Do You Have Common Stall Points In Stories?

[gordo12]

Do you find yourself stalling at common points in your stories? Lately, I find myself stalling at the point a sex scene is supposed to start. For some reason, my mind goes into hibernation, and I stall. The story will languish for a period of time (sometimes months) before I pick it up and move forward.

Editing is another hump. I have a novella ready for the market, but the editing has been waiting for weeks.

I just did a count of stories that are waiting for their sex scene and it's up to 15.

 

[NotWise]

Do you find yourself stalling at common points in your stories? Lately, I find myself stalling at the point a sex scene is supposed to start. For some reason, my mind goes into hibernation, and I stall. The story will languish for a period of time (sometimes months) before I pick it up and move forward.

Editing is another hump. I have a novella ready for the market, but the editing has been waiting for weeks.

I just did a count of stories that are waiting for their sex scene and it's up to 15.

I most commonly stall at transitions, but right now I'm stalled right at the beginning of the first sex scene. I don't know why. It's almost like I don't want to write it.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yes, for me it's usually around the transition from one scene to the next. My stories stall often.

 

[Ian_Snow]

Do you find yourself stalling at common points in your stories? Lately, I find myself stalling at the point a sex scene is supposed to start. For some reason, my mind goes into hibernation, and I stall. The story will languish for a period of time (sometimes months) before I pick it up and move forward.

Editing is another hump. I have a novella ready for the market, but the editing has been waiting for weeks.

I just did a count of stories that are waiting for their sex scene and it's up to 15.

I tend to do the same thing. This isn't going to help everyone, obviously, but one thing that works for me is keeping multiple stories open. If I stall out on a sex scene, working on something different at least propels me forward, even if it's not the thing I really want to finish.

 

[gordo12]

I tend to do the same thing. This isn't going to help everyone, obviously, but one thing that works for me is keeping multiple stories open. If I stall out on a sex scene, working on something different at least propels me forward, even if it's not the thing I really want to finish.

Which is what I used to do. I realized I had a problem when I was no longer picking up the other stories and instead procrastinating about all of them.

 

[gordo12]

I started a story last week. The first 1300 words were really difficult and I was starting to think about deleting it and starting over. Then the dam broke and over a couple of days it ballooned to 9-10,000 words. It flowed like water including a sex scene that got interrupted but I knew that would happen up front.

Now, I hit the "we're headed to his condo after dancing for sex" point and I haven't opened it for three days.

 

[jaF0]

Endings. I don't think I've ever ended a story. They are all left open.

 

[TadOverdon]

Like several others here, I stall at transitions.

Chapter ends either appear naturally out of the aether or stall - no in-between. Often I leave a chapter and move on to the next without having found a closing paragraph or sentence. I have faith that one will bubble up while I'm running or loading the washing machine. It's worked...so far.

My favorite, if not best, chapter closing has been a single sentence:

"Cops are out front," Ruth said.

I hoped maybe that would hold reader interest into the next chapter.

Starting chapters is tricky. Lots of times I'll write several paragraphs of framing prose or exposition setting up a scene only to chop it out later. I guess it gets me started. If I just left openings to my lazy subconscious they would always be a line of dialogue out of the blue, and too often a line that overpromises the rest of the exchange.

If that makes sense.

 

[JGittes]

Editing itself isn't my problem, but focusing on editing when I should be moving the story forward is a problem. I always editing while writing, and while getting better about it, haven't solved that problem yet.

Transitions are a train wreck. They are usually problems because I haven't worked out the story well enough before hand and don't know how to cross the chasm between where I am and where I want to go. Usually, keeping the story alive in my mind for a few days even though I'm not actively writing, will point to the character motivation or plot logic failure and once identified, is easily corrected.

My difficulty with sex scenes is I get to the first one and want to pack it so full of everything I can think of there's nothing left for the rest of the story. That first one's easy, it's what comes after that's difficult. What I've realized from reading romance novels the past six months is that the reader provides their own excitement. There are only so many permutations and combinations of tab A in slot B. What's important is what comes before and after. The sex is new to the reader even if it's tedious to me.

 

[TadOverdon]

I tend to break scenes on major changes of time or setting using dinkuses. I hate transitions.

 

[Deleted member 5521640]

I have a problem with the sex scenes as well. Not so much where they start, but just the scene itself. Maybe I'm too critical of myself, but the sex I write seems so dull and mechanical and overly predictable. I try to outline what will happen, but I'm not happy doing that, as I think it'll just make it worse. I rewrote the sex scene twice in my last story, and I'm still not pleased with it.

So sex gives me fits not only in real life but my writing as well!

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have a problem with the sex scenes as well. Not so much where they start, but just the scene itself. Maybe I'm too critical of myself, but the sex I write seems so dull and mechanical and overly predictable. I try to outline what will happen, but I'm not happy doing that, as I think it'll just make it worse. I rewrote the sex scene twice in my last story, and I'm still not pleased with it.

So sex gives me fits not only in real life but my writing as well!

