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I'm just wondering what you guys do when you are stuck in your writing and in a rut when you can't go further in your story at the time. I have sorta figured out that if i just sit back and think about a few things, things usually fall into place ( after some quick revisions ) and then it goes better for me. Let me know how you guys handle it and if you have any advice on how I can do things differently or what. Posts: 340 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Well, this past week I handled it by breaking my diet....but that's not something I recommend.
Get up and exercise. Read a book. Play with the kitties. (Get that laser pointer thing like they sell in office supply stores for presentations...they go NUTS!) Put aside your project and work on a short story. (I did this for the entire month of April and wrote a dozen of 'em.) Get some housework done. (I don't really recommend that one either. )
quote:Get some housework done. (I don't really recommend that one either. )
Actually cleaning your enviroment might help claen your mind. Today I had a lull in work so I cleaned up my station a bit, and the whole world seemed brighter. (But that's neither hear not there.)
Sometimes when my story goes sour I just keep going. I'm not saying it's good, or even useful. (Lika Fantasy story I was doing, I hit a brick wall so I started writing Garbage and somehow a Nuke showed up and blew the world up. But then I went back and deleted the stuff.) I back out and look at the story, I may have made a mistake somewhere unseen that leads to the wall.
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I've been working on the same novel for a long time and when I hit the wall I work on other aspects of the story . Maps or filing notes or inventing new species. Once in a while I go to a different "favorite" scene and play with that. Posts: 397 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I just started using the method that Tom Stoppard apparently uses. He "hopscotches" between plays. He works every day, but when he's stuck on a play he switches to another one till he's ready to come back to the first. It's working quite well for me as a way of using procrasination on one story to finish another.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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It is my personal philosophy that procrastination has its place. (I think there are other such things--which we tend to consider negatively--that also have their places. The challenge is figuring out how to use them in constructive ways instead of destructive ways.)
Mainly I use procrastination when there's something I want to eat that I shouldn't (like seconds on brownies--I tell myself I can have it later).
I'm always on the lookout for other ways it can be useful, so thanks, MaryRobinette.
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If I get stuck I take a look at my rough outline and try to make it more detailed for the next chapter or so. Thinking about where you're going after the scene you're writing often seems to help with it.
Failing that I write "FIXME: the following needs rewriting" and write junk. That's just my way of tricking my internal editor: if he knows that I've marked the place and will come back to it, then he's not so fussy.
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If I gt stuck I back up to a place where I was not stuck and go from there, redoing the words up the where I hit the wall.
I also save the stuff I take out just in case I decide later it wasn't suck a sticky spot after all.
Oh and I do clean when I am stuck--often helps a lot to fix my surroundings if nothing else my brain says HOUSEWORK! are you nuts sit down and write it's more fun.
And the laser pointers are a hot we have one that projects different things. Recommended by 5 out of 6 cats in our house--TomTom, the Siamese, refuses to chase the red dot.
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For me, when I can't write, I usually discover it's because I don't know where I'm going next with the story, and my focus needs to be put on thinking it through a little, figuring out what happens in the next scene, rather than just forcing myself to write.
Posts: 292 | Registered: Feb 2004
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My experiences with Siamese would support Shawn's description. Most of them are far too dignified to chase after some silly laser light.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Poor Monolith is going to be busy trying all these wonderful suggestions out. The point being that there are many solutions to the problem and no one solution will work for every writer. I've found myself doing MANY of these, and they all work well.
But I'll throw in one more--switch to a writing exercise, something totally new, something you've never even thought about. Look around your workspace or some other aspect of your environment, pick something and write about it. Maybe that pencil in your pencil can that has the eraser worn down to the nub, or that crushed up piece of paper on the floor, or the smear of bird poop on the window. Whatever. Sometimes it can jumpstart your brain.
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