What do you do when you're stuck on chapter?

[Sai_dias_29]

I'm currently 4 chapters and 8k words in on my Family Secrets revision and I'm stuck on the 5th chapter of a 9-10 chapter story. I know what I want to do in the chapter, but for whatever reason it's not translating onto paper(or screen in my case). I also have my Awakening story that's on hold, because my focus became glued to Family Secrets.

Any advice to get over this "stuck" phase?

 

[KeithD]

If my muse is pushing for me to be working on something else, I usually go on to that something else. I've done that with a longer work I've now returned to working on that needs a third chapter and concluding, fifth, chapter. I keep it on the list and I'm sure I'll get it done. I just drive on through roadblocks if I have to to keep on moving.

 

[Euphony]

Characters are the axis which all my stories revolve so when feeling stuck, I interview them further. Even down to piddling details if I must.

The #1 cause of most of difficulties come from not knowing them (inadequately fleshing them out) or not "listening" to them. (plotting in opposition of who they are, how they behave, what they have shared with me about themselves)

When not fighting the "perfection" monster, having a heart to heart with my characters is almost always beneficial and incredibly so when we are at an impasse.

 

[Azuldrgon]

I take a breather. Save it and go back to it when I had the time to come up with the way forward.
The nice thing is writing for fun isn't marred with deadlines.

 

[Duleigh]

I'm in the same position with chapter 12 of a planned 13 chapter story... but I don't want to end on Chapter 13. I'm not superstitious, it's bad luck to be superstitious, I want to end on an even chapter, but there's too much for 12 chapters and not enough for 14 chapters... so I'm working on a side story until my muse pulls her head out.

 

[TheRedChamber]

In the short term, take a few days off from writing it work on something else.

In the longer term, try to work out what it is that is causing you to you to be stuck. This can be any number of things but common ones are:

1.

The #1 cause of most of difficulties come from not knowing them (inadequately fleshing them out) or not "listening" to them. (plotting in opposition of who they are, how they behave, what they have shared with me about themselves)

If you're working from a plan, let your characters go crazy for a while and see how much they disrupt your plan. You may or may not use it, but see what they want to do and what the world looks like after they've done it (I wouldn't write prose for this, just imagine and scribble notes)

2. You're not hitting the right feel for a scene - it's was supposed to be funny, but it's just dumb, it was supposed to be emotional but it's just overblown. Have something similar happen but try out a different tone for it.

3. Your having a crisis of confidence that suddenly your story sucks. Reread what you've already written and remind yourself why you wrote it. Now write the next section anyway. It's often easier to revise something bad into something better that it is to hit good first time. Give it to a beta reader to see if the problems are actually there or it's just your own projection.

 

[Demiurging]

Take a short break and then force the issue. I can always edit out the shit after the fact, but I'm of the opinion that if you only write when you feel like it, you train yourself only to be able to write when you feel like it. Taking a few minutes when you feel stuck to plot out the next part is entirely appropriate, as well as perhaps making yourself something to eat or engaging in something else stimulating to reset your thought processes.

Sometimes you're going to have to write shit for the sake of getting the shit out of your head, is what I think.

 

[brodieloads]

Characters are the axis which all my stories revolve so when feeling stuck, I interview them further. Even down to piddling details if I must.

100% this. I spend a lot of time going for walks, or anytime it's slow at work just playing out hypothetical dialogue between characters. I'm not trying to tell a story, not trying to hit a plot point or get to the end. It's just a couple people talking about a thing.

I almost always say something that makes me think "Oh, so that's why she's doing this."

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Write a different part of the story. Once you've written the later parts then it should make it easier to write the part linking to them.

I hate writing arguments and depressing stuff, but my Smoking Hot series needed one to happen. Turned out that once I'd done the rest of the story, I only really needed one paragraph, fleshed out to a couple hundred words, and no actual argument needed, just one guy's internal thoughts and a bottle of vodka.

I write what I feel like here, and then the parts can be stuck together quite well - no-one's complained, not about that anyhow.

 

[Seadog777]

I "free type".

You do not think at all. You type anything and everything that pops into your mind.
You do that, until the ancestors tell you stop.
Then you review what you type.
Keep what you like and get rid of what you don't.

 

[oggbashan]

I just leave it. I was stuck on Christmas Fairy after the end of chapter two. I had written myself into a corner and I couldn't see a way out.

Thirteen years later? I could.

 

[Sai_dias_29]

Write a different part of the story.

I tried that, but the story is one where I can't write a different part of it because then I'll be working towards that, rather than working towards the whole story. Each chapter affects the following chapter. In the original Family Secrets, it was just situation after situation type story(plus bad writing). Whereas, with this version I'm writing each chapter from a specific character POV. And I'm stuck on the MC's POV chapter, right now.

 

[Sai_dias_29]

I just leave it.

Tried it and failed. I have a problem where if I start something I want to finish it, or I'll go crazy. OR I need to reach point where I can say, "Oh, I can back later and finish up." But I'm not at that point, yet. Which is affecting my other story...

 

[Sai_dias_29]

2. You're not hitting the right feel for a scene - it's was supposed to be funny, but it's just dumb, it was supposed to be emotional but it's just overblown. Have something similar happen but try out a different tone for it.

This might be the problem. Not sure. In the current revision I wanted to give everyone(the important characters) their own perspective, and not go into a BTB type story.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Any advice to get over this "stuck" phase?

Write ahead. If it's stuck, move ahead to something that isn't so stuck. Come back when it gets unstuck. Writing chronologically is a cage anyways. Your plot will improve if you move around forward and back.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Plot out and possibly write a different story. I tend to keep 2-4 of them spinning at any time between the plotting, editing, and writing stages. Sometimes I'll scrap a story and use its parts elsewhere. Sometimes writing a different character's story lets me see the one I'm stuck on with new eyes; I actually ended up completely re-plotting the back half of a story I'm working on because, while I was working on another, I realized I was trying to push characters to a point I knew they wouldn't organically get to.

 

[TadOverdon]

I write a scene from elsewhere in the story.

Sometimes I'll spend an hour or two revising the troublesome chapter or some earlier chapters.

Also, I'm the worst person to take suggestions from because I'm closing in on six months of complete non-productivity.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

I'm currently 4 chapters and 8k words in on my Family Secrets revision and I'm stuck on the 5th chapter of a 9-10 chapter story. I know what I want to do in the chapter, but for whatever reason it's not translating onto paper(or screen in my case). I also have my Awakening story that's on hold, because my focus became glued to Family Secrets.

Any advice to get over this "stuck" phase?

In 10pt red comic sans, write a draft thats complete garbage. Ignore prose grammar spelling, skip the details. Just write out what happens in that chapter. Like if a crack addict wrote a summary.

Once that's done scroll back to the top rewrite it in black with proper prose and detail. If you get stuck on a paragraph skip to the next one and come back later. Nobody ever said you have to write a book in order.

Here's an example of what this looks like:

 

[Paul_Chance]

Skip it and move on to the next chapter.