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Get Me Out Of The Corner!

Happy Thursday All,

So you're writing along, merrily going, things are flowing, writing life is great. You love your characters, wait, no you actually love everybody, because everything's clicking. You're ready to dance a jig.

Then it happens. The unthinkable. The unwanted.

You write yourself into a corner.

You frantically go back and see "Is there anything that doesn't belong? Can I redo the scene? Is the scene important? Should I take out this part and start over?"

You delete a few sentences here and there. But the nagging feeling that "I don't know what comes next" won't go away.

I have gotten to the whole "What now?" in one of my stories. I sit there and I think "Come on! You've had this story practically written in your head for months now!"

Sometimes this happens. For me, it means I sometimes have to go back to my other project and work on the editing some more. Or it could mean that the scene either needs adjustments. Or maybe I need to think a bit more and consider different possibilities.

Sometimes you have sit back and ask "Why isn't this working?" Not say "You idiot, get yourself moving, just write dang it!"

You could ask questions like:

Is the scene essential?

Does it move the plot along?

Is it true to the characters?

Is it developed enough for me to move it along? If not, why?

What would my characters do next?

Or, worse case scenerio you can go all WWWSD (What Would William Shakespeare Do?)

In a WWWSD situation you can always have your character go into a dramatic death scene...that is, if a dramatic death scene moves the plot along. Or maybe he should get philosophical (think Hamlet) or get all head-over-heels in love ("Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon!"--Romeo, from Romeo And Juliet).

Whatever you have to do to be proactive about moving your story along. It doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad writer or even that the story is bad, it just means it needs some adjustments and work.

Speaking of WWWSD....it makes me want to ponder...WWWSD about my story! (What WOULD Shakespeare do with a Paranormal? Oh yes, he'd write MacBeth, and Hamlet--too bad I don't have ghosts in my story LOL).

Have A Thoughtful Thursday!

Comments

sachin said…
very interesting... :)
Bethany said…
Ram,

LOL
Thanks for dropping by :-)

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