Round up the usual suspects!

[Emilymcplugger]

So famously the Epstein Brothers said this at the same time as they were driving whilst trying to figure out how to save Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) in Casablanca.

Did anyone have a similar “round up the usual suspects” moment when they were writing their stories, where you had a sticking point and a sudden flash, pushed you over the line with a solution you already had?

Just curious.

 

[MrPixel]

Not that I've ever been "stuck" - the ladies in my story arc are given to pranking the protagonist on a regular basis. Sometimes I have to go down the list of "the usual suspects" before somebody breaks their poker face and everybody cracks up.

 

[NotWise]

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but I'll give it a shot.

I often get stuck on stories while I figure out how to move ahead from the predicament I'm in. That's one of the reasons I've started writing synopses of my stories before I write the story. It lets me catch things before the work involved in fixing them gets to be a big effort.

The space behind my eyes can become a very familiar site while I'm trying to work it out. More often than not, the best solution involves using the characters I already have and pulling them into a scene, or giving them a slightly different role.

Maybe it's as simple as a quirky line, but it's usually a little more involved. A simple solution to one problem can change the course of the story. In the best cases, the solution doesn't just fix the immediate problem -- it improves the whole story.

 

[oggbashan]

I was stuck after chapter 2 of my Christmas Fairy.

I thought of using 'With one bound he was free' but it didn't fit. It took me over a decade to come up with Chapter 3 and the solution to the dilemma I had created.

 

[gunhilltrain]

So famously the Epstein Brothers said this at the same time as they were driving whilst trying to figure out how to save Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) in Casablanca.

Did anyone have a similar “round up the usual suspects” moment when they were writing their stories, where you had a sticking point and a sudden flash, pushed you over the line with a solution you already had?

Just curious.

I haven't seen Casablanca in a while, but I saw the clip on YouTube. I assume that (Louie?) saved Rick because he hated the Vichy regime (he kicks away the bottle of Vichy water) - and the guy Rick shot was German, I think.

I'm not sure that I've ever written a situation that dramatic, but I understand what you mean. I wouldn't they the solution is necessarily already with the writer. It takes some thought to come up with the idea. I don't drive any more, but sometimes when I'm walking or riding the bus I'll mull over a story plot I'm working on at home.

P.S.: Casablanca was in the part of Morocco ruled by the French, so after 1940 it was under the ontrol of either the occupied government in Paris or the Vichy regime in southeast France. The French officer mentions the "free French" garrison in Brazzaville, which is in the Congo. I think the Germans divided France into two parts because it was too much effort to directly occupy the whole country, but I'd have to check on the history of that.

 

[lovecraft68]

I had one moment that at the time was so significant I wanted to call it an epiphany.
I have some characters created from different stories, and like the idea of them living in the same mythos, well I was halfway through the second book in my Abigail series and started a scene where a Szgany assassin is getting picked up by a local contact who set him up with a place, weapons, fake ID's etc.

The character, a blonde woman, was meant to be just a device to show how his routine works and that there's a network of people who make a living off people like him. I'm writing the conversation between them and as usual start wondering about this woman only meant to appear in this chapter, cause that's what I do, I need to KNOW these people. I'm like, hmm, who would she be to get involved in this stuff?

I remember sitting back in my chair, and sipping coffee, and had this thought that hit me so hard it was one of those feelings like it came from someplace other than my own head.

The woman would be Nicole AKA Medusa from a previously published story, and in that moment I tied two novels and storylines together.

 

[MsNatalie99]

So famously the Epstein Brothers said this at the same time as they were driving whilst trying to figure out how to save Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) in Casablanca.

Did anyone have a similar “round up the usual suspects” moment when they were writing their stories, where you had a sticking point and a sudden flash, pushed you over the line with a solution you already had?

Just curious.

I don't fully understand the question.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I don't fully understand the question.

Okay, read my post above - then: The filmmakers had a problem with the plot. Rick Blaine, an American expatriate (Humphrey Bogart) has just shot a German officer to death, right in front of the French police captain Louis Renault. (Blaine had threatened to shoot Renault too.) So how is Blaine going to get out of this jam? The Renault character solves it for him. When other cops show up, Renault says, "Round up the usual suspects." In other, words, "It's not Blaine here, it was somebody else."

It's an unexpected and neat little twist to end the movie. Renault did it because he has decided that he is against the Vichy Government and the German occupiers. Apparently, it took the filmmakers a while to figure out the ending.

So the OP is asking: has any one of us ever struggled with a plot point and then suddenly realized what to write when we were in the middle of doing something unrelated?

 

[MsNatalie99]

Okay, read my post above - then: The filmmakers had a problem with the plot. Rick Blaine, an American expatriate (Humphrey Bogart) has just shot a German officer to death, right in front of the French police captain Louis Renault. (Blaine had threatened to shoot Renault too.) So how is Blaine going to get out of this jam? The Renault character solves it for him. When other cops show up, Renault says, "Round up the usual suspects." In other, words, "It's not Blaine here, it was somebody else."

