Forum: Author Hangout

Tips-Tricks to resume writing a story

sunseeker 🚫
Updated:

Ok, I had been thinking of a few stories and they kept going round and round in my head so I decided to try and write one of them. I haven't written any kind of stories before. At first I was writing every day and after a long while I was at roughly 119k words.

I had a couple days that I didn't have time to write and since then have had no desire to continue writing the story. It's been about a week. I've re-read what is already written and enjoyed reading it but when I tried to continue writing - nada. I've got several more "scenes" written in point form from before I stopped writing, but can't motivate myself to write them out completely and continue on.

What are some tips or tricks you authors use to resume writing a story you had put aside that I can try? Any help is appreciated.

I want to finish the story before submitting it for editing/approval.

Thanks, SS

Replies: Switch Blayde Reluctant_Sir Switch Blayde Ernest Bywater REP

Switch Blayde 🚫

@sunseeker

You already did what I do — re-read it and continue writing where I left off.

If that's not working for you, I guess you need to give it more time. Step away from the story and then at some future date, try again.

The only other alternative is to force yourself to write. Sometimes, once you start writing you take off.

Reluctant_Sir 🚫

@sunseeker

I agree with Switch_Blayde, but I also found that sometimes it helps to do something else for a bit, specifically something that doesn't require a lot of attention paid to the task, and let your mind roam.

For me, walking on the treadmill or riding an exercise bike helps... repetitive motion that doesn't require I pay much attention. I usually start out just thinking about the flow of the story and, if nothing suggests itself, start throwing in what-ifs.

What if I killed the MC's love interest? Would it kill the story? Why would she die? How? If not her, then who? What if I changed the ending I had in mind? How could I get from here to there, without re-writing the whole thing?

Now, I almost never actually DO any of those things, but once I get my mind in the right groove, I usually get an idea I can use, or a vignette that works and I can get up from the bike and jot it down.

Then it is lather, rinse, repeat.

Don't feel put off if nothing works though... sometimes you just need a break.

Replies: Vincent Berg

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Reluctant_Sir

Both Switch and Reluctant_Sir's advice is on the money, but you also need to realize that writer's block, however short of long it lasts, is often your characters refusing to play by your objective. If your characters don't feel your story objective (where they're heading or where you want them to end up) is contrary to the nature you set out for them, it's a guarantee for a protracted case of writer's block—especially if the writing is flowing otherwise.

In those cases, it's best to do a variant of Switch's advice. Take some time off, but you need to be very specific about it. Set out a goal. Determine where the conflict is between your planned story arc and your characters, and once you've isolated it, blank your mind utterly and take a long, long walk, thinking of NOTHING other than the beauty around you.

Invariably, at least for me, emptying my mind while establishing a clear goal like that, I'll 'discover' the perfect solution midway, and will want to turn back immediately. But continuing on, I'll follow it through logically and explore where that newest twist takes the entire story. How much remains the same, what changes, and how it'll impact the other characters.

Trust me, when you reach that stage, nothing will stop the words from flowing, though I have encountered cases of repeated on-and-off writer's block that flows like diarrhea after a prolonged bout of constipation. A few more 'pieces' of the story may temporarilly jam for works momentarily, but once you know how to resolve it, you'll continually be surprised.

What's more, nothing makes a story come 'alive' more than when your characters take over, taking it in all new directions. Then you just have to copy whatever they say as quickly as possible, before they move on to the next thing and leave you behind.

By the way, Reluctant_Sir, your way is actually similar to mine, but spins off into non-productive alternatives, rather than drilling down to the central conflicts, yet the central components are very similar (as is Switch's). But if nothing at all flows, then just write grocery lists, 'found conversations' in the park of a coffee shop, or write abstract scenarios. Whatever keeps your writing fresh is essential however long your downtime is. For an author, there's nothing worse than putting a story aside, as it'll take you months to 'relearn' you craft again.

Switch Blayde 🚫

@sunseeker

One more thing. 119k words would make a long novel. Maybe you're bored with it and it's time to end it.

Replies: Vincent Berg

Vincent Berg 🚫

@Switch Blayde

One more thing. 119k words would make a long novel. Maybe you're bored with it and it's time to end it.

Better yet, your characters are probably bored too. End the damn book with whichever conflict launched it, and start anew with a sequel, maintaining the central overarching conflict, but refocus the project so there's a new, more precise conflict for the 2nd book—something that'll set it off and differentiate it from the first.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@sunseeker

The three things I try are, in order:

1. Re-read what's written and see how that goes.

2. Edit what's written and polish what's there.

3. Start another story and work on that until I have a similar brick wall.

Note: Once you get to the third item you can easily end up with a number of part-written stories, known as works in progress. However, the good point is that the back of you mind will work on each of these stories and you'll eventually get back to work on one or more of them.

I also find the time taken away from one story to work on another will often allow me to go back to a re-read and then just continue writing.

sunseeker 🚫

Thanks everyone! I'll give your suggestions a try and hope they give me the kick in the a$$ I need.

Replies: Vincent Berg

Vincent Berg 🚫

@sunseeker

Thanks everyone! I'll give your suggestions a try and hope they give me the kick in the a$$ I need.

Damn, I wish money poured out of my ass as it seems to with yours! In my case, all that pours out of mine are overly abundant words, which like diarrhea need to be scrubbed down in editing.

tendres 🚫

I use some dice, look up Rory's Story Cubes.

Roll them and either it inspires me or I disagree and come up with something else.

REP 🚫

@sunseeker

My trick is to start writing a new subplot/scene. Once I'm back in the swing of it, I can usually go back and finish what had been left to do on the older part. At some point the two segments will merge and minor rewrite may be necessary.

If you are back in the swing of it and have problems finishing the unfinished segment, there may be something "wrong" with it. Try taking a different and perhaps drastically different approach. Don't get stuck with thinking you have to keep what you wrote. You may have to delete the current part and totally replace it.

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Forum: Author Hangout

Tips-Tricks to resume writing a story

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