One reason many people who start out wanting to write don’t go on with it is that they have lots of ideas, start writing and then…the story slows down.\u00a0 Or actually stops.\u00a0\u00a0 They don’t know why.\u00a0 They don’t know that this is normal for many writers.\u00a0 They sure don’t know what to do about it.\u00a0\u00a0 They’ve heard about writers who whiz through a story effortlessly…”It wrote itself” or “I never get blocked; I just write.”<\/p>\n
In reality, most writers (I think “all” if they were being honest and including that novel that never got finished, the fifteen drafts of that story they never sold)\u00a0 are familiar with the “Fast out of the gate, behind the field coming home” experience.\u00a0 They know, having done this awhile, that Novice Nerves (as a cause of not finishing something) can be overcome by sheer persistence,\u00a0 that Stuckness (as a cause of difficulty somewhere in the middle) can be overcome by various techniques that often involve “noodling around with the story” (messing with it, trying things out, digging into character motivation, etc.)\u00a0 and that writing is actually hard work, not just on the finger joints.<\/p>\n
But why (someone in the back corner has their hand up and is going to ask this) WHY does it slow down?\u00a0 What’s going on inside?\u00a0\u00a0 (And implied: is it something inside I can change so it doesn’t slow down?)<\/p>\n
Here’s my take on it.\u00a0\u00a0 Imagine the story, long or short, as a picture in a frame.\u00a0 The blank page is the frame (it can be many pages, but the metaphor holds…there’s a beginning, before which no story, and an ending, after which no story.)\u00a0\u00a0 When it’s blank, anything’s possible.\u00a0\u00a0 The starting idea–often but not always a visual image of a character, place, thing, situation–is the first line.<\/p>\n
Mountain.\u00a0 The story occurs on a mountain.\u00a0 A rough outline of a mountain goes up on the page.\u00a0 The idea includes Jack, the protagonist.\u00a0 What’s Jack doing?\u00a0 Climbing the mountain or coming down from it or sitting on it?\u00a0\u00a0 “Jack paused halfway up the mountain to check the map.”\u00a0 OK, that wasn’t so hard.\u00a0 There’s now a mountain, a man, and a map.\u00a0 “He should be halfway to the first trail shelter.\u00a0 According to the map, he was right on schedule.\u00a0\u00a0 He folded the map and put it back in his…”\u00a0 His what?\u00a0 Had he taken his pack off to get the map out, or did he have the map…it’s not that cold, he’s not wearing a jacket, so pockets are out.\u00a0 Pack it is.\u00a0\u00a0 “…pack, then headed on up the slope.\u00a0\u00a0 He wanted to be at the trail shelter well before dark.”<\/p>\n
So far, so good.\u00a0 Writer is checking in with the starting idea, and each check-in brings up choices: the idea had Jack in a T-shirt and jeans, with a pack on his back.\u00a0 Not until the map showed up (needing a place to be put after use) did Writer notice the lack of pockets to stuff a map into.\u00a0 Takes a second, not long, but it’s a break in the flow.\u00a0 Depending on Writer, the story may wander along the trail noting trail condition, plants, birds heard,\u00a0 beetles seen…or it may wander along the trail of thoughts in Jack’s mind, as he reviews the past week at work, a quarrel here, a night out drinking with his friends there, the TV appearance of a liked (or disliked) politician.\u00a0 Or it might combine the two.\u00a0\u00a0 The stronger and more vivid the starting idea, the longer it will guide the writer swiftly through the many choices to be made (is Jack an extrovert or an introvert, and how much of one?\u00a0 Is Jack someone with a lot of trail experience, or is this his first overnight hike?\u00a0 What foods did Jack bring along for supper tonight?) \u00a0 But eventually, the initial idea is left behind as the real story takes hold, and the writer faces those choices without its help.<\/p>\n