It's an unexpected and neat little twist to end the movie. Renault did it because he has decided that he is against the Vichy Government and the German occupiers. Apparently, it took the filmmakers a while to figure out the ending.

So the OP is asking: has any one of us ever struggled with a plot point and then suddenly realized what to write when we were in the middle of doing something unrelated?

Oh, okay. I read the post, but I wasn't familiar with the movie, and had a difficult time following the context. My answer to the question. Yes I did, I was trying to figure out way to get my MC to have to change clothes in front of a character he was given a ride home. I wanted it to be something she did without being overt, as much as implied. So why she went into the gas station he went to take a drink from his coffee, and it spilt all over him. He remembered tightening the cap, but he had no indication that she loosened it. The idea came to me while I was at work and I watched a guy take a drink from his thermos and spill it all over himself.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Oh, okay. I read the post, but I wasn't familiar with the movie, and had a difficult time following the context. My answer to the question. Yes I did, I was trying to figure out way to get my MC to have to change clothes in front of a character he was given a ride home. I wanted it to be something she did without being overt, as much as implied. So why she went into the gas station he went to take a drink from his coffee, and it spilt all over him. He remembered tightening the cap, but he had no indication that she loosened it. The idea came to me while I was at work and I watched a guy take a drink from his thermos and spill it all over himself.

Very good. What he said.

The reason I mention it is because in ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE I knew I wanted a number of things to happen.

The protagonist to take drugs to stay awake (he took something students use for exams, and other things)
The protagonist to learn what happened when he blacked out (in the previous story) and then
Learn what happened whilst he was drunk and stoned and not himself (in the previous tale).

The first flashback was someone else filling him in, but I couldn’t figure out how to make him recall …HUUUUH!!! Recall! Exams! Students! The answer was staring me in the face and I’d already written it.

“Round up the usual suspects” (seriously, check out Casablanca. It’s worth a watch).

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I had one moment that at the time was so significant I wanted to call it an epiphany.
I have some characters created from different stories, and like the idea of them living in the same mythos, well I was halfway through the second book in my Abigail series and started a scene where a Szgany assassin is getting picked up by a local contact who set him up with a place, weapons, fake ID's etc.

The character, a blonde woman, was meant to be just a device to show how his routine works and that there's a network of people who make a living off people like him. I'm writing the conversation between them and as usual start wondering about this woman only meant to appear in this chapter, cause that's what I do, I need to KNOW these people. I'm like, hmm, who would she be to get involved in this stuff?

I remember sitting back in my chair, and sipping coffee, and had this thought that hit me so hard it was one of those feelings like it came from someplace other than my own head.

The woman would be Nicole AKA Medusa from a previously published story, and in that moment I tied two novels and storylines together.

I love it when it happens like that. So this guy is just some guy …WAITAMINUTE! He can be THAT guy from THAT bit of the story.

Brilliant!

 

[yowser]

This is perhaps not exactly your request, but maybe close enough (reaching back blindly into the literary quiver, hoping to find an arrow to extricate yourself from your written-yourself-into-a-corner dilemma.)

This was an entry for the first Geek Pride contest, a sapiosexual connection that I fully intended to be a standalone story.

As sometimes happens, the characters grew, the magnitude of their attraction ratcheted up, and after their first intense encounter, it became apparent that the 'standalone' wasn't done, the characters needed more.

So I had the male character leave a note under a chess piece, the rook Sophia last touched (chess served as their foreplay) so that the female MC could find it in the morning, thus ensuring more to come...

 

[MelissaBaby]

When in doubt, kill somebody off.

 

[MelissaBaby]

When in doubt, kill somebody off.

That was a joke, but, man, I have killed a lot of characters.

 

[Duleigh]

Usually I step away. Start working on a different story, come here to the forums and chat or (God forbid) turn on the TV. If that doesn't work and sleeping on it doesn't help, I just "pull out and drive around" because I normally get stuck in a scene that's going nowhere and won't advance the narrative anyhow. If I get back into the flow of the story, I can come back to that scene and quite often find it's been solved in my head, otherwise I'll end up scrapping it and I come back at it from a different angle.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh, okay. I read the post, but I wasn't familiar with the movie, and had a difficult time following the context. My answer to the question. Yes I did, I was trying to figure out way to get my MC to have to change clothes in front of a character he was given a ride home. I wanted it to be something she did without being overt, as much as implied. So why she went into the gas station he went to take a drink from his coffee, and it spilt all over him. He remembered tightening the cap, but he had no indication that she loosened it. The idea came to me while I was at work and I watched a guy take a drink from his thermos and spill it all over himself.

Right, that's exactly it. All of the details about Vichy France and North Africa are not the point. I myself had forgotten, or maybe I never knew, what "Round up the usual suspects" meant. I had to see this clip to get it.

I think this was filmed at the Van Nuys Airport. Renault is played by Claude Raines, an underrated actor in my opinion.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Right, that's exactly it. All of the details about Vichy France and North Africa are not the point. I myself had forgotten, or maybe I never knew, what "Round up the usual suspects" meant. I had to see this clip to get it.

