You get a great idea for a story, work out the background, start getting to know the characters...

start writing...

write a little more...

and get so whacking bored you stop about ten pages in?

HELP!

When you "got to know" the characters, did you write it all down?

Having backgrounds and descriptions of the characters really helps to keep things going, especially if at least one character has a personality quirk. If you get bored, just think of something amusing for the quirky character to say or do. This can be humorous, dangerous, or whatever.

Have you ever watched Seinfeld closely? I believe that show set a high standard for the most laughs per minute using a trick like this. Picture Jerry & Elain keeping the story going with plot intensive dialogue. The show has gone a full thirty seconds without a laugh . . . what to do?

Suyddenly Kramer enters the room. Kramer gets a laugh just by walking through the door (always off balance). It had nothing to do with the story, but it keeps up the laugh level enough that Jerry and Elain can continue with their plot-focused dialogue.

You have probably seen something similar in James Bond movies. Suppose you are writing a Bond story in which 007 needs to discover a plot-important secret about the Evil Doctor X. You could have him overhear a conversation, but that would mean a minute or more of just sitting quiently and listening. Bond audiences don't like to watch Bond sit and listen for a whole 60 seconds! Better to have him seduce the secret out of a beautiful woman who has no other role in the movie.

But usually this occurs when I think of an overall concept and get bored with the details. Sometimes in the details I forget about why I liked the overall concept to begin with. One of the things I've found that really helps is to back away and look at the big picture again. Usually detailing can be more tedious than just seeing the big picture - the big picture can be motivating in and of itself. THink about why you originally thought it was a good idea to begin with and perhaps it will help motivate you towards the story again.

Let Kohn and Eleen and the rest go for it--listen to them without thinking about the story you set out to write---let a detour happen and you will be surprised when the story comes back to where you envisioned it---after letting the characters speak.

Sound odd? Well it may be since it is advice coming from a person who rarely plots--and sleeps even less. But I think every writer experiences such things--the dead story syndrome. Add a “bomb” to the story and see what happens. Or stop the scene you are working on and go on to another—eventually you will blend the two. Often times I force myself through the boring parts to get to the “good” stuff and find later that the boring parts were needed to make the story work.

If I dont feel better after a couple of games, I put the story on a 'back-burner'. I work on another story for a while, or start something new. I always get the inspiration or ideas i want and come back to it later. Of course, I dont pay the bills with writing, so I can afford to relax when I have to.

But hey, that's just me!

Arron Barringer

A story doesn't have to be written in the order in which it will be read. (By the way, and for your information, the previous sentence is in passive voice.)

If you write the parts that are most interesting to you, when they are most interesting to you, they are more likely to succeed with readers.

If you wait until you get to that part by writing things that come before it in the text first, you may not be as interested in that part by the time you get to it.

Also, when a story gets boring, it might be because you've worn out the ideas you already have for it. Several of the suggestions above boil down to just adding more ideas to the story.

One idea is never enough to sustain a story, and sometimes even two ideas are not enough.

Then I can go back and write about how he got it, why, and why he's after the giant. If something comes out of that chapter, say a unique power of the medalion that I hadn't thought of earlier, I'll work it back into the fight scene. Or perhaps because I wrote the conflict first, I discover something about the medalion I hadn't thought of that makes its origin that much more exciting to wirte.

It's not like the pieces are written in isolation. I can make reference to something I haven't written because, well, I'm going to write it. If it happens to change when I write it, I'll change the reference. In my example above the medalion is crucial to the conflict scene, but there are questions about the how and why of it. That's what I fill in later, when it suits me to do so.

Writing scenes or chapters or whatever out of chronological sequence is a bit easier to do if you have an outline.

And if something changes that you have to go back and fix, you're going to have to go back and fix stuff anyway--unless you never rewrite.

My point is that you should do whatever works.

Part of my solution was to remove stuff -- the idea that started the story became scenery. By keeping the story shorter, I was able to keep the plot moving.

The problem this story had -- moreso than others I've written -- is that one of the characters was a dis-embodied brain hooked to a computer. She can talk, read, manipulate others to her will, etc -- but not really DO anything. I needed to keep it to-the-point, else the reader say, "so what?"

It clocked in around 4kwords, so it might not be too boring.

Aside:

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Chad would probably re-align the periodic table into square root whole numbers that end in pie

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Nah... I'd write a program to do it FOR me. Heh.

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Heh heh, very nice. I was wondering what your reply would be. You topped it. Oh, too funny. And congrats on finding the fix. Sounds interesting, disembodied head and all.

Guess I better say something on topic...

Ahem... Um, I write out of chronological order as well, then connect the scenes with storyline later.

There. I feel better.