Moreover, every choice made earlier constrains the choices available.\u00a0\u00a0 Some roads, when not taken, cannot be taken later.\u00a0 (That easy trail two hours back, the one Jack decided was “too easy for someone like me”\u00a0 or didn’t notice because he was replaying the quarrel or the night out, can’t be used if the story is a short-short and will be finished the moment he reaches the trail shelter.\u00a0\u00a0 If his thoughts were about a quarrel that ended with his fiance throwing the ring in his beer and walking out to get in a car to head for the airport and fly to another continent,\u00a0 then he’s not going to find her waiting for him in the trail shelter.\u00a0 At least, not if I write the story.)\u00a0\u00a0 Every incident in a story, every thought, every decision forecloses some choices and brings up others.\u00a0\u00a0 If Jack’s fiance broke up with him, is he going to fall for the next woman he sees, or be suspicious and angry with her?\u00a0\u00a0 Is he planning to go after her or give up on her?\u00a0\u00a0 Though what happens in the story puts some constraints on what can happen next, what happens also opens new possibilities.<\/p>\n
And so at some point, Writer pauses partway up the story’s slope, on what may have looked like an easy rounded hill with a clear trail, and realizes that the story is a) a mountain and not a hill,\u00a0 b) not easy, and c) Writer is standing in a large mass of vegetation blocking every view forward, up, down, and sideways.\u00a0 The nice clear trail ahead has become a skinny little game trail that ends in a hole in the ground just the right size for something with teeth.\u00a0 Lots of teeth.\u00a0 And there are tufts of fur here and there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Too many possibilities, not enough knowledge.\u00a0 The Story is nudging the Writer from behind.\u00a0 “Go on, MOVE!”\u00a0\u00a0 “Which way?”\u00a0 “I don’t care–DO something!\u00a0 Pick a way!”<\/p>\n
Or, worse case, Writer comes to a stumbling halt in soft, dry sand that has suddenly appeared where Writer had seen the nice rounded hill with the trail going up it.\u00a0 Where’d this come from? Writer wonders.\u00a0 It’s hot.\u00a0 It’s humid.\u00a0 It’s still. \u00a0 Biting insects attack exposed skin.\u00a0 Humps\u00a0 of sand block the view in all directions, and though Writer thinks there might be an ocean over there,\u00a0 has no idea over which hump of sand.<\/p>\n
Or, worst case, Writer is suddenly suspended above the Story, as much as is written, and sees it in its entirety as a stale, flat, unprofitable, stained and half-decomposed strand of rubbish, something that if you saw it on a sidewalk you’d step into the street to avoid stepping on.\u00a0 Writer can see no way to go forward and would rather chew on a dirty sock than touch it again.<\/p>\n
Leave the worst case aside (just circular file the thing and move on)\u00a0 what to do about the other ways a story slowing down destroys writer initiative…there are techniques.\u00a0 Different ones work for different writers.\u00a0\u00a0 One obvious approach is to outline everything beforehand, working from the initial idea.\u00a0 Doing that risks missing some good internal ideas, some fruitful choices, but it does help Writer look efficient.\u00a0 And some writers are very good about considering many branches in the process of outlining (variant branches off the initial idea are important–often writers don’t see the full potential of an initial idea right away.)\u00a0\u00a0 Writers who don’t outline are (in my experience, which is limited to the writers I know)\u00a0 somewhat more likely to enjoy the branchy nature of Stories, and willing to “waste time” running up and down branches like a squirrel as they find out what that Story offers.\u00a0 This does not look efficient, however, and it requires the ability to keep the full structure in mind, not losing track of where the writer has already been on that tree.<\/p>\n