I think this was filmed at the Van Nuys Airport. Renault is played by Claude Raines, an underrated actor in my opinion.

Indeed, watching it recently I noticed even more, like Claude Raines relaxed posture for the distant shot when Major Strosser arrives in Casablanca.

“Round up the Usual Suspects” is shorthand for when a writer boxes themselves in a corner, then works out the solution to it was staring them on the face via their previous writing.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Indeed, watching it recently I noticed even more, like Claude Raines relaxed posture for the distant shot when Major Strosser arrives in Casablanca.

“Round up the Usual Suspects” is shorthand for when a writer boxes themselves in a corner, then works out the solution to it was staring them on the face via their previous writing.

I think Renault was nominally on the side of the Vichy government, although he shows some doubts by letting Lazlo get on the plane and then when he's talking to Blaine. He says that he is going to arrest Blaine because he has to - "I suppose you know this is not going to be pleasant for either of us, especially you." Something about witnessing the death of Strosser makes him decide where he really stands.

I'm not sure that the solution is always staring one in the face, or that it is always based on previous writing. Sometimes it requires something wholly new, which means that some time and thought are necessary. Then the answer may emerge when one is doing something else, but the question had been gestating in one's mind for quite some time.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I think Renault was nominally on the side of the Vichy government, although he shows some doubts by letting Lazlo get on the plane and then when he's talking to Blaine. He says that he is going to arrest Blaine because he has to - "I suppose you know this is not going to be pleasant for either of us, especially you." Something about witnessing the death of Strosser makes him decide where he really stands.

I'm not sure that the solution is always staring one in the face, or that it is always based on previous writing. Sometimes it requires something wholly new, which means that some time and thought are necessary. Then the answer may emerge when one is doing something else, but the question had been gestating in one's mind for quite some time.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when a total rewrite is necessary with huge changes brought in, however this is a celebration of when you’ve written something that we’ll that your own brain seems to have anticipated the problems and provided you the solution before you got there.

You just have to rewire yourself to figure it out.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when a total rewrite is necessary with huge changes brought in, however this is a celebration of when you’ve written something that we’ll that your own brain seems to have anticipated the problems and provided you the solution before you got there.

You just have to rewire yourself to figure it out.

I know, at times we've tried to explain how we came up with all of this. I for one can't fully explain the process.

Maybe over time the act of writing itself rewires the brain?

 

[Maxiine]

In Joseph Heller's 'Catch 22' after Aarfy murders a maid by pushing her out of a window, Yossarian confronts him. He tells Aarfy he will be arrested, and perhaps hung. Then the MPs burst in, and arrest... Yossarian... for being in Rome without a pass.

I mention this because setting up a minor issue earlier-- be it a small crime, a relationship faux pas, a failing on a job, leaving one small part out of the engine the MC rebuilt-- can serve the part of creating a later "way out" from a problem of greater significance for either the person who had the minor issue or another.

Also used in the ending of 'Fun with Dick and Jane' (1977).

 

[MelissaBaby]

In Joseph Heller's 'Catch 22' after Aarfy murders a maid by pushing her out of a window, Yossarian confronts him. He tells Aarfy he will be arrested, and perhaps hung. Then the MPs burst in, and arrest... Yossarian... for being in Rome without a pass.

I mention this because setting up a minor issue earlier-- be it a small crime, a relationship faux pas, a failing on a job, leaving one small part out of the engine the MC rebuilt-- can serve the part of creating a later "way out" from a problem of greater significance for either the person who had the minor issue or another.

Also used in the ending of 'Fun with Dick and Jane' (1977).

Of course, you could aways go off in a new direction, then go back and add foreshadowing after the fact.

 

[gunhilltrain]

In Joseph Heller's 'Catch 22' after Aarfy murders a maid by pushing her out of a window, Yossarian confronts him. He tells Aarfy he will be arrested, and perhaps hung. Then the MPs burst in, and arrest... Yossarian... for being in Rome without a pass.

I mention this because setting up a minor issue earlier-- be it a small crime, a relationship faux pas, a failing on a job, leaving one small part out of the engine the MC rebuilt-- can serve the part of creating a later "way out" from a problem of greater significance for either the person who had the minor issue or another.

Also used in the ending of 'Fun with Dick and Jane' (1977).

It's been so long since I have seen that movie that I had to look it up. They steal money from Dick's boss Charle (Ed McMahon) and they know he's been using it for illegal purposes. When Charlie tries to stop them, they tell him they'll rat him out too, and he lets them go - or rather, he tells the police that nothing has happened.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Of course, you could aways go off in a new direction, then go back and add foreshadowing after the fact.

We can all change things after the fact.

That’s part of the job.

What I’m referring to is when, through the writing we’ve already done, we’ve already provided ourselves with the way out, but didn’t notice it.

 

[MelissaBaby]

We can all change things after the fact.

That’s part of the job.

What I’m referring to is when, through the writing we’ve already done, we’ve already provided ourselves with the way out, but didn’t notice it.

Understood. My point was that, having found that point, you can add foreshadowing to shore it up.