What do you do when it feels like your story's hit a roadblock?

ArmamentCalligraphy

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In my story, I've got ideas for what happens after the current scene, but I'm not sure how to reach that point. What do you do in situations like this?
 

Harvier

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En mi historia, tengo ideas sobre lo que sucede después de la escena actual, pero no estoy seguro de cómo llegar a ese punto. ¿Qué haces en situaciones como e

In my story, I've got ideas for what happens after the current scene, but I'm not sure how to reach that point. What do you do in situations like this?
I try to think about the characters' personalities and how they would overcome a situation. If they are arrogant and insult them respect, they should respond haughtily. But they're just easygoing; they might not even give them a glance. Not the best example but you get the point.
 

Mephi

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Do a tarot reading. Not kidding. I do tarot readings for my characters and see what they say. Its kind of like a brainstorming session with aids.

The thing with writer's blocks is that the only real way through is to power through them. Sometimes taking a small break and a change of scenery help (I suggest exercise as well), but invariably after the break you need to come back and put pen to paper. Or finger to keyboard.

I remember reading or watching something that claimed writers block was in part self doubt paralyzing your choices and leading your thoughts in a circle. You need to break the cycle to get out of the block.
 

CheertheDead

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The 3am I am trying to sleep here.
I kid you not. When I try to sleep, I always think about something and it became the one time that helps me get through last month block.

My progress have been stagnant last month was due to me being able to sleep at that hour.
 
D

Deleted member 57675

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Responding to the title:

Brainstorm the bridge that will connect the dots.
Take a break and never go back to it.
Side projects. Distractions are fun!
Ask feedback. Such sweet sweet criticism. <3
Some say read random shit & copy random shit.
Meditate.

Some of these is bad advice. Because it depends on what your story is, which we don't know about. And what your writing mode is like, which we also don't know much about other then its stuck.

The thing is to brainstorm like a madman and scribble everywhere on paper, rotate the paper a few times, and you'll get the idea going somewhere. At least some scribbles may give a few ideas to proceed. And some research if your story is one. You can always have fun googling all the little details in blueprint sketches, even if they don't become the real thing.
 

Toripuru-S

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Say screw it and purposefully write bad to get past it to the good stuff. You can always fix it later... Or be lazy and leave it.
This ♥️

You don't want to get stuck in a state of inaction over this type of thing. Brute force your way past it, and fix it later if needed.

Or, you could take a break and start writing something else. Spending a lil' time with new characters in new settings can help expand your outlook. What doesn't work for A can work for B, and vice versa 😋.
 

VyStarlit

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In those sort of situations I say to myself, 'What's the worst thing that could happen to them right now?' or 'What goal are they trying to achieve and how can I add a problem to achieving that goal?' Usually that works for me. Other times, my brain is trying to tell me there is something wrong with what I wrote earlier and I need to fix it. Most of the time it's a quick fix of a sentence or a paragraph.

I have a list of things to check it against:
1. Does the scene move the plot along?
2. Does the scene introduce a problem, mystery, humor, or help build relationships between characters in a meaningful way?
3. Is the pacing off? If it's too slow I need to add some action or drama or even skip to the next area. If it's too fast then I need to let my character have some downtime, maybe add something humorous, or interesting or funny dialogue.
 

Kalebell

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I shove my paper in front of the roadblocks face and yell "look what you've done!" Then crumple on the ground until the roadblock slowly moves away. Works every dang time.
 

BearlyAlive

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If the already mentioned ones don't work, just cheat and change the PoV until you're at the point you want your characters to be
 

Tamashitoanata

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In my story, I've got ideas for what happens after the current scene, but I'm not sure how to reach that point. What do you do in situations like this?
Buddy chum pal. I am new to this, very. When I started writing my novel, I knew 2 things. Beginning and end. What do I put between. Solution: You can't ask people about it. U see, everyone is going to tell you their way of hgandling it and u might use that, but it then is not your thing anymore, it's just from someone else, even if of course it is helpfull. But I got an idea. Set a timeline. Literally make a line, and set around where u want what to happen. Because whatever ideas u have, they are definitly gonan depend on eahc otehr, and so have to come with a certain time order. Example: You want him to reflect on himself at one point, and then make a decision on the other. Wuth reflection comes decision so reflection first then decision.
Next up, how do I get to that point: Think of the characteristics of what you want to happen. To come to reflect on oneself needs not only time, but actions that one does not fully find correct, so that in the end he can question if what he has done was good or not, So make your main character do stuff he is not fully convinced to do that fits the current story line. A decision comes with that reflection, but also with testing. The mc will try some new things, see if he likes a different way of doing stuff. For example, he first eats pancake, but he one day isnt sure if he likes pancake. So he eats otehr things to see if they fit and finds that he likes Egg.

Not, finding exact things, an exact storyline, is definitly hard, But with this technique, you can find out what kind of chapters u want between the things that happen, what your character will go though exactly is always a set of creativity, even if u idk get into his shoes or not. Noone can really help u with that, without giving you direct suggestions for chapters. U wanna stay original. So yeah. My advice. Hope it helps.

Edit: Also very important: Take ur time with thinking. You got aaaaall the time in the world. Even like completly famous authors make a full break sometimes. Nobody will judge u for it, and u know that. So no worries. Take ur time.
 

Nirokuro

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In my story, I've got ideas for what happens after the current scene, but I'm not sure how to reach that point. What do you do in situations like this?
you can very much live as your character, or read about similar situation in other novel, or as for last resort put a plot twist, for example if it is in a fantasy novel fight, maybe the presence of something in the terrain around them that the mc didn't notice will change the fight path a little
 

TheEldritchGod

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Easy.
Write three times what you need, throw out half. Since by sheer statistics, half of what you write will be below average, this will make what you have left above average. If you do this all the time, store the half you don't use somewhere so when you need a quick solution, just go to that file.

Oh. You will still have 150% of what you need. Carefully pair down the extra until you have only what you need for the story. Less is more, if the less is the BEST 33% of what you wrote.
 

KiraMinoru

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Time skip to it and fill in the blanks that led up to it after wards.
 
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