Hi scribes!
Recently, I got really stuck on something. I just wanted to share my experience, in case it might help someone else. It wasn't writer's block, but I wouldn't argue with folks who believe in such to call it that. What happened, was I didn't know where to go next. This is how I set about trying to figure it out.
First, I'll preface the tool by saying that I'm not an advocate of any particular process on organizing. Basically, if it works for you, do it. And if it doesn't, either adapt it or scrap it. I'm not a terribly organized person on a day-to-day basis, but I put in many hours in organizing things in the first place, and then I maintain for months, only doing spring cleaning when things get cluttered. This method took a little bit of prep time, and I imagine someone with Excel skills could have made a spreadsheet in half the time. But my hubby was at work, so out the dry-erase markers came.
Okay, to begin with, my problem wasn't unique, but my will to conquer it was. As in, I often feel "stuck" on a scene or chapter, but usually a few days' break from writing helps me get some new ideas that push me through the issues. That didn't happen this time. Four days after getting stuck, I still wasn't any closer to figuring out what I needed. My problem was simple: I had a character who was in a specific situation, and I needed to get her to the next situation...without being boring!
I began by writing without editing. I plugged about 2-3k words into a couple chapters, and while I was progressing in the story, the words were flat, the scenes were underwhelming, and the general result was just fit for a delete-fest. I can't keep any of it.
So today, as I was wondering what to do on day five of the stuckness...I had an idea. I'd go to my notebook and sort out all my subplots, and decide which of them are active in this brand new chapter four I'm trying to write. Okay, easy enough. Right? Well...no, it wasn't. I didn't have subplots actually written somewhere. And they were sort of jumbled in my mind. For instance, one subplot is a love story. But at the beginning of the book, the MC hates this guy she'll get to know better later in the story. So do I call it a love story subplot, then, if it isn't yet?
I got things really twisted up in my head, and it made scribbling in a notebook difficult. New tactic. I made a chart. I wrote each chapter number on X, and then on Y, I wrote the subplot title specifically. The results were a chart, where I'd mark (+) for increasing the importance of a subplot, (-) for decreasing the importance of it in a tangible way, something like a red herring or the character making a choice not to pursue a specific thing, (O) for a plot's conclusion, and (X) for a challenge that directly affected the character and related to the subplot in question.
Whew. So yeah, I have a chart with a bunch of symbols all over it, and it's a little hard to read because I couldn't include the specifics of each WAY I used the plot. Hmm...new tactic.
I got my dry erase board from the basement. Oh man, I'm sort of a spider graph kinda gal, but my board is the size of a legal writing pad...so not good for doodles and notes. I need a classroom, I'm sure, but gotta work with what we have, right?
I made a similar chart again, but in this case, I just wanted to break my chapters into scenes. In each scene, then, I'll be able to see which subplots are active (reusing my symbols I made up the first time).
Bingo...I have now got a chart of each subplot, which scenes it appears in, and where the subplots hit snags, get concluded, or where the stakes are raised.
I came to this only because I'm writing a chapter that falls right in the middle of Act 1, and I'm not sure what I should be doing here. I know what happens next, but it felt like this act sort of developed a saggy middle without me actually writing any words at all. My mind got a saggy middle, I guess. But now that I have my subplots charted, I don't feel so overwhelmed. I can see which category needs a (X) or which needs to be (+)'d and I'll be able to find some appropriate activities or actions or choices to fill the necessary voids.
I guess the reason I decided to make a chart was because I wanted a visual representation of where certain plots begin, how they grow, and where they terminate, so I can properly gauge which elements should be in this chapter I'm writing between two already-written ones. At a glance, now, I can tell where a question was raised and not answered for too long, or where I opened up a situation that should be tense, but let it sputter out because I didn't come back to it quickly. I could also see if I was working the same plot in too many scenes, maybe dragging it on too long without a resolution.
Hope this might help someone else who is tackling a rewrite or otherwise having frustrations in connecting "A" to "D" and unable to find what "B" and "C" should be.
Writing is hard work, and while it's super fun to get to the really moving or juicy bits, sometimes you get stuck in a corner, and just have to paint your way back out of it somehow. Hope this helps someone!
