Stuck on a Scene? Try This Trick to Get it Moving Again

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The problem isn’t always where you think it is.

Before I dive in today, I'm also guest posting over at Writers in the Storm, sharing tips on How to Make Clichés Work for You. Come on over and say hello.

Unless you’re very, very lucky, at some point in your writing you’re going to get stuck. You’ll write yourself into a corner and won’t be able to figure out how to get your protagonist where they need to go, or maybe you’ll have no idea what the conflict is supposed to be. You’ll sit at the keyboard and grow more and more frustrated by the minute until you want to scream. Or take up botany.

It’s not writer’s block—you can write, it’s just that the scene has stalled and you don’t know what to do to get it moving again.

Instead of struggling to fix the scene that’s not working, try this:

7 Ways Your Characters Can Screw up Their Decisions

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Making the wrong choice isn't good in life, but it's great for plotting a novel.

As people, we want to make the right choice, so it's only natural that those are the choices that first come to us as we write a scene. The problem there, is that "doing the right thing" doesn't usually cause the wonderful conflict we need to craft compelling stories. (But when it does it's writing gold.) 

Lifehack had a great post about how not to mess up your decisions. The writer in me instantly saw what a fantastic guide it was for crafting characters with bad decision-making skills, which of course makes for more interesting plots. Nobody likes a smarty pants who gets everything right all the time. We want characters with flaws, and issues, who make snap judgements and totally mess things up while trying to make things better.

You really don't want your characters to act like they've three weeks to consider their options just because you took that long to write the scene (and probably had input from fellow writers and friends, too). A decision made in the heat of the moment isn't the same as one made after weeks of considering.

And characters making "in the heat of the moment" decisions can make or break your plot.

3 Ways Moral Dilemmas Can Strengthen Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Moral ambiguity can bring a lot to a novel.

For me, writing is a bit of a psychological experiment. I love creating morally gray situations and seeing how my characters react to them. What they do, what lines they cross, how far they’re really willing to go to get what they want. It’s a wonderful way to learn who they are and tell a richer story.

When situations aren’t so back and white, it gives us more opportunities to explore our story’s themes and characters. We can push boundaries to make a point or illustrate an idea. We can raise tensions and provide the emotional depth that keep readers invested. Life is messy, so why not take advantage of that with the tales we tell?

Here are three ways moral dilemmas can benefit your novel:

The Impossible Choice: A Surefire Way to Hook Your Readers

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The first job of any story is to hook its reader, but after that initial hook, the story can’t just slack off. It has to keep hooking, keep drawing readers in, and keep making them want to turn the page. An excellent tool for this job is the impossible choice.

A well-crafted story will have choices all the way through. Some will be small choices that subtly directly the plot or character arc, while others will have major repercussions on the story. It’s these choices and the reader’s interest in seeing how the tale unfolds that keeps them interested in the story.

But to really grab a reader, force your protagonist to make an impossible choice.

Actions vs Choices: Crafting Better Plots

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

I was updating an outline of my WIP one day when something interesting hit me. I had a line of what was going to happen in a chapter, but it was written as if this was an inevitable event.

Protagonist defies her superiors.

I realized this was a common phrasing for my outlines, because I know roughly what’s going to happen. But by stating it so clearly, in a “done deal” kind of way, I was robbing the story of the mystery of wondering what would happen. To remind myself to put the mystery back in, I changed the line to:

Protagonist has to choose between superiors and friend.

A simple fix, but this edit made it a choice my protagonist had to make to achieve that outcome, which made the scene more unpredictable. Sure, the outcome was going to be the same, but when I wrote it, I had that struggle to choose firmly in my mind. I didn't write it as if it was a done deal--and that made a world of difference.