Hi, friends!

In last week's issue, I mentioned the Slow Novel Lab, a workshop I completed last year. Before starting the workshop, I sampled a writing task that Nina LaCour, the instructor, had produced.

The worksheet was titled 3 Approaches to Getting Unstuck. The first exercise, "Structure," went like so:

• Choose a character and put them in place, doing something
• While they are engaged in their task, trigger something that transports them to a memory/fantasy, and let them get lost in it
• Bring the character back to the present: They're still where we left them, but something has shifted in the scene, and it's no longer as simple as it was before