If you're stopping for one day, you might be tired (writers have lives, too). You might not be in the mood to do straight writing. I get in those moods too. Those are perfect moods to go back and do editing or correct the work and re-read it.

Which can jumpstart your creativity when you see something that's good and you really want to change it.

Sometimes you stop after ten pages because your "creativity" isn't coming in, because you've stifled it. A lot of people get an idea and hold onto it like a dog with a bone, but once you've got your bone, why keep digging?

Never follow any idea off of a cliff, no matter how good it is. Be willing to totally change it at a moment's notice, because if that's where your thoughts and your creativity (your Muse) is leading you, then you'd better follow or else that Muse will keep going and you will be left behind with a dead story.

You're a writer. Writers don't get the luxury of security. We have to hang our guts out there, all the time. And we don't get paid until the guts are out there in a finished product and people like them.

As far as chronological order goes, write which ever way works for you.

Another question: Have you ever had three or four good ideas all at once and could not decide which one to run with?

- Meg

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"Today we think of all dirt as the same. That's dirt, that's dirt, that's dirt. I am here to tell you now that all dirt is *not* created equal."
- Robert Briley
The Dust Bowl

What I find is my various ideas have different feels, different themes, different approaches, all of which allow me to write what best reflects my mood or inspiration at the time. I rarely have trouble finding something to work on because of that variation. If I'm in a deep, introspective mood, I've got a very personal journey piece; the light, playful mood has a hero's journey piece; my gritty mood has an urban dark fantasy piece. All very different, and all very interesting to me. And all moving forward at their own pace.

Working this way is sometimes as frustrating as it is helpful. On the one hand they sit and stew on the back burner, simmering until a particularly savory flavor emerges on the page. This, as I said above, keeps things fresh as I don't try to force anything. I let the stories tell me when they're ready. Of course this also leads to not working on a piece for a while, if it's not ready, if I don't feel it. For instance, I haven't worked on my personal story in quite a while, working on the other pieces. I'm not really frustrated at this, it's just a fact. But it also means the story isn't getting written yet (and probably shouldn't be if I'm not in the mood?).

Of course there are times when I'm not in the mood to work on any of them, but feel the urge to write. That's when I toy with flash pieces or song lyrics (I'm very raw and not yet good at lyrics, but I try). When I'm in these moods I try to have some good music on to inspire.

Well, work interrupted my message, and I've lost my train of thought and flow. So I'll end it here. I think I said everything I meant to.

Later!

MC1 (main char) gets into minor situation A. MC2 comes along resolves minor situation A in such a manner that it scares MC1. MC2 exits stage left, MC1 gets gear they need for later in the story.

Who says? If it is 'others' that critique the story... then I would think of a way to use their idea,(if I had a nickel for every bright idea people came up with...) but if it just wont work then go with what feels right in the long run...

If it's the 'character' that is saying that to you (aside from counseling) then you need to maintain consistancy in the character unless there is a reason for a shift in the characters personality.

I have had to scrap several scenes in the past because I have realized that no, she would not just shoot him. and I have to figure something else out.

I dont know if I helped or not. The question felt a bit cryptic.

I guess I'm a little late on this part...oh well. When I have multiple ideas I can usually write them out in my head. It's almost like watching a movie, I see the scenes, what the characters are thinking, the diolauge, everything. I usually carry them to the point when I know which one will fit with what I want the story to be, and then only write those ideas out.

The ones that don't fit aren't a total waste of time, though. I almost always have some element I cam pull from them to make the story richer, more realistic.And if not... oh well. I write for fun, because I like to write, and thinking the scenes out is the best part.

Ni!

And it's because it's not a character issue. It's a plot issue. You have a big hole to fill, and you're padding things until you can get to the next even.

Don't do that. It just worsens your work. Sit down and plan out your plot. Make a brief sketch of what's going to happen, a skeleton plot, and then run with it. Now don't stick to the skeleton plot like somebody Elmered your butt to it, but have a good idea of EVENTS.

This is an EVENT issue. When you run out of EVENTS, then you turn to your characters and say "Okay, be interesting for a few pages until they action starts again."

Don't do that. Nobody should be forced to be that interesting, and most writers can't make them that interesting.

-Meg

No you don’t want to leave the out of character and boring stuff in there, but when you are stuck go with it if that’s what it takes to go to the next “good” part. Not all writers can see past the “I wouldn’t do that.” to the next action scene no matter how much they think about plot.

Later when a friend was proofreading for me, he pointed out that the character was not present in the scene. It was as if the character materialized out of nowhere, said a line, then vanished again.

Oops! It was essential to my plot for the character to be somewhere else at that moment. I could not bring the character back.

But the line was important, so I gave it to another character.