Writerly Saturday: Advice From Jeff Scott Savage

 "Something cool happens here!"

--Jeff Scott Savage, author of the Farworld series

I met youth author Jeff Scott Savage at the Utah Festival of Books this summer (the one on BYU campus). He asked me if I was a writer. I said yes. He then very astutely asked if I had finished anything. How did he know?! I had to reply in the negative. I explained that I had so many stories started, but not a one was complete. He then gave me some great advice which I used probably too often during this past National Novel Writing Month (though I still have yet to complete a novel --but I did go over the 50,000 word goal).

If you get stuck while writing, simply put "something cool happens here" and move on.
Because something cool will happen. You just haven't written it yet.

(this was the gist of what he shared)

I was reminded of test taking advice; if you can't think of the answer, move on to the next question and come back to the tricky one later. No worries! Don't get hung up, you'll work it out!