Writers in the Storm

By Janice Hardy,
@Janice_Hardy

It happens to the best of us.

We’re writing along, happy as can be, and then WHAM! Our story stalls. We write a scene, scrap it, write it again, move pieces around, cut and paste the same paragraph in nine different spots, but nothing works.

We’re not blocked, just…stuck.

Most of the time, getting stuck is due to a plot or story issue. We just don’t know what happens next, so we get frustrated, and that frustration builds until we walk away from the keyboard and consider taking up botany (or the random hobby of your choice).

But once we figure out what we’re missing, the words start flowing and we can get back to writing.

It's figuring out that “what’s missing” part that gets us.

10 Ways to Get Your Story Moving Again

1. Take another look at your protagonist’s goals and motivations.

The wrong goal or motivation can keep a story from moving forward. Maybe the plot says the protagonist needs to do X, but your subconscious knows there's no way she’d do that and it doesn’t let you write in the wrong direction.

Look at your protagonist's motivations. What does she really want? What's at stake if she fails? Odds are high she’s lost sight of what she’s trying to accomplish and that's making it hard to go forward.

2. Re-examine your conflict and stakes.

Since stories are about overcoming a problem and avoiding the repercussions of failing, not having a strong problem with high stakes gives your characters nothing to overcome.

Maybe the conflict is more idea than a solid challenge to resolve, and you need to focus more on the specifics of how the protagonist solves that conflict. Maybe the stakes aren’t high enough so it doesn’t matter if the protagonist succeeds or not.

Think about the steps and tasks that must be completed to fix the plot problems, and what happens if that conflict isn’t resolved. 

3. Look at the backstory.

I know, sounds crazy, but sometimes you can't move forward because you haven't laid the right foundation for the story. You might need to add more information to provide the drive needed to move your protagonist to the next step. Or maybe you need to revise some history so it fits what the protagonist is doing now.

4. Reevaluate where your story is going.

Sometimes plots change as we write them and what we thought was going to happen turns out to be the wrong thing for the novel. Has your plot changed? Did it veer off to a more interesting direction?

Take a few minutes and look at the big picture. Maybe you’ve found a better way to tell your story, or you’ve followed a tangent too far off track.

5. Check where you’ve been.

Your subconscious might be spotting a problem with a repeated scene you haven’t noticed you’re repeating. Are you duplicating an event or plot point? For example, this is the third chase scene in row, of the second time your protagonist has had a heart-to-heart about the same issue. Or maybe you’re contradicting something from earlier in the story.

Trust your instincts. Sometimes they try to keep you from making a terrible mistake.

6. Look around.

Sometimes the right scene is in the wrong place—as in setting. The scene itself is fine, but the setting is stealing the conflict, or not adding enough tension, or not taking advantage of what’s going on.

Would the scene work better if you changed where it took place?

7. Move around.

If a scene feels like it ought to work, but doesn’t, that could indicate it’s in the wrong place in the novel. It might need more build up, or maybe it needs to happen before (or after) the character has learned information or experienced a critical moment in the book.

What happens if you move that scene to another spot in the novel? What if it happened earlier or later?

8. Talk to the antagonist.

If the antagonist isn’t causing trouble, the protagonist has nothing to overcome or fight against. A weak antagonist makes for a weak plot, and your muse might be picking up on that.

Have you been spending so much time on your protagonist that your antagonist's goals and motives are now weak or unbelievable? Maybe you need to shore up the villain's plan to get back on track.

9. Work through it outside the novel.

It’s easy to get caught up in the text itself, so try sitting down with a blank page and writing out what you feel is supposed to happen. Describe it as if you were telling a friend—no pressure, just casual conversation.

Sometimes writing it down before you "write" it down helps jar the sticky points loose. At the very least, it gives you the freedom to brainstorm and see how you can fix it.

10. Just write past it.

When all else fails, grit your teeth and write, even if you know it's more than likely going to suck. Sometimes the only way to get past a stuck scene is to brute force you way through. Take heart in the fact that it probably won't be as bad as you expect it to be, and you'll be able to revise it later.

If writing it doesn’t work, leave a note of what happens (as best you can), and skip to the next scene. Maybe you just need to see where the story goes before you know the right thing to happen in that particularly sticky scene.

Most “getting stuck” issues come back to a weak goal, conflict, or stakes, so look there first when you run into a wall with your scenes.

