Stuck

[Apisto42]

I have a beginning. I know where I want it to end. I even have a decent start on the beginning of the middle. But now I’m stuck on getting to the end.

Anything in particular you do when you’re stuck on moving the story forward to where you want it to be?

 

[SimonDoom]

I have a beginning. I know where I want it to end. I even have a decent start on the beginning of the middle. But now I’m stuck on getting to the end.

Anything in particular you do when you’re stuck on moving the story forward to where you want it to be?

Work backward. This happens to me all the time. I can't figure out how to move forward, in a direction that will get me where I want the story to go.

So start at the end and brainstorm about how your characters would get there. What changes do they need to go through? What do they need to learn? When you've got answers to those questions it will help you figure out what the characters should do next. Sometimes in the middle of the story you can lose sight of where everything is going, and focusing on the end can put make things clearer.

 

[NotWise]

Anything in particular you do when you’re stuck on moving the story forward to where you want it to be?

When I get stuck it's often because I made a mistake earlier in the telling. I tend to get diverted into characterization and forget to tell the story. To fix the problem I have to figure out where I got lost, and rewrite again from that point forward.

That just happened with the story I'm working on now. I pulled out about a thousand words without losing any story and now it moves forward much more easily.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

I have a beginning. I know where I want it to end. I even have a decent start on the beginning of the middle. But now I’m stuck on getting to the end.

Anything in particular you do when you’re stuck on moving the story forward to where you want it to be?

I'll often jump ahead to a scene that I know how I want to write and get that down first. Then I'll figure out how to transition from one scene to the other later on. Often, having the bookend scenes written instead of in my head helps me figure out how to get from one to other.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

 

[Kojak01]

I have a beginning. I know where I want it to end. I even have a decent start on the beginning of the middle. But now I’m stuck on getting to the end.

Anything in particular you do when you’re stuck on moving the story forward to where you want it to be?

Work on a different story until my muse turns me back to the one where I'm stuck.

 

[TxRad]

Sometimes, the ending you have in mind doesn't agree with where the characters want to go. Rethinking the ending is sometimes the best. You gave the characters a life to live. Let them live it. JMHO of course.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sometimes, the ending you have in mind doesn't agree with where the characters want to go. Rethinking the ending is sometimes the best. You gave the characters a life to live. Let them live it. JMHO of course.

There's part of me that gets this and completely agrees with it, but it just doesn't work for me in practice. Maybe in time it will. As an experiment I may try to write a story this way -- just let the characters put one foot in front of the other and write without too much regard for where they end up. But I haven't done it this way yet and it would take some habit-breaking to pull it off.

 

[TxRad]

There's part of me that gets this and completely agrees with it, but it just doesn't work for me in practice. Maybe in time it will. As an experiment I may try to write a story this way -- just let the characters put one foot in front of the other and write without too much regard for where they end up. But I haven't done it this way yet and it would take some habit-breaking to pull it off.

The trick is to have a vague ending in mind. HEA for a romance. Love and marriage. A moral or even a shock ending. Just don't set it in stone. Even a little leeway give a lot of options.

Real character, authentic character, are like herding cats. It looks good on paper but the reality that comes through is more fun and natural the other way.

 

[Apisto42]

Thanks to all.

TxTad: yeah, not quite there yet. Just ramblings. The story I’m working on doesn’t have a specific ending (other than the main characters mouth on a small sized breast which was the first line). Just an idea of where I want it to happen.

I just started a new paragraph, killed what had been bothering me and went on with the story. Someone else had popped into the story and I didn’t like her, so now she’s gone. Everyone is happier.

 

[JrByrdmann]

I just started a new paragraph, killed what had been bothering me and went on with the story. Someone else had popped into the story and I didn’t like her, so now she’s gone. Everyone is happier.

Kind of like real life.

 

[Apisto42]

Ah, snap. If only it were so.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There's part of me that gets this and completely agrees with it, but it just doesn't work for me in practice. Maybe in time it will. As an experiment I may try to write a story this way -- just let the characters put one foot in front of the other and write without too much regard for where they end up. But I haven't done it this way yet and it would take some habit-breaking to pull it off.

I do it all the time, including my latest one. What was going to be a little 5000 word story like my Songs of Seduction - Water, ended up 34k with a follow-up brooding in the catacombs. She'll appear when she's ready.

I can't write the way most here seem to do, with structure and plot all thought out ahead of time. At most, I might know, "this character's gotta do this by the end," but I'll never know how they'll do it until they start. My job, then, is to keep up.

 

[NoJo]

I'll often jump ahead to a scene that I know how I want to write and get that down first. Then I'll figure out how to transition from one scene to the other later on. Often, having the bookend scenes written instead of in my head helps me figure out how to get from one to other.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Yep, I do that too, mainly to keep my writing momentum.

Although the final story may end up having a linear narrative, I find that creating the narrative itself is not a linear process -- it involves zooming the scale in and out , and going forwards and backwards in the story.

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

TEX touched on it: The end must resolve all the story issues.

 

[TxRad]

TEX touched on it: The end must resolve all the story issues.

Nope. It don't. It can leave you thinking but not wondering. There is a big difference.

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

First you hate vague endings, now you love them; I bet you bought the whole Hillary WHAT HAPPENED? books.

 

[FaeLissa]

Nuance is a thing.

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

WHERE'S MIKE HUNT? is the story most LIT authors write.

 

[TxRad]

WHERE'S MIKE HUNT? is the story most LIT authors write.

I don't think you've read enough stories here at Lit to even come close to most. This is just your opinion and nothing more. It is also part of the bad behavior that got your last two alts banned. Why don't you learn that your opinion ain't the only one. If you don't like the way Lit authors write, go somewhere else.

By the way, I never said I hated vague endings. I never said I loved them. In fact, I never mentioned vague endings. An ending that makes you think is not vague.

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

We've been enemies 11 years, it took you long enough. But even LIT cant live on you alone. I give the place a pulse.

 

[TxRad]

We've been enemies 11 years, it took you long enough. But even LIT cant live on you alone. I give the place a pulse.

We're not enemies, James. You're just an opinionated asshat who rubs people the wrong way on purpose.

You give the place heartburn.

 

[Kojak01]

The end must resolve all the story issues.

I don't agree at all. The main issue has to be resolved but some smaller side issues can very well remain. The main character may have found his true love but still be unhappy in his job...

 

[Apisto42]

Thanks for the advice. I just submitted it.

The end? I left them in post-coital bliss so I can add another chapter later if I want.