Stalled out

I've tried any and all combinations of what you described. Yes, they work for me, but since every stall is different, different techniques work better at different times.

Other things to try:

Brainstorming in a notebook. For me, pen and paper work best for this rather than trying to type it in. Write down questions about what's bothering you in the story, write down answers as they come to you, keep writing down questions and answers until they start sparking ideas. Write down anything that comes to mind, no matter how silly your inner editor might think it is. By writing it down, it helps put form to the problem you're trying to solve, and you have a record of your thought processes.

Give yourself permission to write dreck. Have you looked at the "Learn Writing with Uncle Jim" threads yet in the Novels forum? UJ has a permission certificate you can print out and hang over your desk. You're writing a rough draft. It doesn't have to be perfect - remember, you're going to revise it later. So let yourself experiment with the story. Let yourself play and make mistakes. Even if you later cut what you've written, it was still worth writing simply as practice at putting words on the page.

If you're not sure how to get from point A to point B, then consider how to get to point A.5 (somewhere in between the two). Consider where your characters are in the story, think about a short-term goal they can reach, and write up to that point. Then do it again. And again. Eventually, you might reach point B, or you might reach point C which is somewhere that showed up on the road your characters took.

Whatever you do, keep writing. The goal of a first draft is to reach an ending. Any ending. Later, once you have the whole story on the page, you can see the big picture and decide whether it's the story you wanted to tell. It's all good practice.

Hope this helps!

The dreaded A to B route. I've been there and it's no fun. What I always do is ask myself what happens next. I liken it to coming to a crossroads with three paths to take. If I take path A with my character, he/she may run into X problem. Path B will lead him/her to temporary glory, and path C will drop my MC into the bowels of an alien hell.

Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? I give myself these three scenarios and see where they go. It doesn't matter if my writing is dreck or praiseworthy. I just write out those scenarios, choose one, keep the other two on file, and take the WiP from there. It does take more time, but the end result is a lot better. And I'm NOT afraid to go back and change the 'path' just in case.

I tend to walk away from it after a while and either read or watch TV. A few bells here and there go off while I am not focusing on my story and I end up coming up with something different than what I was trying to do before and what I just watched.

Sometimes I get motivation in bed. No, literally.

As I lay in bed at night, I often find my mind wandering and wondering.

I think about what I want to write, why, and how I'm going to do it.

The tricky part is getting back up and doing it.

I'm one of those weird guys who get motivated by night time and silence.

Give it a shot.

FantasticF said:

Sometimes I get motivation in bed. No, literally.

As I lay in bed at night, I often find my mind wandering and wondering.

I think about what I want to write, why, and how I'm going to do it.

The tricky part is getting back up and doing it.

I'm one of those weird guys who get motivated by night time and silence.

Give it a shot.

Click to expand...

This is pretty much how all my ideas come to me, either just laying there trying to go to sleep, or from dreams. My biggest problem is getting it all put onto paper or the computer while they are still in the forefront of my mind. Otherwise they just sit there and stagnate or get more and more into the idea that there is no way in heck I can get it down.

Keep a notebook and pen, or a smartphone with a voice recorder by your bed. On an idle morning when you don't need to leap out right away. Think about your story problem the second you wake up, or as soon as possible afterwards, and let the thoughts flow.

Some of my stickiest problems have been solved that way.

A trick I've heard about is to never stop writing at the end of a scene. Instead, end your writing session in the middle of a scene, so that on the next session, you already have a direction laid out for you and all you have to do is finish what you were last doing. Then you can begin part of a new scene (but don't complete it) for the next writing session.

Hope this helps,
Michel

Sometimes when I'm really stuck and blocked, I'll do a quick lead-out or pose a question and end that chapter. Starting a new chapter allows me to set up a new scene or change viewpoints. It's kind of an emergency measure but one that has really gotten me out of some jams.

tri