Writer's Block

[Timben]

I have writer's block. Any help would suffice? I am struggling with a scene in my story that I seemed to run out of steam sorta speak.

 

[Timben]

I am not allowed to post my story nor where I am stuck at. Or it will get removed. The reason being I haven't posted enough. But if you want to help pm me and I'll post where I am stuck at.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Usually if this happens to me, it’s because I’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere a while back. I then have to go back and try to read the whole story as a reader (not as the author) to find out where I went wrong.

On occasion it means I have to cut out an enormous chunk of story (in one case around 12k words) and then write on from there. I never delete the text in case I can use bits of it later, but it’s like excising dead tissue from a festering wound. Gives it a good basis from which to heal.

I don’t know if this works for everyone, but it always does for me.

A very wise friend once told me that the best cure for writer’s block is to keep writing something. Even if you just type ‘the’ over and over again, apparently it eventually breaks through the block. I can’t speak for this method first hand because I’ve never really tried it, but I thought I’d pass it on in case!

 

[Droflet]

What Kerry said. Also, on the odd occasion I get blocked, I tuck the book away for a few days and do something, anything, other than writing. And what do you know? I come back to the story with a renewed fire and imagination. Hey, it works for me.

 

[CupofJoe]

For me it is like getting rid of the hiccups. When I get hiccups I count the gap between them and try to hold on for a beat or two longer. After about three hiccups they've gone.
So when I get writers block, I obsess on something else. Almost anything else. I let something take over my imagination and focus. One winter I managed to perfect a great Chinese style chicken and sweetcorn soup. My mind is still working and buzzing but it has something not-writing to do. After a while I suddenly find the urge to write come back. Usually with a really cheesy idea, which I immediately rewrite in my head to make better...

 

[Dan Jones]

A very wise friend once told me that the best cure for writer’s block is to keep writing something

Good advice. It helped me a few years back when I was stuck on a big story, so I decided to take a break and write some completely different short stories to keep the flow going. After a few weeks the problem with the big manuscript sorted itself out as I returned to it with fresh eyes and a fresh mind.

I am not allowed to post my story nor where I am stuck at. Or it will get removed. The reason being I haven't posted enough. But if you want to help pm me and I'll post where I am stuck at.

You have over 30 posts now so you can post something in the Critiques thread, up to 1,500 words.

 

[The Judge]

I am not allowed to post my story nor where I am stuck at. Or it will get removed. The reason being I haven't posted enough.

I think you've misinterpreted what you've been told. As Dan has pointed out, Critiques is open to you since you have over 30 posts, so you can post a short extract of your unpublished work there and ask for help.

In addition, it's perfectly acceptable for you to start a thread here giving a precis of the story to date and asking for help as to how to proceed -- that's always been open to you and to anyone else, no matter how low the post count, as you might have seen if you'd looked back in Writing Discussion.

As to writers' block, when I'm stuck I write a list of possible ways to proceed with all the advantages and disadvantages eg if I want character A to meet character B I make a list of all the places they could plausibly meet -- on the street, her father's house, in a shop -- and then work through each one, so an advantage of meeting in the house would be privacy, but a disadvantage is that B would have to know A or someone in her family. But then I'd look at the pros and cons in detail -- do they actually need privacy, or would it be better for them to be in public? Does B have to know her family, or could he be a stranger who has dropped in for other purposes? In that way it becomes clear what might work and what won't, and then I take it further, each time examining the branches to see what is best.

Another thing that helps is that I explain the problem to my husband. Not only does he sometimes come up with an idea I haven't considered which I can then work with, but the very act of talking to him clarifies for me what is and isn't feasible. I usually tie this in with walking as that's good for getting the blood flowing to the brain, and if we can't go for a walk up and down the street, then I'll walk up and down the house instead, just to keep moving.

Something else which will help you, Timben, is to join in Chrons a good bit more. You're often asking for help here, and members are always happy to give what assistance they can. But in just the same way that giving a critique can be as helpful to one's own writing as getting a critique, giving help can be just as beneficial as getting help -- even just joining in on threads about what books you've read. It's proven that being a real part of a group rather than hovering on the periphery can bring mental benefits, and in turn such benefits can promote inspiration and storytelling.

There are two Writing Challenges currently open, so try writing stories for both. That will be exercising your writing muscles in different ways as others have suggested, and will also bring you closer to the Chrons members which will bring its own advantages, for the more that people see you around and joining in, the more likely they are to want to help you.

 

[Dan Jones]

Something else which will help you, Timben, is to join in Chrons a good bit more. You're often asking for help here, and members are always happy to give what assistance they can. But in just the same way that giving a critique can be as helpful to one's own writing as getting a critique, giving help can be just as beneficial as getting help -- even just joining in on threads about what books you've read. It's proven that being a real part of a group rather than hovering on the periphery can bring mental benefits, and in turn such benefits can promote inspiration and storytelling.

This times a million. The ones who get involved properly do end up seeing the benefits. You get out what you put in, like anything.

 

[Timben]

I didn't know that I had enough posts to participate in Critique. Thank you for pointing that out to me. I'm not being smart. I really am grateful that you pointed it out to me for I did not know.

 

[The Big Peat]

Timben - Do you often get writers block? Or is it just this specific scene?

 

[Timben]

Timben - Do you often get writers block? Or is it just this specific scene?

