Talking to Rubber Ducks
gaetanlee (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/298160434/) CC-by-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
Computer programmers have a practice called “rubber duck debugging,” in which they explain their code, line by line, to a rubber duck in order to find errors.
While the idea of talking to a rubber duck might seem strange, it can also be a good tool for authors, when you’ve reached a point in a story that you can’t get beyond. By breaking down your story and talking yourself through it (with or without the assistance of an inanimate object), you may be able to find the place where things go awry and figure out how to fix it!
Comments