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I am in a bit of a pickle. See I have now about a half dozen stories started, but all of them are stalled, and I'm starting to get anxious. See one of my little OCD like habits has come out because with one exception, I have produced at least one new story or poem every single month since the first story I published. And that means I have until the end of December t come up with something. Which isnt very long, especially since I'd also like to produce some longer works instead of just flash fiction.
So anybody who wants to brainstorm with me I could use the help so I dont go crazy ...
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Easy to say, hard to do
Take a break. Divert your angst for a bit. I juggle multiple stories and eventually they become complete... emphasis on eventually. For the new year you should resolve to not be so prolific... to prevent a passion from becoming drudgery. Life is stressful so no need to enslave your time with unrealistic deadlines... don't set yourself up for "failure". You have nothing to prove.
I paid good money to shrink that told me to stop writing "to do" lists...
Regardz,
Dee
Donna
Some Xmas Fluff, maybe?
Random idea:
An androgynous boy goes Christmas shopping for the perfect gift for someone.
A saleslady spots him looking over a dress, and helps him to a full makeover.
And he is just to flustered to object.
Gee, that might actually make a good holiday contest.
I got no prizes to offer tho!
Feel free to run with it, or not,
Anyone?!
~ Hypatia >i< ..::
story mechanic?
I made a little pun in my head about stalled stories needing a mechanic when I realized that that may be just what you need. Why not get together with one of the other authors here with stalled stories and suggest plot lines for each other? You might end up with a collaboration or new stories inspired by each others stalled works or just some ideas on where to go next.
there are some standard things to do
There are some things you can try.
1. Look at your main character and ask yourself what's the worst thing that could happen to this person?
2. Re-read your story from the beginning and look for seeds and hints that you unconsciously left undeveloped.
3. Think about where you want the story to go, or what you wish would happen, and then figure out what could stop that from happening. Lots of stories have this structure: Situation ==> Problems ==> Resolution. What makes the story interesting are the things that delay the ending, the things that get in the way.
4. Take the most problematic part of your story and ask yourself questions about it, like why did they do this? what do they get out of it? where did they learn that? Try to look at the situation the way someone outside would see it -- someone who only knows what's written down, and not what's in your head.
I know other people hate thinking this way, but it's hard for me to go on when I don't know how the story ends. Once I know that, it's like cheating on a maze, you know? It's usually easier to solve a maze when you start at the end.
good luck!
- io