Vendela Vida Recommends...

“Whenever I get stuck writing a scene I like to talk it out with someone. Sitting alone for too long with a plot problem or character issue can drive you crazy. But if you talk about it with a friend,

any friend—they don't have to be a writer or a reader—and say, ‘Here's where I'm at. What do you think if I do this?’ I find it helps. They might not have the perfect solution or suggestion, but the process of talking about it often makes you think about the issue in a different way. Sometimes they share a great anecdote about something else that applies. When I was working on The Lovers (Ecco, 2010), I was talking to a friend of a friend, and this friend shared an anecdote that I immediately knew I wanted to use in the book. As soon as he'd finished relaying it to me I asked him, ‘Are you a writer?’ ‘Oh God, no,’ he said. And I said, ‘Good. Because I'm totally going to use what you just told me in a scene.’ So I guess my recommendation boils down to this: Don't spend too much time alone.”
—Vendela Vida, author of The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty (Harper Collins, 2015)

Photo credit: Chloe Aftel