Getting STUCK and Strategies to Cope

[hopewrites]

well going off topic is one way of getting unstuck. but i think that's been mentioned before.

 

[Parson]

Since Sunday comes every 7 days, Parsons can not afford to be blocked long. One of my favorite things is to locate the center of the problem (what seems to be lacking or unclear or dull etc.) and then sleep on it. --- Sounds dumb I know --- But very often the next morning a fresh thought will pop up and away I go again. The Holy Spirit and the sub-conscious make an awesome team.

 

[Coragem]

http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html

Well, I've viewed Rachel Aaron's blog post, and I can't say it has helped! Not AT ALL!

It hasn't removed my motivation for writing, but it has dented my confidence in my ability.

She has her "triangle". I.e., we require knowledge (planning), time, and enthusiasm, to optimise writing. Well, I have all three in spades, but while she's pumping out 10K per day I struggle to hit 0.5K. Sad to say (?) sometimes I spend hours and hours on a single paragraph, honing it, polishing an idea until I'm happy.

Now, I'm hoping Rachel Aaron is a talented ("freaky") extreme. Surely, most writers can't consistently write 10K, or even 5K or 2.5K, every day????

Please, back me up here!

Coragem.

 

[The Judge]

Yep, she depressed the hell out of me, too, Coragem.

 

[Boneman]

But her idea of just planning (and writing down) your ideas for what you're going to write work incredibly well in unlocking creativity. Did for me, anyway... I see it like those athletes who visualise their activity by focusing, before carrying it out. I didn't mean that the other two sides of the triangle would stimulate the blocks, as they're more concerned with writing thousands of words. Confuscius says: a one-sided triangle is a straight line...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Does anyone believe that someone can write 10,000 words a day and still take time to edit? Can you really, in those few minutes of planning that she advocates, figure out how to express what you want to say in the best words possible? It sounds highly unlikely to me. If she accomplishes it, then she must indeed be some kind of "freaky genius." And if that is the case, I don't think that any of us who aren't geniuses need feel bad about not matching her output.

But her idea of just planning (and writing down) your ideas for what you're going to write work incredibly well in unlocking creativity. Did for me, anyway

How long have you been using this method? Have you written anything and had a chance to review it later in terms of its quality?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Does anyone believe that someone can write 10,000 words a day and still take time to edit? Can you really, in those few minutes of planning that she advocates, figure out how to express what you want to say in the best words possible? It sounds highly unlikely to me. If she accomplishes it, then she must indeed be some kind of "freaky genius." And if that is the case, I don't think that any of us who aren't geniuses need feel bad about not matching her output.

It's nothing to do with being freaky or genius. It is simply different methods. There are probably as many ways to write as there are authors and many will produce a great final draft. (That after all being the important bit).

Every writer is different - some write fast, some write slow. Neither way is right or wrong as long as it's working. Some write dirty drafts, some write a clean first draft. I write with published writers all the time, some write 900-1K words in 20 minute challenges, others write 100 in the same timeframe. Both produce decent complete works. Mine depends on how serious I am taking it - I do about 600-900 in that timeframe when I am focused, but usually I write when the kids are watching TV or playing outside. When hubby takes them out I can do more.

If I didn't have three small children 10K in day would be a doddle (take about 5 hours), with them 3-5K is about usual. (2-3hours) No I don't edit it in the early stages there is no point as I tend to bin a couple of drafts and start from scratch. By the time I come to edit it's pretty clean though - just needs tweeking, but the story is consistent, words usually good and characters don't need work.

I don't write my ideas, but I scrapbook relevant pictures (it's easier to edit when the story changes), create a playlist of songs to remind me about the characters again etc I've been using that for about a year and my final drafts are as good as I am capable of at this time.
http://charlottepimpernel.weebly.com/scrapbook.html

They look like this - that is the one for my current story. It's a similar idea to Rachel Aaron's it allows me to visualise the story giving the characters an actor generally helps with body language etc- takes an hour or two to produce.

