Square Pegs & Round Holes.

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

When you write yourself into a corner how do you escape?

 

[elfin_odalisque]

"Deus ex machina". 'In a bound he was free'.

Writing fiction then you can always create the most ridiculous coincidences or encounters that work. The characters are not human, remember. Used all the time on TV cop shows and adventure films.

Seen 'Skyfall'? That earned big bucks.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

"Deus ex machina". 'In a bound he was free'.

Writing fiction then you can always create the most ridiculous coincidences or encounters that work. The characters are not human, remember. Used all the time on TV cop shows and adventure films.

Seen 'Skyfall'? That earned big bucks.

True. Most solutions aren't elegant or even polished or even likely. And its sloppy and lazy.

I recently posted a story to LIT that I wrote 5 years ago. The ending sucked, and no one had a clue how to fix it, till the right ending popped into my head lately. It was simple and it works. I COULDA HAD A V8! Fortunately I waited to submit, and the reader will never know how sucky it was.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm a big believer that we usually have solutions at hand but don't recognize them for what they are. Solutions require folks to move their thinking up and down the ladder of abstraction, to recognize what things are.

For example, back in 1970 Edward de Bono published A FIVE DAY COURSE IN THINKING, with 5 distinct problems that require simple but novel solutions. The problems seemed difficult but the solutions were very easy, once you recognized what you were dealing with.

 

[TxRad]

To think outside the box, first you must have a box.

That means getting off the ladder instead of moving up and down. If that is what is needed. Sometimes a twist works even better.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

To think outside the box, first you must have a box.

That means getting off the ladder instead of moving up and down. If that is what is needed. Sometimes a twist works even better.

Youre mixing metaphors besides being clueless.

Google HAYAKAWA and LADDER OF ABSTRACTION

http://faculty.wwu.edu/auer/Resources/Hayakawa-Abstraction-Ladder.pdf

 

[oggbashan]

I put the story aside and leave it for a few months.

When I re-read it, sometimes I can save it by drastic cutting and editing.

But more frequently it joins the large file of uncompleted stories.

 

[lovecraft68]

When you write yourself into a corner how do you escape?

First off, I walk away and give it some time. But during that time although I'm not looking at the piece I try to think on it when I'm doing something else.

For example when I practicing darts and just throwing and throwing I start to "see" the story and run through some ways to get out of where ever I stuck myself.

I think about it while I'm working out or jogging. Sometimes I think you can "sneak up on it" when not giving it full attention.

My default is that time when you're lying in bed and just about ready to fall asleep and your mind is pretty loose. I et a lot of ideas while I am "drifting"

Funny you started this thread because Last year I published my full length Circle novel and for some reason the muse led me to an ending that for the last several months had me at the "uh-oh" stage.

So I kept writing different stories and occasionally coming back to it. Finally about a month ago I started getting glimpses and the whole thing came to me while writing another story and I wasn't even thinking about.

I guess what I'm trying to say is chill on it, because your mind will solve the problem in its own time.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

First off, I walk away and give it some time. But during that time although I'm not looking at the piece I try to think on it when I'm doing something else.

For example when I practicing darts and just throwing and throwing I start to "see" the story and run through some ways to get out of where ever I stuck myself.

I think about it while I'm working out or jogging. Sometimes I think you can "sneak up on it" when not giving it full attention.

My default is that time when you're lying in bed and just about ready to fall asleep and your mind is pretty loose. I et a lot of ideas while I am "drifting"

Funny you started this thread because Last year I published my full length Circle novel and for some reason the muse led me to an ending that for the last several months had me at the "uh-oh" stage.

So I kept writing different stories and occasionally coming back to it. Finally about a month ago I started getting glimpses and the whole thing came to me while writing another story and I wasn't even thinking about.

I guess what I'm trying to say is chill on it, because your mind will solve the problem in its own time.

Yes. I do the same. The one I recently posted took 5 years for the right ending to come along. But it makes a big difference.

 

[lovecraft68]

"Deus ex machina". 'In a bound he was free'.

Writing fiction then you can always create the most ridiculous coincidences or encounters that work. The characters are not human, remember. Used all the time on TV cop shows and adventure films.

Seen 'Skyfall'? That earned big bucks.

I got pretty good at this theory by growing up reading Marvel comics, their continuity in the universe was spot on and I learned no matter hwo you see die and how? They can always come back.

Days of our lives provided the most ridiculous scenario to get out of hole.

Victor Kiriakis or whatever his name is could create clones!

Please don't ask me why I know about Days of our lives.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I put the story aside and leave it for a few months.

When I re-read it, sometimes I can save it by drastic cutting and editing.

But more frequently it joins the large file of uncompleted stories.

I feel your pain But I use the rejects for parts in other stories.

 

[lovecraft68]

I feel your pain But I use the rejects for parts in other stories.

Yes

I never throw anything away.

I have a folder on my computer called "remnants"

some are just hot sex scenes with no story that I have plugged into other works and some are just descriptions of people I never used yet.

 

[JackLuis]

I think you just need a larger hammer, JB.


No seriously, off on the right of your 101 keyboard is a thing called the "DELETE" key. Works every time.

But I have a situation like that. I had thought of a symbol that would give the MC the confidence to change and it was working for me, she was gaining confidence and almost had her cock in hand, so to speak, Then my fashionable editor said it was the wrong color dress! Oh CRAP!

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I put the story aside and leave it for a few months.

When I re-read it, sometimes I can save it by drastic cutting and editing.

But more frequently it joins the large file of uncompleted stories.

After studying the problem from all angles, sometimes the best solution is to stop flailing at the wall and instead identify the point where I veered into the corner, go back to that point, and choose a different path. If I know the destination when I start, I can always map a different route to get there.