Getting Unstuck

I started writing novels four years ago. In that time, I’ve never experienced writer’s block, but I know that a lot of writers have run smack up against it, and I know that’s it’s real. I suppose I’ve been lucky so far.

That’s not to say, however, that my writing flows smoothly, like water from a faucet, every single day. I’m a pantser, which means I never outline my story in advance. Ever. At best, I might start the day with a vague notion of where I’m going next, but many’s the time when I sat down to write with no ideas at all. I look at what I wrote the previous day, stare at my screen, ask, “Now what?”, and I have no immediate answer. At this point, I wonder if this will be the time writer’s block rears its ugly head.

So far, I’ve always managed to break through any potential blocks rather quickly, and over time, through trial and effort, I’ve developed some strategies (or tactics: I’m always confusing the two terms) to make this happen. I’ve talked about a couple of these tactics (strategies?) on social media, and a few people have told me they were helpful, so I’m going to discuss them here. [NOTE: For purposes of this discussion, I’m assuming you are writing a novel or novella, rather than a short story, and that your story has characters and a plot.]

So there you are, staring at your screen or notepad, and your characters are staring back. “Move!” you command, but they just stand there. What do you do? Here’s a couple of things that work for me.

Ask yourself: What do your characters (all of them) want, and how do they plan to get it?

If you’re just starting your story, build a character or two in advance. Who are they? What do they do? What is their situation? But the most important thing you need to know about them is what they want and how they plan to get it. You can’t go far unless you know the answers to these two questions. Asking these questions will lead to other questions, such as: Who/what do they love? Who/what do they fear? What skills/talents/flaws/quirks make them unique? But for story purposes, what they want and how they plan to get it are key.

If I’m well into a story and stuck on how to proceed, I immediately ask these two questions of my characters, beginning with my main character and working through the other characters in the scene, and even characters who are not directly involved in the scene but lurking nearby. Given the current situation, what do my characters want at that moment? What do they want long term? Given their personalities, identities, duties, skills/talents, limitations/quirks, desires—what can they do in their current situation to get themselves closer to their goals, both immediate and long term? When you ask these questions of several characters, you are likely to find either cooperation or conflict. Both can help you to move forward.

Ask yourself: What is the purpose of this scene?

Every scene in your book must have a purpose, a reason to exist. It can be any number of things: it can give the main character an important piece of information; it can provide the main character with motivation; it can help the reader better understand a character, or a situation; it can provide atmosphere; it can provide foreshadowing; it can set up a new situation; it can push a character in one direction or another…. The list is nearly endless. But a scene with no purpose cannot be allowed to clutter your story. It must be eliminated, no matter how cool the scene is.

If I’m stuck on a scene, if the scene is just sitting there, stagnant, with no obvious way forward, I ask myself what I want from it. I give it a purpose. Often, I begin writing a scene before I know what the purpose is going to be, and giving it a purpose helps me to continue the scene and resolve it. But when I’ve finished one scene, and I’m really stuck on where the story should go next, identifying a purpose before writing the next scene will break the block and help me proceed. Don’t know what to write today? Your characters aren’t making their immediate desires known to you? Think instead about what you want your next scene to do. You want to help the reader better understand your character? Write a scene that will expose your character’s personality or psyche. You want to push a character toward an action or decision? Write a scene that will provide the proper motivation. You want your reader to better understand the setting your characters find themselves in? It might be time for some creative exposition and worldbuilding. Let the function of the next scene determine its form.

What to do when all else fails: Poke you characters with a stick.

Raymond Chandler’s advice for writers who were stuck in the middle of their story was to have two thugs with guns burst through the door. Chandler wrote noir detective stories, so his advice was appropriate for his genre. If you write something other than noir crime (but why would you?) find an equivalent. The idea is to introduce an outside element to stimulate movement in the situation you find yourself stuck in. Your characters aren’t providing you with any help? Radically change the situation they’re in. Introduce a complication that grabs your the immediate attention of your characters and forces them to act. Poke them. Shock them. Kick them in the butt. Stir the pot. Threaten them. Make them sweat. If you have to, shoot them. That’ll get ‘em moving!

To summarize:

Given the situation, what do your characters (all of them) want? Given who they are, what are they likely going to do to get it? What decisions, tensions, conflicts of interest, alliances, and resulting actions are likely to occur naturally from the desires and needs of your characters?

As a writer plotting a story, what do you want from the scene? How do you want the scene to further the plot, explain or develop the characters, explain or develop the situation, provide the reader with the proper mood or atmosphere, or otherwise move the story forward? Is your scene kind of cool, but just sitting there lacking purpose? Give it one. The purpose will help push the action and make the scene meaningful.

None of these questions are providing satisfactory answers, and you’re still uncertain how to proceed? Drop a bomb on the current situation, either metaphorically by complicating matters, or, if appropriate, literally. Nothing moves a story along more effectively than forcing the characters out of their comfort zone and compelling them to act.

Photo taken from: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/how-to/how-to-free-a-car-stuck-in-mud-guide/