 

[Coragem]

in the best words possible

That what takes SO long for me, finding the best words possible. No matter how meticulously I plan, and even if I know exactly what I want to say, I have to strive and struggle (hack and chip away, often for hours) to find the best words possible.

Besides, what makes good writing, in the end?

While "knowing what to say" (plot / chapter content) is obviously important, it's meaningless unless the author works (and works) on how he or she says it.

For me it's all about the things many readers might not even notice, if they're there. That is, the small details in the setting, the little noises and smells, the subtle character mannerisms. Those are what make a novel come to life, together with careful choices of words and crafted sentences.

If there's a secret to doing the above quickly, I wish I knew it. I've been looking for it for a very long time, but I don't think I'll ever find it.

Coragem.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It is simply different methods. There are probably as many ways to write as there are authors and many will produce a great final draft.

After more than twenty years in the business, I know that. But what she did not mention in the article was writing subsequent drafts. It was all about writing 10,000 words a day. But writing is not just a race to see how many words you can get on the page. There are aspects of writing that don't even take place at the computer, and they take a lot longer than a few minutes a day.

Some write dirty drafts, some write a clean first draft. I write with published writers all the time, some write 900-1K words in 20 minute challenges, others write 100 in the same timeframe. Both produce decent complete works.

Is that the goal, then? To produce decent work? To become competent writers? Or are some of us striving to be something more?

Besides, while "decent" may work for established writers, to break into the business right now a new writer has to produce work that is extraordinary.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Maybe Rachel Aaron can type faster and after years of practice, and some planning doesn't need subsequent drafts. My current drafts are cleaner than they were a year ago, maybe in a years time more than one draft won't be necessary.

Is that the goal, then? To produce decent work? To become competent writers? Or are some of us striving to be something more?

I have no idea what you are striving to be or what your goals are. Again the goals vary from writer to writer.

My goal is produce work other people want to read, which I do. Fun, twisty plot, good characters, and written as well as I can at any given moment in time.

Besides, while "decent" may work for established writers, to break into the business right now a new writer has to produce work that is extraordinary.

I guess it depends on your definition of decent. Mine is a work the writer is happy with and that can vary. A writer can only produce what they are capable of. Also not every writer wants to break into the business or it is the primary goal.

 

[Boneman]

Does anyone believe that someone can write 10,000 words a day and still take time to edit? Can you really, in those few minutes of planning that she advocates, figure out how to express what you want to say in the best words possible? It sounds highly unlikely to me. If she accomplishes it, then she must indeed be some kind of "freaky genius." And if that is the case, I don't think that any of us who aren't geniuses need feel bad about not matching her output.



How long have you been using this method? Have you written anything and had a chance to review it later in terms of its quality?

I'm not aiming at 10,000 words, never done 10,000 words, have no intention of doing 10,000 words - I'm just using the exercise to stimulate creativity, and it's working very well at removing the 'blocks' and I'm continuing to write at my own pace. (3000 words a day is a good day) Which is why I posted it here, not for the word output, but for the creative exercise...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm sorry, but there seems to be a disconnect in our communication here.

You can't really be saying that typing faster enables one to write clean drafts faster, can you?

If you aren't interested in publication, why would it matter how long it takes you to reach the end of a book? Isn't it the journey that matters in those circumstances, not just arriving at a set time?

And while publication might not be your goal, somehow I think Ms. Aaron's advice was aimed at professionals and aspiring professionals.

A writer can only produce what they are capable of.

Yet a writer can always strive to become better, and I really don't think that involves the rate one can spit words out onto the page.

When I was starting out, I could write more words in a day. I was younger then, and my standards were not so high. By the time my first book was published, I had raised my standards considerably through subsequent drafts. But after publishing ten books after that one, I am still trying to improve. I hope I will always be trying to improve. When I am no longer working harder and harder to become better and better, then I might as well give up. It will have become a meaningless exercise.

