Comments on: JWAM reader request no. 3: How to get unstuck

By: Cheyenne Maxey

Cheyenne Maxey — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:14:02 +0000

Well I wright a lot of stories for a living and I do get stuck all the time.The way I get unstuck is that I go back and re-read what I have all ready got and think of ways that I could improve it.Then I put tose improvemeant into the next part of my story.
And if that does not work for you thats ok. I think that if you are writing something that YOU think is fun then YOU should make the choses!!!!!!!!!
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!

By: Getting Unstuck « I Had the Write Idea

Getting Unstuck « I Had the Write Idea — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:14:18 +0000

[...] to take it next, partly because I didn’t really care about my main character. Reading this post was like a kick in the pants. The comment to push through when stuck was exactly what I needed. [...]

By: Alexa

Alexa — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:30:03 +0000

Great advice, thank you. I was actually futzing about on the evil, distracting internet but it lead me to your post, so this time it had a positive outcome

By: keenai

keenai — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:05:37 +0000

How do you figure out what the worst thing is?

I read somewhere that the thing to do when you’re stuck is to ask yourself two questions:

1. What does my character really want?
2. What is my character really afraid of?

And then you can move the plot in an interesting way. Ever since reading that I’ve noticed it in good stories. For example, in 40-Year-Old Virgin, there’s that scene where Steve Carrell’s character is scared that the woman he’s dating might want to have sex, and he picks a fight with her, and the viewer knew that the fight was because of what he really wanted and was really afraid of even if he or his girlfriend might not have known.

I wish I remembered more specifics about the scene, but it struck me as the perfect example of finding something plotty to happen, if that makes sense.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:26:48 +0000

“It’s very hard to diagnose what’s wrong with an unfinished manuscript.” Yeah… and it’s hard to figure out what’s wrong with a scene if you don’t know the rest of the story. My brother is very slowly writing a novel and at one point asked me to help him figure out what was wrong with this one scene, and I was like… “I have no context!” Sometimes, of course, you *can* tell what is wrong with a scene or paragraph or sentence without the larger context, but sometimes you can’t. He didn’t believe me.

By: sylvia_rachel

sylvia_rachel — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:37:33 +0000

This all sounds like excellent advice — thanks

Boo on the Canada-hating, though. We are a very nice country with very pretty snow and a wide selection of gear to keep you warm while you play in it

I also keep an “outtakes” file (I call it “deleted scenes”) for each project so that I can get rid of things without actually losing them. They rarely end up back in the story, but knowing they’re still there if I need them is v. liberating.

I do the thing with the square brackets, too, except I use asterisks and red text and yellow highlighting, and write things like (most recently) “**Thursday eve. (late): David reckons it’s safe to open up some of the Jutras boxes and look inside. So WTF does he find in there??**” And then stride briskly away and hope my back-brain will come up with some really cool McGuffin while I’m not looking …

By: Justine

Justine — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:12:48 +0000

Leahr: Clearly, reading all these posts on writing is not procrastination and can only help. I am answering the questions in the order that they come in on this post. But you're in luck I think some has already asked for a post on characterisation.

By: Leahr

Leahr — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:18:10 +0000

That is brilliant advice, Justine. But telling us to get away from the computer when we’re reading your blog….you aren’t really helping me to do that, here.
can you talk about characterization next? like, when all your characters seem flat and annoying and you want to make them more appealing?
thanks!

By: Gillian A

Gillian A — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:56:40 +0000

Thanks Justine. Goes off to ponder advice.

By: Quagmire… « An alien voice under a duvet of dreams.

Quagmire… « An alien voice under a duvet of dreams. — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:40:49 +0000

[...] Posted by phoenixaeon under Uncategorized | Tags: writing | Some good writing advice from Justine Larbalestier about digging yourself out of plot problems. [...]

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:15:51 +0000

Going for a walk in my part of the Northern Hemisphere is fine if you are dressed for it. I walked to work on Friday and it was -37°C. Though generally I prefer indoor distractions (vacuuming, laundry) when I’m stumped about a scene, especially in January. You’re right that it works to get away from the computer.

By: Celeste

Celeste — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:02:57 +0000

Very true and super advice. I can’t say how many times I’ve written and rewritten a section until it finally drives the story forward where you want it to go. Sometimes you even like the drivel a little bit and think you want to save it, maybe even recycle it. So like Diana, I keep an “outtakes” file that makes me feel safer. I can look at the outtakes any time I feel like it. I almost never re-use outtakes though. They never seem to fit anywhere! But I’m okay with that.

By: Lianne

Lianne — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:34:47 +0000

Thanks so much for the great advice! I had this story idea that I loved but, I stopped writting because I felt the story was going nowhere. But, I think that I am going to go back and try to work with the idea some more!

By: lisa

lisa — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:12:23 +0000

[Square brackets, I love them!]

I use them all the time! Sometimes I write [something] or [no idea], other times it’s a more specific marker like [Sunny Side Hotel night].

Another thing I use is the XX. I never stop writing to check details so I use an X-marks-the-spot scheme. Then when I’m rewriting/uninspired I can return, do a little research/thought and fill in the missing details. Like, on the 14th day I walked XXkms, he rang XX times, etc. My current manuscript has a lot of XXs.

By: Diana Peterfreund

Diana Peterfreund — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:56:57 +0000

Great advice, Justine. Another thing I’ve noticed is that when I’m stuck in writing, it’s often because I’m doing something that I know in my gut is “wrong.” So I just go back a scene or two and start again. You don’t have to delete. Just put stuff you want to get rid of in a “cut” file and start over.