When ankle-deep in hot dry sand being bitten by mosquitoes, that’s hard…so the non-outlining writer (or the writer whose outline suddenly needs revision)\u00a0 can try “artificial” branching.\u00a0 Drop back to the last place that felt “good”.\u00a0\u00a0 Instead of what happened next…something different.\u00a0 Anything.\u00a0 Anything that’s active, an intrusion into the old plan.\u00a0 Blow something up.\u00a0 Knock something over.\u00a0 Put a secret door\/trapdoor\/secret passage\/tunnel where there wasn’t one.\u00a0\u00a0 Throw new characters in; make them strange and be sure they’re active.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course none of this may work, in terms of sending the story along smartly with the new material.\u00a0 But it shakes up the brain, and in the process of shaking a brain, sometimes the Sekrit Decoder ring falls out and Writer goes “Oh!\u00a0 Of course!” and the Story picks up speed again.\u00a0 If the Sekrit Decorder ring is the right one, the bright idea Writer just had will mesh seamlessly with the healthy part of the story before, and run on for awhile until Writer is stymied again.\u00a0 OK, fine, so it turns out that having Jack agree to take a picture of a pair of hikers coming the other way who want to pose on top of a boulder leads to major complications when they fall off the boulder, one breaks a leg, the other blames Jack (“Why did you tell him to turn sideways?\u00a0 He wouldn’t have fallen if you hadn’t–“)\u00a0 and Jack offers to go for help when it turns out they can’t get a cellphone signal, and the other two look at each other and say “No, no, he can make it back to the car if you’ll help,” so Jack improvises a splint and helps the man hop on one leg… but remembering the trail, Writer realizes this isn’t going to work, and tries to get the characters to agree to send Jack or the woman for help, but they’re adamant.\u00a0 Jack argues more and is suddenly facing the muzzle of a gun the woman pulls out.<\/p>\n
Now what?<\/p>\n
Lots of possibilities.\u00a0 What was this story supposed to be about, anyway?\u00a0\u00a0 Writer goes off to think about it.\u00a0\u00a0 A hike-in-the-mountains where the mountain affects the man story?\u00a0\u00a0 A personal internal crisis story that happens to be set in the mountains?\u00a0 A thriller confrontation with bank robbers story?\u00a0\u00a0 Right now the Story’s being yanked in different directions.\u00a0 What was that initial idea?\u00a0\u00a0 Time to re-read it to that point.\u00a0 Mountain, Jack, trail.\u00a0\u00a0 WHY was Jack on the mountain?<\/p>\n
Oh…buried in the original idea was Jack’s motivation, never clearly stated.\u00a0 Jack had been challenged by a guy at work, a regular hiker, to make it to the top of Mount Whatever, if he wanted to be included in a group hiking somewhere else.\u00a0 It’s a challenge story.\u00a0 Jack’s decided to take the challenge and the story *originally* was going to be about whether he made it up to the top.\u00a0\u00a0 If it’s not going to be that<\/em> story, it needs to be more defined in Writer’s mind.\u00a0\u00a0 If it is going to be that story, has Writer ever hiked up a mountain?\u00a0 If so, where are the feelings–physical and mental–of hiking up a mountain.\u00a0 It’s not like walking on a sidewalk or a treadmill.\u00a0 If not, then this may not be the story Writer should be working on.\u00a0 Because a story *about* hiking up a mountain needs elements that let the reader feel what it’s like to hike up a mountain–even for readers who’ve never done it, and definitely for the ones who have, who will be checking to see if Writer knows what a mountain trail really is.\u00a0 (Note: stories can be “about” more than one thing:\u00a0 Jack can be both determined to meet the challenge set him by Eric at work, and wondering if the summit will be satisfying, or just a lot of work followed by a disappointment, like his breakup with Trudy.\u00a0 But the reader should feel a primary “pull” down one line or the other, so the other becomes the a contribution to the main melody.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One reason many people who start out wanting to write don’t go on with it is that they have lots of ideas, start writing and then…the story slows down.\u00a0 Or actually stops.\u00a0\u00a0 They don’t know why.\u00a0 They don’t know that this is normal for many writers.\u00a0 They sure don’t know what to do about it.\u00a0\u00a0 Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,25],"tags":[7,26],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-writing-life","category-writers-toolkit","tag-the-writing-life","tag-tools-for-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}