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I have my plot nicely sorted, I know where my characters are going, I have a several of chapters in hand, but I have a small stall in a particular detail.
So here I am, typing this while listening to music and occasionally playing along on the mandolin. It usually works....but any other tactics used to try and shake the nuts and bolts into place?
Take a break?
It sounds odd, but I've found it useful in my (admittedly short) ramblings. When I get stuck or can't see what's around the next corner, sometimes I just log off, shut down, and do something else for a few hours (sometimes even a day - work!)
During idle moments, I mull over the plot in my head, and sometimes work out what I want to do next. Sleeping on it can also be a useful way of running through multiple scenarios to see which has the most potential.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
As crazy and silly as it
As crazy and silly as it sounds, I distract myself with video games when I need to get a particular rough spot shaken out. I wrote the entire chapter "Heedless Despair" in the back of my mind, while playing a particularly nasty (for the enemy) round of "Just Cause 2".
I think the principle is roughly similar though, in that distracting pursuits that cause your main focus to go elsewhere frees up the more creative side to flow more freely.
Sometimes I'll watch a movie I've seen a hundred times and could recite word-for-word, like Beetlejuice or practically any Disney feature-length animation made in the last 20 years for a similar effect.
And of course, you've already mentioned music, although I only own two (working) guitars and about a half-dozen tin whistles :-D
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Whistles
Aaaaargh! Blowy things! No can do.
I played through a few of the tunes in the story, mailed someone, and came up with a reasonable mechanic for getting to the spot I need. Distraction s indeed the thing, but I was curious as to what form that may take with others
The Air for Maurice Ogg is on now, as it happens, played by Martin Simpson. Sigh....
You too?
And here I thought I might be the only one! I often play a game or two when I'm feeling stuck. It works better than just about anything else for me. Also good for taking out frustrations. ;)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
If you can type ...
... and play the mandolin at the same then I don't think anyone here can teach you anything. Me? I either doze listening to Schubert lied or go for a walk or a ride. Nothing very special. But then, I haven't written anything except rubbish like this for ages - haven't even done any editing since Big Ben was a wristwatch.
Robi
visualise it
It usually works when doing something passive like a quiet stroll, listening to music or daydreaming while on auto pilot at work. You bring up the scene and visualise the people and dialogue. Run it around and over, upside down and sideways. You may not get it there and then but when you sit to write it will flow. At least I mostly find that it does.
Of course sometimes you do just have to step away for a bit and let it simmer. A bubble will pop sooner or later.
Kristina
Options
Know the kind of plot you are developing and stick to it. In other words, don't go off on sidelines that will ultimately distract from the main plot. At every place, ask yourself if this is contributing to the plot or developing characterization. If the answer is "no," than reconsider.
Mood music is okay, but nothing that distracts. Studies have shown that people who need to concentrate on a task are actually less productive with headphones on than off. I used to play a tape of Neil Diamond's album, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" when I studied in college, but it was so mellow and I knew it so well, all it did was keep me from noticing other things that might distract.
When looking for ideas, I try to force myself to find three ways for a chapter to get from point A to point B, then pick the best way. If I decide to revise the story at any point, I already have options available and don't have to rethink everything, and if nothing else, I get a better feel for the characters and the story.
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
Good advice and more methods
Even people who don't construct a story like a Roman aqueduct :) can benefit from Aardvark's suggestion here. Every thing in a story should either advance the plot, or illuminate/develop the character, even any red herrings you might throw out should serve double or triple duty. Descriptions of scenery are an amazing field for setting mood which can develop plot and reveal character all at the same time.
But how to get off the dime when stuck. I find a long drive with some smooth jazz or classical playing of the radio is great for this. Also a nap can help, but I have a facility for lucid dreaming not everyone has developed.
Writing something else sometimes works for me, but don't dig up another story you're stuck on to work with. That's a good way to get permanently sidetracked from the story you were trying to develop.
I sometimes open a new document and begin describing the character's background, their history, family, friends. Some of this may eventually get used, even!
Do something else. Playing solitaire or sudoku works for me. Watching a movie works for some people. Reading genre fiction can work, nothing too heavy.
Get physical. Take the dog for a walk, go for a bike ride, dig a hole and fill it in. Do something that requires manual dexterity but not heavy thinking like crochet or needlework.
This one works for me but may not for anyone else, I'm weird with numbers: open a spreadsheet and think of some reason to add up columns of number and multiply, divide and extrapolate them. I've got pages and pages of how the economics of a Mars colony might work. :)
Draw something. Scenes from the story, character sketches.
Write a poem about something mundane like why are the shoes left on the side of the road never pairs, or perhaps a mocking song for one of the characters to tease another with. Or a lovesong.
Start at the end of a long story and write a draft of the final chapter. Careful with this on, it can be an energy killer: even if you figure out the solution to your problem you may no longer have the energy to use it.
Hugs and good luck,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
good advice
As William Faulkner said, "kill your darlings". I often have trouble with that, pacifist that I am, but it's good advice. No matter how good the prose, if it doesn't advance the plot or add to the characterisations (and maybe the sense of place?) then it needs to be put down.
not as think as i smart i am
Useful thoughts abound
I've generally found that most "difficulties" can be worked around. (in stories anyway... Real life, it's commonly a wee bit more difficult. at times) Yeah, I know my saying this doesn't help. Sorry. But, I was setting things up for the next bit.
Taking a step, or some time, away from your story sometimes helps you look at it differently, and thus see a way around your problem. If that doesn't work, I hope you have an editor. Part of the job - of a good editor (as apposed to a proof reader) - is to help the author work through plot problems... Just remember that sometimes, fixing your problem MAY require you back up, and rewrite something where you boxed yourself into the corner.
Best of luck,
Anne
The thing about writing...
...is that you have to write something. If you can't progress along a story arc, write sonething else:
What I did on my summer vacation.
The most interesting thing I ever saw.
The last conversation I had. (Try to do it word for word -- carry a voice recorder around and every time you hear an interesting conversation, record snippets of it, so you get different voices inside your head)
The last time I was frightened, angry, fell in love, stubbed my toe, whatever.
All these things are like playing scales in music, quite often dead boring, but if you're attentive to them, you teach your fingers how to move in concert with your mind and they become easier day by day.
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style