Stuck with your story? Try this!
This is a post for the fellow discovery writers, also known as pantsers.
There will inevitably come a time where you just donāt know how to continue your story and it drives you nuts. Or there will come a time where you are afraid of where it might go or are afraid it is going to be bad.
Well, I do know what to do, because Iāve faced this kind of thing with everything I wrote. Even blog posts.
Hereās what you can do.
Grab a piece of paper, or open a notes or text app, and write this on top: what do I fear the most of what is inevitable in my story (or something more succinct).
Thereās always something. You donāt know if you like the direction your main character is heading in and you REALLY want to make changes.
You fear that your secondary characters arenāt interesting enough and you fear that they will make the story worse.
Write down anything, but keep it book related. Itās no use to write down that you think youāre a bad writer. Thatās not helping you move this story forward (Remember this: every writer in history felt that way at one point in their career, even the most successful ones).
Once you are done writing your list, start to address them.
Feel like you donāt know some characters well?
Write a couple of scenes where they introduce themselves, or write a letter from them to you, sharing what the story is they want you to tell.
If you go for a scene, remember, the scene doesnāt necessarily need to be in the book, so perfectionism has no place in the writing.
Feel the direction is wrong?
Write a scene with a direction thatās right, and then write your novel towards that one.
Feel that the love interest is boring or evil?
Write them anew in a scene or two, and then make notes as to where you need to change for this character in the rewrites.
This is -all- about finding where you are stuck, and all about getting you writing again.
And if you donāt find an immediate solution, jump a couple of chapters ahead in your writing. If you, for instance, get stuck with your story while your characters are stuck in the garden, write a scene with them in the living room. What got them there? And how does that move the story forward?
After answering all your fears, keep those responses close, because you might face the same problems again, and armed with those responses, you know what to do to move the story forward.