Recently, I got really stuck on something. I just wanted to share my experience, in case it might help someone else. It wasn't writer's block, but I wouldn't argue with folks who believe in such to call it that. What happened, was I didn't know where to go next. This is how I set about trying to figure it out.
First, I'll preface the tool by saying that I'm not an advocate of any particular process on organizing. Basically, if it works for you, do it. And if it doesn't, either adapt it or scrap it. I'm not a terribly organized person on a day-to-day basis, but I put in many hours in organizing things in the first place, and then I maintain for months, only doing spring cleaning when things get cluttered. This method took a little bit of prep time, and I imagine someone with Excel skills could have made a spreadsheet in half the time. But my hubby was at work, so out the dry-erase markers came.
Okay, to begin with, my problem wasn't unique, but my will to conquer it was. As in, I often feel "stuck" on a scene or chapter, but usually a few days' break from writing helps me get some new ideas that push me through the issues. That didn't happen this time. Four days after getting stuck, I still wasn't any closer to figuring out what I needed. My problem was simple: I had a character who was in a specific situation, and I needed to get her to the next situation...without being boring!
I began by writing without editing. I plugged about 2-3k words into a couple chapters, and while I was progressing in the story, the words were flat, the scenes were underwhelming, and the general result was just fit for a delete-fest. I can't keep any of it.
So today, as I was wondering what to do on day five of the stuckness...I had an idea. I'd go to my notebook and sort out all my subplots, and decide which of them are active in this brand new chapter four I'm trying to write. Okay, easy enough. Right? Well...no, it wasn't. I didn't have subplots actually written somewhere. And they were sort of jumbled in my mind. For instance, one subplot is a love story. But at the beginning of the book, the MC hates this guy she'll get to know better later in the story. So do I call it a love story subplot, then, if it isn't yet?
I got things really twisted up in my head, and it made scribbling in a notebook difficult. New tactic. I made a chart. I wrote each chapter number on X, and then on Y, I wrote the subplot title specifically. The results were a chart, where I'd mark (+) for increasing the importance of a subplot, (-) for decreasing the importance of it in a tangible way, something like a red herring or the character making a choice not to pursue a specific thing, (O) for a plot's conclusion, and (X) for a challenge that directly affected the character and related to the subplot in question.
Whew. So yeah, I have a chart with a bunch of symbols all over it, and it's a little hard to read because I couldn't include the specifics of each WAY I used the plot. Hmm...new tactic.
I got my dry erase board from the basement. Oh man, I'm sort of a spider graph kinda gal, but my board is the size of a legal writing pad...so not good for doodles and notes. I need a classroom, I'm sure, but gotta work with what we have, right?
I made a similar chart again, but in this case, I just wanted to break my chapters into scenes. In each scene, then, I'll be able to see which subplots are active (reusing my symbols I made up the first time).
Bingo...I have now got a chart of each subplot, which scenes it appears in, and where the subplots hit snags, get concluded, or where the stakes are raised.
I came to this only because I'm writing a chapter that falls right in the middle of Act 1, and I'm not sure what I should be doing here. I know what happens next, but it felt like this act sort of developed a saggy middle without me actually writing any words at all. My mind got a saggy middle, I guess. But now that I have my subplots charted, I don't feel so overwhelmed. I can see which category needs a (X) or which needs to be (+)'d and I'll be able to find some appropriate activities or actions or choices to fill the necessary voids.
I guess the reason I decided to make a chart was because I wanted a visual representation of where certain plots begin, how they grow, and where they terminate, so I can properly gauge which elements should be in this chapter I'm writing between two already-written ones. At a glance, now, I can tell where a question was raised and not answered for too long, or where I opened up a situation that should be tense, but let it sputter out because I didn't come back to it quickly. I could also see if I was working the same plot in too many scenes, maybe dragging it on too long without a resolution.
Hope this might help someone else who is tackling a rewrite or otherwise having frustrations in connecting "A" to "D" and unable to find what "B" and "C" should be.
Writing is hard work, and while it's super fun to get to the really moving or juicy bits, sometimes you get stuck in a corner, and just have to paint your way back out of it somehow. Hope this helps someone!
Last edited:
Sage
Inkling
