I have come to a point where I really cannot think of the next step, I have the arc of my story and where I want to go but I am at a loss as to what to write next.
Do any of you know of any sort of writing exercises that I can do that will engage the story, the characters or the world while potentially providing material for the rest of the story itself?
I'm just drawing a blank and I would like to get back to writing this. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
The ending of a conventional story of resolution is the emotionally satisfying, unequivocal, and irrevocable resolution of a protagonist's want and problem wanting satisfaction, or dramatic complication. Sometimes also labeled dramatic conflict, though conflict as I know it is mutually exclusive, contending stakes and outcomes, like life or death, riches or rags, acceptance or rejection, salvation or condemnation, etc.
Beginning at the beginning, what is the protagonist's want and problem wanting satisfaction?
Beginning at the ending, what is the final outcome of the protagonist's want and problem wanting satisfaction?
Throughout, what is the antagonizing force of the want and problem dramatic complication that upsets emotional equilibrium from the beginning and escalates until returning to a new emotional equilibrium in the denouement or final act outcome?
Where you are now in the storyline, is there a want and problem antagonism scenario?
Asking these questions and other who, when, and where (context), and what, why, and how (texture) questions and developing answers are for me fundamental writing exercises.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Try writing it one page at a time---even if you have to stop in the middle of a sentence---then stop for the day (or the hour), and see if that'll engage you beyond what you've got.
Posted by EVOC (Member # 9381) on :
When I hit that wall, I just write. By that I mean I just keep writing about what the characters would be doing.
I write about brushing their teeth, a game of monopoly they played, or what ever else I need to write until I break through that wall. And often in doing this, I discover more about the characters.
Either way, at least I am still writing.
Posted by LDWriter2 (Member # 9148) on :
I've been there too. Sometimes I wait and something comes to mind. If it doesn't after awhile than I just write like EVOC.
I've heard that sometimes working on another project helps. I haven't noticed if that is the case with me but more than one writer does it.
Posted by Blake T (Member # 9461) on :
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'm going to try and get back on writing it shortly with some of these ideas.
Posted by legolasgalactica (Member # 10087) on :
When I get stuck, I just jump to another scene in the story and come back to it later. Sometimes I end up rewriting the place where I was stuck completely or even cometo realize that part is better left out.
Posted by Dirk Hairychest (Member # 10105) on :
If I feel confident that I have researched all I can, that I know my characters and my setting, my plot and subplots, and I am still at a loss, I stop thinking about it. I have found that my subconscious mind will continue working on the problem without me. Let yourself rest from the thing for a day a two. Clean up your work area, go for a walk, or take sitar lessons. Anything to take your mind off of the problem at hand.
In a while, while you are specifically NOT thinking about it, the answer will come to you. For me, this usually happens when I am alone in a semi-meditative state, like on the road or in the shower. Just be prepared to record that inspiration when it strikes.
Posted by genevive42 (Member # 8714) on :
Try free-writing about your story until you get unstuck. These are words that intended to go into the story, but about the story. That will often let your mind sort out what it needs to.
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
My process is obviously partly more deliberative than intuitive. I had doubts about a recent project's degree of dramatic magnitude. The hunch was intuitive, a middle step was deliberative, the final answer was part intuitive, part deliberative. Incorporating the solution was more deliberative.
The thought process redux: Not dramatic enough, maybe explosions and added confrontation will increase the drama. They can't be that simple; they must fit the story and plot and be set up and prepositioned for when they matter later and developed for when they matter most. The interaction has complications that obviate conventional explosions and confrontations. One of the confrontation complications is that the interactions as they emerge must be remote at first then eventually be direct and one-on-one. Vladimir Propp's hero's journey concept from Russian folklore offers a solution: there must be three initial refusals to engage until full engagement.
Refusals and denials and the like delay complication satisfaction and develop tension from developing curiosity and are part of antagonism. The force compelling confrontation is opposed by a force causing refusal: antagonism. Readers know denial must eventually become acceptance. So in the opening, a refusal to engage averts a first potential confrontation interaction. A second interaction comes closer to full contact. A third interaction comes closer to full contact. I don't know. Maybe it's one-two-three-go or go one three.
Go on three it is. The intuitive part was developing the context and texture of the motifs and the dramatic action.
Posted by alliedfive (Member # 7811) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blake T: Hello fellow writers!
I have the arc of my story and where I want to go but I am at a loss as to what to write next.
If you know where it's going, you could just write "that" scene. The one at the end. Then you can backfill to get there.
I have found that when I don't know what to write next I am usually bored and don't care what comes next.
Posted by Denevius (Member # 9682) on :
I once had a teacher tell me there's no such thing as writer's block. When you get to a point where words aren't forming on the page, it means you aren't writing about the thing you actually want to, or you're trying to write about something you don't want to.
If you continue to stare at the screen and nothing comes out, you might want to change the subject, or at least the perspective.