Often, getting stuck is our subconscious telling us we’re missing something vital for that scene, and it’s trying to keep us from writing the wrong words. Step away from the keyboard and think about what that might be. Odds are once you free up your brain to consider the options without all that pressure to write, the solution will appear. 

What do you do when you get stuck in your story? Share your tips with us down in the comments section!

About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she's not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series. Sign up for her newsletter and receive 25 Ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now free.

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Today we are celebrating you, dear Reader. Whether you have decided to NaNo, or not to NaNo...whether you are writing a new book or the same one that's made you crazy for months, we want to hear from YOU.

You have choices!

Most of us behind the scenes here at WITS have chosen to do NaNoWriMo this year. Some of us plan to win (50K or bust!), but some of us just like to play with bunches of words and be writing cheerleaders for our pals. We've shared our NaNo projects/goals with you and, for those who feel comfortable, the first lines of our work in progress. Some of us got super brave and did both.

We invite you to do the same down in the comments!

Our Work and Goals for November

Ellen

My maiden voyage...

This will be my first time on the good ship NaNoWriMo. I am a pantser with minor plotting tendencies, so to keep me from panicking I’m doing a bit more planning.

Here’s the logline I devised to guide my project:
A teenage girl who wants to define her own future discovers a strange crystal after following clues found in her grandmother’s cookbook and uses the stone to enter a portal, searching for a way out of her current life.

What else is different?

• I usually write in third person past tense. This time I’ll be attempting first person. 
• I’ve been writing YA historical fiction so I thought I’d go all in and change genres while I was at it. This will be YA fantasy/mystery. If you don’t try, you’ll never know.
• The working title is Crystal Memories.

First lines from The Hobo Code, the YA Historical I just finished:

Jack Schmidt ambled into the main office of the lumber mill carrying his father’s lunch pail. Sounds of rage poured through the inner office walls.

Jenny

I'm doing something different for NaNo this year.

As most of you know from years past, I flipping love NaNoWriMo. I do it every year as a birthday present to myself and every year I have a love-hate relationship with the challenge. I almost never win, but I always play. Alas, November is a month packed to the rafters with must-do things.

So this year, I'm going short!

I've written a substantial number of short stories over the years that have just languished. I re-read them over the last week and my November plan is to rewrite them from scratch. I'm hoping the know-how I've picked up in these last 10-15 years will make them shine. I think one of them might even turn into a short novel.

Here is the opening lines to one of those stories, called Brotherly Love:

Boaz pushed open the door to the tiny shop and inhaled the magic that never got old. Like used bookstores, used record stores carry a distinctive smell. Plastic wrap and laminated cardboard, worn carpet and dust.

It smelled like his childhood.

John

I'm continuing a series I'm thrilled about.

I am writing Book 2 of a trilogy: Secrets of the Twilight Djinn. The stakes are raised in the second act and Max, the hero from the first book, discovers how little he knows of his powers, and the lengths to which the Djinn will go to destroy him and his family.

Working Title: Max and the Isle of Sanctus.

First lines from Book 1, Max and the Spice Thieves:

“Max,” Mom said, gently stroking my arm. “Come on, Little Bear, it’s time to get up.”

I cracked one eye open—it was still dark. I sighed loud and long.

“It’s too early. The sun isn’t even up. Besides, what’s the point?”

Kris

The beginning of NaNoWriMo brings me the sweaty feeling one gets before a race, the adrenalin of completing the word counts, the anticipation of the work accomplished, and the gut wrenching doubt nagging me whether I can reach my goals.

This year is a practical one for me since I don't have the mental bandwidth to sustain 30 days of creative thought. I'm interpreting the competition as a way to complete my current projects and to cheer on my writer pals along the way.

My writing goal is to rewrite 30 flash fiction stories and to curate them into an anthology of sorts. 30 stories in 30 days? *gulp*

My handle is Kmaz at Nano, come visit or let me cheer you on!

All the best,
K Maze
KMazeAuthor.com

Now we want to hear from you! Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? Is so, what are you working on? What are you working on regardless? Share your first lines below in the comments!

Best wishes for all of you as you navigate your writing this month!
from Ellen, Jenny, John, and Kris

by Laurie Schnebly Campbell

Alpha males sell books.

