on the web you are “siloed” into mystery, romance, science fiction, or into the smaller subgroups like paranormal shapeshifter. Shifting gears means that you want to try another silo — write a historical romance instead of a ray-gun-filled space opera.

It’s important to remember that these categories exist for a reason. Whether they are in a bookstore or browsing online, readers can search for “Romance” and find the books they are interested in all in one place.

(And if you’re thinking, “My novel is totally new and different. It crosses all genres and cannot be pigeonholed,” see the WITS essay by Chuck Sambuchino in the Reference section below.)

Examples of Successful Gear Shifts

Mary Higgins Clark

Clark wrote short stories with some success until her husband died and left her with five children to support. She tried a novel about George and Martha Washington that flopped, then turned to mysteries. The rest — fifty, yes, fifty — books later is history.

Michael Crichton

I have read that while in medical school at Harvard he supported himself writing mysteries, before switching to science fiction. That’s amazing. I’m in awe (and a bit jealous), just as I am of Mary Higgins Clark.

Geez, usually I enjoy writing these essays. This one’s making me feel inadequate.

Stephen King

The master of horror switched to mysteries and wrote The Colorado Kid and then Joyland. The latter went on to be nominated for the 2014 Edgar as Best Paperback Original. In this case I do not feel inadequate since he’s probably not human.

Jayne Ann Krentz

Amazingly prolific, she writes under the names Amanda Quick for historical, Jane Castle for science fiction, and Jayne Ann Krentz for present day romances. I may have missed a few. And here’s a twist: she follows the same families and organizations through all three genres and settings. 

J. K. Rowling

She only wrote stories that are probably the Wizard of Oz of our time, now she’s done the Robert Galbraith modern mysteries, which have been turned into a successful tv series.

And finally . . . 

Yours Truly

I broke into fiction writing science fiction short stories, selling my first one to Analog Science Fiction. But I had a clearly articulated goal: I wanted to write for a living.

I looked at my work and realized two things. First, I needed to write novels. I could not sell enough short stories to support myself. Second, my sci-fi stories were really thrillers with ray guns. (Ok that last is not strictly true. I’ve never included a ray gun in any of my stories.)

Also, I met the editor who bought my first story and asked him why he didn’t buy the sequel — boy, you talk about young, stupid, and brash. I blush to share that. If you take nothing else away from this essay, remember that. He said, “You’re really writing a novel. Why don’t you go away and write it?” I did and after a bumpy road it became Leave A Good-Looking Corpse.

And that leads to . . . 

First Gear

Ok, in a stick shift first is the lowest gear, designed to overcome the inertia of the car and get it moving.

If you switch, move to a genre you love. I have never met such an individual, but I’ve been told there are “writers” who say things like, “I’ve never read one, but I know sexy teen vampire novels are hot right now so I’m going to write a few before I do my serious literary work.”

Don’t switch for marketing. Do it for love.

Second Gear

Ok, so you are ready for a change. Deciding what you want to write next should be easy. What was the last book you read that you loved? That’s it. Enough said.

Third Gear

With this gear, you’re ready for the freeway. A new genre should be, above all, fun. You’re exploring new territory. Instead of the new governess wondering why the attic room is locked, you’re world-building in a geosynchronous space station. You’re on the freeway with the radio blastin,’ cruisin’ just as fast as you can.

I suggest taking a novel out of the new genre and taking it apart. I did this with Robert Crais’, excellent Lullaby Town, scene-by-scene, and what a learning experience. 

Choose carefully because (1) it’s a lot of work and (2) the novel will be ruined for you. You’ll know it so well you won’t be able to reread it.

Let’s Stretch that Analogy 

If you haven’t noticed, the world of publishing has changed dramatically in the last few years. What does that mean for genres, when readers can search on anything, anything at all?

Well, so far they haven’t gone away. I personally believe people have limited time to read, and many of them like to know what they’re getting. That Search function— like Perseverance — can drive for you.

Yes, our new Rover is in large part autonomous; it drives itself around. Truthfully I have no idea where this will go, but I know two things: story will not go away. And stories will always have labels, and folks like you and me will try to entertain and enlighten. 

And in the end . . . 

The bottom line? Story is story. Tell a good one and you can dress it up in any genre you like and it will work just fine.

It’s all about story. Stuff it into a romance, a thriller, a vampire western, it’s still a story. Your character wants something; something is preventing them from getting it. So go for it, gentle reader, and good luck. 

References and Further Reading

Changing genres is work. Yeah, I know, you thought writing that first novel was work, and it was, and here we go again. The good news is Writers in the Storm has addressed genres in several excellent essays that all provide more information that will help when you decide to get behind the wheel. (Can I torture that poor analogy any more? Sure.)

I’ve picked a few that I especially like. 

Genres Explained: Insights, Tips and Definitions From Literary Agents by Chuck Sambuchino is filled with apt quotations from agents.

Pros & Cons of Skipping Genres by Laura Drake (May 2015) - Gets into POV, Voice, and Research. IMHO, essential if you want to do this.

Creating an Author Brand When You Write Multiple Genres (Nov 2016) - this post from June Stevens Westerfield contains an excellent case study.

Now it’s your turn. Do you write in a genre? Have you thought about switching?

About James

James R. Preston has always considered writing an adventure, but the last convention he appeared at was over the top. At Left Coast Crime San Diego last March he did a panel discussion. A few hours later the convention was canceled and he got a call from the people running the bookstore, saying, “James, the truck is here. We’re packing up your stuff.” He doesn’t really think it was his fault; people seemed to like the panel. 

And it was pouring rain. Note the wet pants in the selfie below.