But if it is all about WPM, and how quickly my fingers can move, then I might as well take a refresher course in typing and leave it at that.

 

[Boneman]

Erm... I assume that was a posting that crossed, or I'm very confused.

 

[The Judge]

Undoubtedly crossed posts, Boneman, so you can remove that dazed look from your features...


And as I'm here, just a gentle reminder -- and I'm as guilty as anyone -- that the topic under discussion is what strategies we can employ to get ourselves unstuck when we are stuck.

 

[Yog-Sothoth]

I pretend I'm not stuck at all, and excuse my lack of writing on being busy with something else. I'm still an unpublished writer, so none of the deadlines that published authors have to deal with plague me, hence if for some reason I don't feel like touching my WIP for a week, I don't psycho-analyse it, but live life doing something else, while continuing world-building subconciously.

Usually I get an avalanche of creativity afterwards, and I secretly thank myself for not forcing myself to write in the period I was "stuck" - it was meant to be kind of thing - for the story would have gone a different direction, a less satisfying one.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I can't remember which author said this, but the best advice I ever read about getting stuck and getting back on track was, "If you're stuck, don't rewrite - imagine it better."

That one's lasted me for years of writing...

 

[HareBrain]

Getting stuck is very different from (what I would call) writer's block. One is not knowing how to pull your foot out of the mud without losing your boot, the other is being sucked into the depths of a bog for weeks or months, and gawd knows what the answer to that is, if there is one.

I'd agree with Yog-Sothoth that the best cure for stuckness is taking a break, if you can afford it, or even if you can't. I've often found very sticky plot conundra solved when I've been in the bath or gazing blankly out of a coffee-shop window. Also, writing when you're tired of it is soul-sapping.

Another tip is to talk it through with a friend, even if they know nothing about the book (as long as they're vaguely interested, or perhaps asleep). Several times I've found a solution, which should have been obvious but which had eluded me for days, just by talking about the problem aloud.

I often find myelf getting stuck by the most trivial things. For the last three days I've been struggling to overcome inertia in order to write a linking passage describing how the characters get from one place to another -- a passage that turned out to be one short paragraph. The inertia was caused by not knowing in advance how I could make that paragraph interesting, and therefore by not wanting to write it. I suspect the answer to that is to skip it and go back later -- or to find a place to write with no distractions -- but I seem resistant to such sensible advice for some reason.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I can't remember which author said this, but the best advice I ever read about getting stuck and getting back on track was, "If you're stuck, don't rewrite - imagine it better."

That one's lasted me for years of writing...

Actually that is usually the cause of me being stuck - rewriting the immediate chapter makes it better and often takes the story in a new direction.

Stuck is often a wrong turning.

 

[Coragem]

I can't remember which author said this, but the best advice I ever read about getting stuck and getting back on track was, "If you're stuck, don't rewrite - imagine it better."

That one's lasted me for years of writing...

One advantage of my "slow" writing approach is that I have plenty of time for imagining! If I keep going back to a scene over several days I keep coming back with new, exciting ideas. If I wrote the scene in a day and moved on it'd lack many things.

That said, if like me it is often a case of being stuck for words, knowing what I want to say but not knowing how to say it, I think writing is often the solution. Words = more words; seeing words appearing on the screen can be a stimulus for ideas and creativity. I.e., ideas may not appear from a vacuum.

Coragem.

P.S., No one has commented on my earlier post, on "what makes good writing". If you've seen it, fine. If not, take a look. I'm not (yet) a super famous author (so far as you know), yet I'm terribly clever** and I think people can learn from my observations there.

(**Only half kidding, lol)

 

[Hex]

P.S., No one has commented on my earlier post, on "what makes good writing". If you've seen it, fine. If not, take a look. I'm not (yet) a super famous author (so far as you know), yet I'm terribly clever** and I think people can learn from my observations there.

(**Only half kidding, lol)

I haven't commented on it (or read it) because I can't find it! I'd love to know what makes good writing, though.