When a scene goes wrong

[ElectricBlue]

Usually my sex scenes write themselves. This one is going badly wrong, she keeps falling asleep. What the fuck is that all about?

Looks like I'll get some jobs done around the place, while I wait for my mood to change. Or coffee, maybe. Fucking characters, getting minds of their own!

I'm going to change a light switch. What kinda stuff do you get done, when the words go wrong?

 

[Penuche]

Chores - preferably nothing I'd enjoy doing.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

My natural pace looks glacial. I move less than any human yet get more done.

You'd be stunned at how much time eager beavers waste...on the phone, smoking, gossiping. I threw my cell phone in the garbage back in 2012.

When words wont flow I do something else until they flow again. Manana! Manana! Manana! is good enough for me. The words always come.

The method to my madness is to stay busy with anything useful.

So, relax!

 

[SamScribble]

So, relax!

On this one, I'm with James.

Stories mostly fix themselves. With time.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yeah, I know it! Still, got the light switch done, also re-assembled a set of hi-fi speakers I've been rebuilding. I guess that's what I was meant to do today, rather than writing about the scent of sex...

 

[lovecraft68]

I jog or work out, sometimes hit the bag. I've noticed if the mind stalls, then I get the body pumping, it brings back the creative flow.

Other times I'll throw darts for awhile. I work my way around the board throwing a turn at every number and that seems to relax me and again, let things flow.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I got interested in hypnosis a little over 30 years ago after reading Jay Haley's biography of Milton H. Erickson, MD, America's most prominent hypnotherapist.

Erickson was a Wisconsin farm boy who discovered hypnosis after he got polio as a teen. He couldn't move, and spent his days and nights lying here and there observing everything around him. He paid close attention to what he saw, and learned much about people and animals. Watching his infant sister learn to walk, he taught himself to walk again (with canes). Then he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, earned 3 degrees simultaneously (bachelors, masters, and medical). He did it without grants or scholarships, and supported himself entirely. He taught himself to study while asleep.

Erickson was a marvel, curing 1000s of people with strange and difficult disorders. Try talking someone into growing larger breasts or a longer penis. He did. His keen powers of observation enabled him to learn why some people were gay or transsexual, and he knew how to change them if they sought change.

His numerous books aren't hypnosis manuals per se. I bought all of them to divine his methodology. And its simple. Observe and pay attention to what happens. Its what we already do but we don't observe well or pay attention well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g172y9KIu6Y

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Why just yesterday I cut out the last chapter I wrote the day before because my mood was dark and ornery. I had the characters doing things they wouldn't do. I finally got something resembling what they really are.

And it wasn't even a sex scene...they were traveling from the airport to the hotel.

Oh yeah, what do I do...the dishes mostly or laundry or shower and a shave.

 

[TxRad]

Falling asleep?

Maybe she's bored or doesn't like the guy/gal she's with.

And why is it always the character's fault?

Being retired has it's advantages. I divide my day up into zones. Writing, breakfast, editing, writing, lunch, misc stuff, nap, supper, writing, working in the shop. and bed. None of these, except the morning writing, is fixed in time or space. The rest, except for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are interchangeable and they can be also. I sometimes love me some breakfast for supper.

Anyway, a scene doesn't go wrong, you just didn't write it right.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Anyway, a scene doesn't go wrong, you just didn't write it right.

Yes, there is that! Half a day makes all the difference, they'll be fine now.

It has to be my characters, I'm fucked if I know what I'm doing....

 

[oggbashan]

I file the story, sometimes for years, and get on with another one.

 

[J_R_Ashunwhy]

Usually my sex scenes write themselves. This one is going badly wrong, she keeps falling asleep. What the fuck is that all about?

...is she narcoleptic?

If the words refuse to flow for me, I save what I have and continue with my day. If I'm still in a creative mindset though, I'll most likely use my free time to paint for a few days until I feel like writing again.

 

[SecondCircle]

It's usually because I get tunnel vision. I try to see it through and make it happen the way I envision, but it just isn't coming together. In a way, it makes my mind blind to other options or possibilities in the story.

So I step away. Just generally do something different than writing. At some point, it never fails that an "Aha!" type of idea just finds me out of the blue when my imagination starts to wander again. This may be a couple hours later or a couple days. Either way, I just take a break from it.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

When I find myself unable to make progress with a scene, or disliking how it's coming out, it almost always means the scene shouldn't be there at all. What's worked for me is to fuss at it some, realise I'm not getting anywhere, and cut the scene entirely. I'm at that point with a story now. It's like pruning - you cut away weak growth and you make room for something better.