Should I just skip those chapters?

How about skipping the chapters that are bugging you, getting into the chapter you're excited about?
But while you're working on the chapter that excites you, make notes as to how the characters' previous development would affect the present. Also, what actions they would have taken to get to where they are now. Really, just a variation of your jot method, but sort of retroactively. After all, maybe what's exciting you about the next chapter are ideas that you can use to spark a sort of backfilling of information.

Yeah, it's totally okay to write out of order! I never did that until my last novel, and then the very first scene I wrote was one smack in the middle of the story. Now, that scene did go through a pretty large rewrite later on, BUT... writing that scene first got me psyched to write the rest of the novel. This novel was also the first for me where I wrote out the gist of each scene on a notecard and put the cards in order. That way, I had a collection of scenes to write and would be able to go, "Okay, I need to transition from card D to card E. Knowing what I know about my characters, what's something that can happen that makes sense, advances the novel, and makes everything flow smoothly?" And then I'd go walk anywhere from 3-a zillion miles, which is where/how ideas come best to me (sometimes it would take a few walks), and I'd figure out what needed to happen.

So yes! Go ahead and write out of order. You can always go back and change things!

Ditto the write out of order advice. And, there's no rule about going back and editing your first draft stuff before you've completed it. In your case, it might help you get focused on these problematical portions that are hanging you up.

caw

So . . . the answer you wanted was to keep on doing what you are currently doing, which isn't working. So why ask the question?

caw

Lots of published, well-known authors write out of order - don't worry! I used to write chronologically too, but I wasn't getting very much done. I was worried that if I wrote all the "fun" scenes/chapters that the others would never get done, but it ended up fine. When I wanted to write action scenes, I wrote action scenes. When I wanted to write reflective/slow scenes, I wrote that. When I wanted to write witty banter, I wrote that. For the most part, I almost always had a "mood" the filled every type of scene required. For the ones you *never* seem to want to write, try to decipher why - they may not be necessary, or you might have to change them to make them more exciting. My beta readers *always* seemed to know when I was bored writing a scene, so you don't want that to come through in your writing.

Step 1 of Writer's block removal.
Treat it like a brick wall.
Step 2.
Write, break the brick wall, just get the words out there.
Step 3.
Whatever it looks like, once you have a first draft, you have something to work with. The hardest part is the creating, equal to getting the clay. Shaping it once its there is easier, because while it might be malformed on first attempt, you know what you wanted it to be, and now you can rectify mistakes.

When it came to my NaNoWriMo draft with chapters that I hadn't like before even writing them, I skipped them completely. Turned out in the next draft that they were somewhat useless and were contributed to other chapters that did fit.

I personally would not skip it. I would power through it, even if with just the bare minimum of what those scenes require, and then go back and fix it later. I'd also suggest to keep notes you think of in a separate section or document from where you do the actual writing.

I just generally write through it. I figure once I'm done writing and have the first draft I can go back and edit and fix everything that ended up being crap. It's a first draft it doesn't have to be perfect.

KayMitch said:

I just generally write through it. I figure once I'm done writing and have the first draft I can go back and edit and fix everything that ended up being crap. It's a first draft it doesn't have to be perfect.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Great idea. I think that writing it all out, without being too strict on yourself, and then editing is the best idea as well.

Just my two cents!

My solution to not liking the way a piece works is to print it out and go at it with a red pen angry T.A. style. Circle the parts that don't work, make notes in the margin, be harsh but helpful.

To get myself in the mood, sometimes I watch scenes that are disastrously bad that ruined shows or movies that I otherwise liked. My go-to is the Season 3, Episode 9 of Battlestar Galactica titled "Unfinished Business". The writer actually won a Nebula Award for this horrendously awful suspension-of-disbelief killing episode's screenplay... a thing that truly shocks me. Now, if you're worried that criticizing your own work will just discourage you, then maybe be nicer to yourself than I would. The key is to try to have fun with the self-critique. Personally, I find myself to be a motivating critic of myself... probably owing to my own incredibly inflated opinion of myself. I mean, I've never won a Nebula Award... who am I to judge? Well, I'm the guy that watched that episode destroy my interest in Battlestar Galactica... taking the show from amazing work of lofty high minded science fiction to a dumb story about histrionic people punching each other in the face for no discernible or sensible reason.