No matter what else they might be good at -- and we’ve all seen them be good at LOTS of things! -- they’re fabulous at selling books.

But that doesn’t mean every reader, much less every writer, adores those classic alpha males.

For one thing, we have a hard time defining exactly what an alpha male IS. I’m going to ask your opinion, down below, but first let’s look at what we love about these guys...and why we resent them.

Alpha males take command, right? Which can be wonderfully attractive -- and which can also be downright annoying.

What makes the difference?

Or IS there any difference?

Picture a guy who’s standing at the scene of a five-car pile-up, telling everyone what to do. “You! Back up the van. You! Get that bike out of the way. You! Move your vehicle toward the curb.”

He’s a hero, managing to accomplish whatever needs taking care of and getting everyone around him to do what he says.

But now picture that same guy giving those same orders in a grocery store parking lot where nobody’s hurt, there are just a lot of cars backed up. Suddenly he’s a bossy jerk.

Yet he hasn’t changed his behavior. It’s only our interpretation of it that’s changed.

That’s part of what makes it tricky to write the kind of alpha hero who’s guaranteed to delight readers.

What else makes it tricky?

Well, there’s a fine line between a man who’s strong enough to withstand whatever the world can throw at him while never breaking down, and a man who’s incapable of expressing any emotion except anger.

There’s also a fine line between a man who’s all about protecting what’s his, including the woman he loves, and a man who views that woman as his possession.

And there’s another fine line between a man who’s so incredibly sexy that every woman in the room is dazzled by his sizzling presence, and a man who’s willing to share that smoldering sexuality with every woman in the room.

How much is too much alpha?

How little is too little?

(Okay, did everyone else’s mind just go to the same place mine did? Sorry!)

But readers who love books about alpha males don’t usually stop to think where that fine line should be. All they know is, they LIKE their romantic heroes to be strong, confident, vigorous, powerful. Suave or rugged is okay, CEO or firefighter is okay, fighter jet or Harley is okay, but aside from those little details there’s not a whole lot of room for compromise.

With alphas, there’s NEVER room for compromise.

And that’s exactly what makes them so easy to resent.

How come they always get to call the shots?

How come they can attract any woman they want just by crooking their little finger?

How come they don’t have to deal with the things all the rest of us do?

Oh, but wait! Once this alpha hero falls in love with the heroine, he’ll have to change his ways...right?

Er.

Well.

That’s tricky, too.

Because if suddenly this rip-roaring testosterone-driven leader of the pack is murmuring, “Yes, dear, I’ll pick up the drycleaning and be home for dinner whenever you like” -- drat it, he’s no longer quite such a thrilling prize.

He’s more of a regular guy...the kind most readers wish would remember to pick up the drycleaning in everyday life. So where’s the romantic excitement in THAT?

You see the dilemma?

Alpha males are as tough to write as they are to live with -- and yet they’re so attractive, we can’t just throw them out of our pages!

How do we get around that?

It helps to look at what makes each alpha unique. We already know these aren’t cookie-cutter characters, but their differences go beyond Harley vs fighter jet, suave or rugged, firefighter or CEO.

There are other elements to consider, including their origins and their pack and their beta counterpart and their environment and their personality type, which we’ll do next month in my “Alpha Males From Abe To Zeus” class.

And here’s where your opinion on two issues comes in. (In fact, I might want to quote you on these, so please let me know if that’s NOT okay.)

Two questions for you

First question: Do you know any alphas in real life -- and if so, what are they like? Admirable traits, annoying traits, some of each are fine!

Second question: Have you written any alpha heroes -- and if so, what did you like most and least about the most recent one?

I’d love to get your thoughts on this...and by the way, if you live with an alpha male in real life (rather than on the page where you can just set him aside any time he gets too difficult), you have both my admiration and my envy!

Laurie, betting everyone here would appreciate tips on How To Live With An Alpha from those who’ve figured out the techniques.

What are your answers to the two questions above? Do you like reading books with alpha males? Please tell us about it in the comments section!

About Laurie

Laurie Schnebly Campbell has been intrigued with alpha males ever since she heard that they’re the ones who are always breaking dishes. (Suddenly her husband looked less clumsy, and more sexy!) She’s teaching a class on why, whether, and how to write irresistible alpha males, from November 2-13 at http://heartsthroughhistory.com/workshops/alpha-males.

Top Image by skeeze from Pixabay.