stuck on my plot.

[shamguy4]

I found two flaws in my series. One which, with time should easily be remedied, I just need to brainstorm.
The other is hard... It's part of the backbone of my book and if it does not work out my whole series is screwed!

I have been brainstorming for three days now to come up with a solution, but none have come!
What do you do in such situations? Just continue until a thought falls into my head? Or is there a special approach?
I usually figure it out by now...I'm stumped

 

[SciFrac]

Does this involve character relationships, magic, tech, or physics of your world?

Try making a list of all the possibilities, then combine them. I've created some interesting situations by mending two or three scenarios.

What about introducing a new character? A new lie? New perspective on an old event.

 

[Venusian Broon]

A method I do, that so far has always worked, is what I call the 'cold towel' method.

First be clear on what this unsurmountable problem is. Go into a dark room, lie down and think extremely hard about how to solve it for an hour or so (as the saying goes: with a cold towel wrapped round your head.)
You will very probably get no further, but...

...after the hour, get up and put the problem and the writing to one side. Deliberately do something completely different - go for a walk, cook a meal for a friend, see a movie, forget about the issue and sleep peacefully. Let your subconscious do it's work on the problem. Even leave it totally for days.

Then to your amazement when you get back to writing a day/days later ten times out of ten* a brilliant idea will come to mind - or even it will surface at the oddest time when you're not thinking about writing at all.

Trust your subconscious - mine seems at least five times smarter than my conscious one. It just doesn't talk very much


* From my experience so far, hasn't let me down

 

[prizzley]

A method I do, that so far has always worked, is what I call the 'cold towel' method.

I've not come across the cold towel method and I wouldn't want to try it in this weather, but yes ideas do come when you stop struggling to find them. For me, it's usually at 3am.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

If you have a flaw and it's showing up, you have two options; go on, knowing it's wrong, and if you can see it so will your reader. Or trek back to when it was last right, and start again from there. I usually go with the second, painful though it is to rewrite.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I've not come across the cold towel method and I wouldn't want to try it in this weather, but yes ideas do come when you stop struggling to find them. For me, it's usually at 3am.

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting you actually wrap a cold towel around your head. It's just a saying, i.e. when thinking is so difficult it feels like your brain is overheating.


Another suggestion. I remember doing a psychological test (in my consultant days, springs), and part of the test was to see if you were an 'introvert or extrovert' thinker. Introverts thought best alone, away from distractions. Extrovert thinkers needed other people to interact with to facilitate creative leaps...

...so, perhaps you're an extrovert thinker that needs a buddy to bounce and develop ideas off - works best face-to-face. (And vice versa I assume, unless he/she's a great friend!) I've had flashes of insight like bolts of lightning this way for a whole bunch of things. It seems to me that these approaches, because they are different, access different processes and areas of your mind.

Of course we writers seem to be solitary beings, jealously guarding our precious ideas, so getting a buddy may prove difficult.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Try a guided meditation on YouTube - they are free. Then like VB suggests get on with your life for a few hours before sitting down with it again.

 

[DthenB]

I'd examine your story structure. Is your plot shaped by your characters or are they just along for the ride?

If it's the first option, my best plot turns are wholly organic, stemming from giving my characters all their faculties, including the minions, red-shirts, and villains. Everyone in real life has doubts, fears, and a back-up plan. They all have an edge on someone or a scheme to get through anything. Let your characters be themselves and make decisions based on their own experiences, expertise, and motivations. Examine your plot through each of their perspectives, taking into account their state of mind and goals, both long-term and immediate.

If your story is more option B, where the characters are just there to tell you what's happening around them, why have them there in the first place? Tell someone else's story. Write about someone who makes a difference. If you think your story is about independent external events that go on and change a character who doesn't effect them, it's not. It is the internal struggle and changes that occur due to a character's choices and reactions regarding those external events. Make your characters your plot shapers, not you.

 

[monsterchic]

I read somewhere another method. Write down all elements of your plot on seperate note cards, and scatter them on the floor. Gather them and flip through them, adding different scenarios together until it's just right

 

[shamguy4]

I will try sitting alone for a long time... although I go to sleep at night just thinking about it... but nothing has happened.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I will try sitting alone for a long time... although I go to sleep at night just thinking about it... but nothing has happened.

Don't think about it - think about something else!

 

[Dozmonic]

What's the problem with what you have?

 

[thatollie]

I have a few thoughts.

Firstly, three days is not a long time. More thought and more time will probably solve the problem.

Secondly, don't stop writing. Write scenes that aren't affected by this problem, write scenes that won't even appear in the novel (backstory, scenes from the pov of non-pov characters, scenes that take place away from the main action of the story, etc etc), write scenes that occur in later books, write short stories set in the same world but have no bearing on the story, write the ending. . . you get my drift. DO NOT STOP WRITING.

Thirdly, you may eventually find that the big problem you were having wasn't really a problem at all. Genuinely consider the possibility that you are just being too critical and no-one else would notice.

I'm sure I could think of more but that's the main points for now. So, get back to work.

 

[shamguy4]

DO NOT STOP WRITING.

I usually only write the book or notes.... I never write random scenes. And I only go in order... It's an OCD thing I guess... But except for the beginning and the end I have no clue what happens in the middle. At least not much, so I make it up as I go along, making sure to pull the character in the right direction.

 

[thatollie]

Okay, I just posted this advice in another thread about being stuck but it may serve you better than the rest of my advice considering what you've just told us.

There's this thing called the 10,000 word hump. You get a little tired, you get a little bored, you've used up a lot of the stuff you've planned, things have changed so the other stuff you've planned becomes useless. It's totally normal.

This is what I do when it happens to me.

Write down the last thing that happened to each of you major characters (when I do this I just write a title like "Where are we?" and then one sentence for the last thing to happen to each character.)

Then consider the implications of those things. That's the beginning of the middle.

 

[shamguy4]

Iv'e made it to a point where I have figured out how to move forward, but it involves someone keeping their identity a secret...
Why? I have no clue! and I'm back to the notes....
This person is a good person, nothing really to hide... Or at least I cannot find anything shameful for him to hide. I just need him to keep quiet about certain er...things...
Why do people hide things? Usually to get away with something, or because it is personal or shameful?...
any ideas on why someone would hide information about themselves -specifically their past. And no, he has not done anything wrong. Not much...