How to Keep Your Writing Moving

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By PABechko
User-Submitted Video

Print by Linda Hunsaker - www.lindahunsaker.com

You’ve written some good passages, tripped some good plot lines, gotten to where you are in your story with some zip and zing. But then it happens. Your fictional world has slogged to a halt. You feel mired in mud and things just won’t seem to shake loose. Not writer’s block exactly, just a malaise, a slow-down, a what do I do next place and it ain’t pretty.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

time
patience
ability to release your intentions and find new direction

Step 1

So, what do you do? What I do, what I’ve always done is sit back, stare at the ceiling and think about a movie. So much the better if you’re actually writing a script, but if you’re writing a book it work work just as well.
Step 2

photo by Chance Agrella

Think of yourself as watching a movie. Reread a bit of what you’ve just written (and don’t let yourself slip into ‘editor’ mode). Roll through it like it’s a movie you’re watching and the your characters do their thing. Let it unfold as you’ve told it and then, when you reach the place where things have bogged down let your wonderfully creative mind go where it wants to, no matter where that is, no matter how far out there it might at first seem to you.
Step 3

Let it move forward or allow it to change drastically if that’s where you go. Try not to let your own analytical thoughts interfere. Enjoy the surprises that happen. Is your loving couple suddenly kidnapped? Do they abruptly turn from cooing to fighting? Does somebody suddenly leap in front of a subway train?
Step 4

Or, does this scene suddenly stop – and another fantastically different one follow. Is your wild teenage party on a Friday night followed by a group of teens in hushed tones frantically talking in a library or texting one of their number outside? Does a car chase turn abruptly into a ‘float down the river’ when the car being chased (research what make might be water tight) winds up in the river, floating downstream and out of sight before the pursuing car roars across the bridge and continues on?
Step 5

There are many directions a story and your characters can run and if you give them half a chance they will. The movie in your mind will play it out for you. Here’s the thing, when you got stuck your story was telling you something. It needed a change – some kind of change. It needed a jolt and by bogging you down the change that is needed will happen. If you’ve been writing quiet scenes maybe you need more action. If you’ve been writing non-stop action, maybe you need something a bit quieter.
Step 6

Let the movie in your mind play out and you’ll be surprised what direction your writing takes.