If you haven't seen it... in my opinion it was horrifically shallow writing. If you disagree, that's fine but what's important is that you enjoy what YOU have written and that it meets your artistic goals. To me this was horrible and I find it motivating that this guy is very successful, yet I find his works should be unconscionable for a professional.

My criticisms: The fight choreography was bad. The motivations were forced. The premise was flimsy. The dialogue was at times adolescent and speaks volumes of insecurity that actually undermined their characters as sober rational adults. The tone was divorced from the driving motivations of these characters and the plot. Absolutely none of this displayed any intellectual understanding of actual modern warrior military philosophy while it plainly attempted to tap into some kind of withered bushido fanboyism.

As a veteran of the US Army, I would have had each of them court martialed and possibly relieved of duty for engaging in reckless behavior that endangered the mission (not to mention the survival of the human race) because getting/giving concussions in a pickup boxing/grudge match when critically engaged with an enemy is horrifically irresponsible and, capital sin, it did not contribute much of substance to the story or character development; from my perspective it was a nonsensical, low-stakes, over-dramatized, bullshit conflict.

Ask how it could have been made better: 1. Drop boxing altogether as a conflict medium if combat sports are not your strong point. 2. Supply a character building motivating factor that moves beyond playing 'punch face' with each other to prove something more than a bipolar mania fantasy. 3. Raise the stakes of the conflict! Nothing was really invested here and nothing was gained. 4. If there must be violent macho-idiot chest thumping, give it a pulse that would make a cardiologist nervous. 5.Contribute to the plot or else the entire thing is just filler. 6.Involve fewer characters, focus on just two combatants.

Example, with criticisms mentioned above on how I would have improved it, just from spitballing the ideas and having identified what I feel didn't work.

The conflict is now between just two people. They are not in a ring but are instead locked into a dark confined space (the hangar bay for example).

One character, say the chief, is being extorted to commit some act of sabotage due to an enemy Cylon having taken his infant child hostage. He has a plan to take down the Cylon hostage taker but to do that he's got to immobilize or kill his opponent. He is at a disadvantage due to not being a combat trained soldier, so he will have to fight dirty and ruthlessly. His enemy is Lee Adama (because I feel that character was badly underdeveloped throughout the series). Chief has internal conflict but he'd do anything for his family. Lee Adama believes that the chief must be a Cylon despite everything he knows about Chief so he is desperate, confused and enraged at the betrayal.

Firearms are almost useless in the dark (making better use of melee combat to heighten the intimate nature of the fighting). They set about completely brutalizing one another over the span of the episode while other characters go about their day in blissful ignorance... juxtaposing how chaotic life aboard the BG vessel has become with the drama plays out in harsh terms in the hangar bay. Resolution of the conflict in either characters favor, even if both survive and get what they want will have terrible consequences for everyone which both develops the character and adds interpersonal conflict between characters that can last an entire series.

And that's how I fix scenes or chapters that don't work.

Stop. Stop, stop, STOP.

Do not do the thing. I'm not saying you can't write out of order, that's fine if it's your jam, but it is clearly not your jam. You've already told us the problem, and it has nothing to do with 'But this scene is boring!" You're thinking you have a 2nd Act problem, but it's a 1st Act problem, so back it up.

You've already said that you're writing your characters badly on purpose just to make them do something. You said it happened about 2k back from where you are now. That's good, because it means you might only have to lose about 4k of work. Look at your outline, and fingerwalk backwards until you hit the good stuff again. You said you can't switch in and out of editor mode, so we're not going to try do complicated surgery- it's field amputation time. Chop that sucker off, drop it into your writer's graveyard, and do not, do not, do NOT look back. No editing, just tell yourself you didn't get that far after all. Or that the save file got deleted and you have to start over. Whatever you have to tell yourself to get through it.

Then, before you try going forward again, make sure you have a plan. A good plan. Grab yourself a drink, hop in a bubble bath, relax. And think to yourself, "WHY do none of my characters want to do Plot Point X?" Because if you can't answer that, you're going to come staggering back in another 10k like a dayplayer in a horror film, and you'll have nothing to show for it.

I think we're similar writers. I've been in your position and I tried really hard to write out of order, but I just couldn't do it. I've learned over time that if I don't want to write a scene or chapter, it's because it's not right - often for the same reason as yours (the characters aren't acting as they should), sometimes other reasons. Rather than ignore it and hope it goes away by skipping to different chapters, I need to figure out the problem and fix it. Sometimes this does take a long time.

Writing scenes out of order is probably the best-tasting cough syrup in the world.