Yes, I do. I get writer's block pretty often.

 

[Timben]

This is a scene where Bull (a Turkish circus acrobat) is cradling Chen Tao (my main character's partner) who has been shot. Professor Henry Pericles rushes forward and calls to Sam (the main character). I am stuck at, is what should happen next? Ummm... Sam is in an Egyptian pyramid and the bad guys are forcing him at gunpoint to travel onward to fetch the treasures from a lost tomb. If it's allowed I could provide you with the plot of the story? It's a pulp western. Think Indiana Jones meets the Mummy.

"No, Chen. Try not to talk," said Bull.

Chen still lies in Bull's arms. Henry leans over him. Henry rushes forward and calls to

Sam.

"Sam… Sam, you must hurry!! Come quickly!" said Henry.

 

[Dan Jones]

I'd like to see a tad more before commenting properly, as this has to be a contender for the most minimalist piece offered up for a crit since, well, ever.

In general, if I get stuck, I just try to stitch a couple of words together, even if it seems completely trite and dumb, just to get the pen moving. See if you can write ten words, and don't worry about how crappy they are. Then see if you can add ten more, and so on. Chances are they'll be pretty crappy if you're really that stuck, but you need to get yourself out of it. You can always go back and improve it later. Indeed, that's what editing is for, and no-one gets their manuscript looking perfect the first time out of the blocks.

You could always try the Raymond Chandler method. Every time he got stuck, he'd have a completely new character - for example, a man armed with a pistol - enter the scene, just to see what happened. Maybe you need that sort of disruptive influence if you're really struggling.

 

[The Judge]

I think, Timben, that as this is so short, the right place for this isn't Critiques -- we can't very well give feedback on only a few lines -- it's Writing Discussion. So I'll move the thread over to there.

Yes, as this is an unpublished story on which you're still working, you can give more of the plot if it's necessary. Basically, give us what we need to know to help us advise you on what might come next -- for instance, do you want Chen to die?


EDIT: on second thoughts, it makes more sense to add it to your previous thread in WD, so I've now done that.

 

[JS Wiig]

I’m an outliner which seems to help me with writers block as I have a good idea of where I want the overall story to go.

Sometimes, though, I may get hung up on a scene, and in that case I usually try to write the most ridiculous thing I can think of at the time, basically turning it into a Monty Python sketch. I know full well that it won’t make the final cut but it usually gets the pipes cleared for a decent go at the next scene.

Obviously this exact approach won’t work for everybody, but I think the overall point is to write whatever you can write at that particular moment, even if it isn’t really productively contributing to the final product.

Perhaps the block is feeling like not writing perfectly the first time isn’t ok? I personally enjoy writing garbage sometimes, it makes me chuckle.

 

[Deke]

I was having a lot of the same issues, I kept getting stuck in spots I should not be getting stuck in, and I realized I had done a poor job of outlining.

I went back and wrote an in depth proper outline, the whole book, and when I get to a new chapter I go back and write a full detailed outline of that chapter.

I think it’s called the snowflake outline? Where you write a sentence, then a paragraph, then a full detailed chapter outline.

It has really, really helped with my little stumbles, maybe it could help you too.

 

[mosaix]

A very wise friend once told me that the best cure for writer’s block is to keep writing something.

Excellent advice from Kerry. Try the 75, 100 or 300 word challenges to get the juices flowing.

 

[Timben]

I think, Timben, that as this is so short, the right place for this isn't Critiques -- we can't very well give feedback on only a few lines -- it's Writing Discussion. So I'll move the thread over to there.

Yes, as this is an unpublished story on which you're still working, you can give more of the plot if it's necessary. Basically, give us what we need to know to help us advise you on what might come next -- for instance, do you want Chen to die?


EDIT: on second thoughts, it makes more sense to add it to your previous thread in WD, so I've now done that.

I'm still confused about what I can write in Critiques.

 

[The Judge]

Critiques is for members who want feedback on their work, eg perhaps they want to know if a particular extract has problems with it or if their opening has sufficient impact.

If you want such feedback on your work, then you can put up some of your unpublished novel there, subject to a maximum of 1500 words per thread, though 600-800 is usually enough to give us an idea of someone's writing ability.

However, it's simply not possible for anyone to give a meaningful critique of your writing on the basis of 35 words of dialogue which is what you gave us. Since what you're actually looking for at present is help in deciding what happens next, it doesn't seems that feedback of that kind on your writing would help you anyway -- a better idea is for you to give us an outline of the plot in this thread so members can assess what kind of events might happen next.

As I say, if you want feedback on your writing generally or on a particular scene, then by all means start another thread in Critiques but give at least 500 words so that we can see what might need fixing. However, do be advised that members don't always pull their punches when giving such feedback, so I'd strongly advise you to first have a look at the other threads that are up there in Critiques so you can see both what kind of work is put there and the kind of comments that are given.

 

[Wayne Mack]

One thing that I have found helps when I am stuck on how a scene should proceed is to stop and write a short, two-page back story for one or more characters. This back story will not appear anywhere in the novel, but it helps me understand the character better and identify what actions that character should take. I find that I once I have a small handful (2-3) of these, I internalize the characters and just know what each will do next in a given situation.

Technical aside: Check for consistency in tenses used. The dialog above is in past tense while the actions are in present.