tips

Start at the beginning, work your way through the middle and when you get to the end, stop.

Not my words, I can't remember whose they are, but they offer great advice to the new writer. Plow ahead, don't look back, and stop caring if the first draft makes sense. Write the darned book, and then write another one. Stuffing your head with rules while writing a first draft will certainly 'stuck' you. Pour on the emotion, follow tangents, play and enjoy the first draft of your first novel. My favorite thing to do when stuck is to consider: What is the worst possible thing that could happen right now? Make it happen. Have fun. Writing is fun.

What Siddow is so true. I get hung up on "reading" about all the rules and what other writers do to get "unstuck", but honestly, I don't think a lot of them sink into my head.

Just go to some other scene you want in the story and write it. As it's a first draft it doesn't really matter how together it is. You will have all the chances in the world when you go back and edit the whole thing.

I myself finally decided to do more of a character study of my characters, and that seems to have unstuck me. With character plots it could be a good thing to get you started, if you get more personal with your characters. One of their attributes or faults may stir up more ideas for scenes.

Each novel you write, and you should write more than one, you will have a different approach, a different method, and all the rules you made for yourself before, won't apply the next time.

Good luck and hope we helped.

Cheers

embrace said:

I’ve read the sticky thread on top of this page “Index to the Writing with Uncle Jim Thread” and I’m a newbie so apologies if this has been done before. I’m a student and I enjoy writing in my spare time and have been working on a novel, I have lots of ideas, storylines, written various parts of the book, made profiles for the characters. However I have now become stuck, although I’m getting ideas everyday I don’t know how to put it all together, any tips? Thanks x

Click to expand...

Tip one. Much the same as Siddow's. Just start at the beginning and write the book.

Tip Two. Don't try to make things fit unless they want to fit. Character profiles are nice, but maybe your characters don't fit the profile. Ideas are great, but sometimes they don't belong. A storyline can be wonderful, but it may not be the one this novel needs. So just start at the beginning and write the book.

And Tip Three: "Tips" spelled backwards is "spit," so take any tip for what it's worth to you, and no more.