I generally find if a sex scene is stalling, it's because my characters aren't ready for sex yet. They're still circling around each other but need a few more go-arounds. Which is why my stories have so many café or driving or down by the river scenes, or endless buttons to undo on dresses. Although I put that one down to the fact that my wife's wedding dress had eighty tiny pearl buttons in cotton loops down its back.

 

[jaF0]

My transitions are basically time or place shifts.

' A few days later ... '

' Having arrived at home .... '

 

[HordHolm]

Do you find yourself stalling at common points in your stories? Lately, I find myself stalling at the point a sex scene is supposed to start. For some reason, my mind goes into hibernation, and I stall. The story will languish for a period of time (sometimes months) before I pick it up and move forward.

Editing is another hump. I have a novella ready for the market, but the editing has been waiting for weeks.

I just did a count of stories that are waiting for their sex scene and it's up to 15.

Wow, I'd love to be different from everyone else, and all 'unique', but.... Yep, transitions and starting sex scenes. That's where I stall. But I'm happy today because I finally finished a chapter that I've been grinding through all week. Even started the next chapter, but I've only written a paragraph because I've earned some mindless entertainment. And ice cream.

 

[ScrappyPaperDoodler]

This thread is so relatable! These last few weeks, I’ve written so much 'narrative' but can’t seem to get into any of the sex scenes. I’ve got enough stories under the belt to know what’s 'hot' but I’m not relating to it, so I stall completely. I’m blaming it on general fatigue and stress… Right now, there’s not much that arouses me — not even the crap I make up and write down.

 

[slutindianwife]

Never

 

[gordo12]

I tend to break scenes on major changes of time or setting using dinkuses. I hate transitions.

Somebody just wanted to get their unique word usage up for the week.

But wouldn't the plural be Dinki? Removing the us and substitute i?

Regardless, never heard the word before! Score 1 for you.

Edit: Further research shows es is the proper ending.

 

[LAHomedog]

Interesting that this topic came up now because yes, I am stalled in a story right now too and it is a transition.

I have a habit of writing "cold openings" and sometimes when I get into the middle of a story they come back and bite me in the butt. The one I'm writing now starting with the cold opening has led me to the point where I can take the story down four different paths and I can't decide which one to follow. I write one, reject it, try the next, reject it, etc.

I'm now going through an agonizing reappraisal of the cold opening and totally rewriting the story. Yeah, stalled...

 

[SimonDoom]

I have a habit of writing "cold openings" and sometimes when I get into the middle of a story they come back and bite me in the butt. The one I'm writing now starting with the cold opening has led me to the point where I can take the story down four different paths and I can't decide which one to follow. I write one, reject it, try the next, reject it, etc.

That's right, you have a screenplay background, so it figures.

I think the cold open idea for an erotic story is a good one. But it presents the challenge of then navigating to the main storyline.

I also like the practice of jumping immediately into a story rather than leading up to it with background or data dumping. I try to sprinkle the data and background throughout the first part of the story as needed., if possible I don't think I have yet tried a real "cold open." I like to lead off with things like 1) a quick, punchy one sentence first paragraph to grab attention (example, my latest story: "One day, I got the idea to put naked pictures of my wife on the Internet."), or 2) jumping into the middle of relevant dialogue, or 3) jumping into action.

I might try the cold open concept.. It works for James Bond -- why not erotica?

 

[jaF0]

Define 'cold opening'. Example?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Occasionally I stall out going into or coming from a sex scene. Then there's the, crap the story isn't done, but I don't have a clue of which way to proceed. This happens when I write a story that I don't have a clear vision of the ending going into the writing. I get to a point and say, what's next, and there is no next I can think of. I put it away and come back later with the last thing I type being TBD

 

[NotWise]

Define 'cold opening'. Example?

I think the beginning of my story "Sex Under Studio Lights" would be considered a cold open. MMC is studying at his dining table. Knock on the door introduces his stepfather, who is drunk. MMC demands his stepfather's car keys, and a thumb drive falls on the table with the keys. MMC takes the thumb drive and looks at it the next morning. It contains naked pictures of his mom. Within days, step dad has a heart attack while driving. Add a dinkus (* * *) and move on to the next scene.

It might be a little long for a cold open.

 

[SimonDoom]

Define 'cold opening'. Example?

Every James Bond movie starts with a cold open. It's a scene that takes place before the credits begin. It may or may not have much to do with the rest of the movie. In Bond movies it's a self-contained thriller action scene where Bond does something amazing. It's meant to get the blood pumping in the movie goer before the credits even roll. It establishes James Bond's awesomeness before the real story starts.

 

[jaF0]

So, the whole bit with the Asian girl and his burial at sea (or something like that) in 'You Only Live Twice.'


I may have done that ... sort of. Not sure.

 

[NotWise]

Every James Bond movie starts with a cold open. It's a scene that takes place before the credits begin. It may or may not have much to do with the rest of the movie. In Bond movies it's a self-contained thriller action scene where Bond does something amazing. It's meant to get the blood pumping in the movie goer before the credits even roll. It establishes James Bond's awesomeness before the real story starts.

In the erotic fiction context, I think a normal cold open is to start in a sex scene, then break and tell the story of how it came about.