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I've hit the wall.

edited February 2012 in - Writing Problems
Over the last month I have been working on a novel. I've written 40,000 words, that's 13 chapters with no problems, but suddenly I've hit the wall. This morning I find myself using typical displacement actions. Anything other than writing! I have started editing the stuff I already have down, and that's not the way I usually write. I normally do a complete first write then put it away before editing it. You may have noticed I have posted on here a few times as well! I have not run out of ideas and have at least another nine chapters planned. It's just creating them that's the problem.
What do you do when you hit your wall? Any useful tips and insights? All suggestions gratefully received.

Comments

  • I think many of us do just what you are doing - which is why there are so many threads on here about procrastination !
    I'm not the best person to give any tips or advice today as I am being almost slovenly in my approach to writing today. The best I can say at the moment is, take a break from the novel, spend even more time on TB and put it all down to it being February .

    Good luck :)
  • a book i've just read said re write the last chapter as it must be something recently written thats got you stuck and see if that gets you going again
    good luck :)
  • I think I know what you mean. Not the same, but I am trying to break that wall in my article. I know full well what will be said and when, but what on earth is the next word??

    Perhaps that's the problem. It is planned. In my case, every time I right something, I delete it because then it is in 'the wrong place', whilst I am also trying to make the transition to the next point smooth.
  • edited February 2012
    The solution to your problems is obvious, Norcot and SamPerkins! Swap! :)
  • Go onto something further on that you think you can get on with writing and come back to the other bit later.
  • I usually find dipping into a good novel gives me the required kick up the bum. It tends to give me ideas and motivation as well
  • Is it possible to miss out whatever comes next and jump ahead? You may be able to go back later and fill in the sticky patch, once the rest is done.

    Try to to worry - it happens to us all.
  • When that happens I usually find it's because I have a plot hole (i.e. a precipice with a big drop in front of it, instead of storyline).

    If I were in your shoes, I would go back to my outline or skeleton and just check that the logic follows through to the end of your concept. You don't necessarily have to have already done a very detailed plot but you need some idea of the continuity.

    Alternatively, scrub that bit for the moment, start working on another section (as Carol suggests) and join 'em up later, when you're in the mood.

    Good luck.
  • What happens next?
    If your characters are where they aren't supposed to be, mentally, physically or on the plot arc - find out where they dared to venture off path!
  • Thanks for those comments. There are some very sound suggestions there. Jay's idea I like, but it's wonderfully impractical. The idea of jumping a few chapters and writing further ahead in the book, is a good one, which several of you have suggested.. Thanks to Word this is what I have often done in the past. It is so easy to shoe-horn a chapter in wherever you like.
    Paperbackwriter has hit the nail square on the head; I am due to write a chapter of subplot that has only recently come to my mind.
    I wrote some time ago on here about forming a writers' group. This is a perfect example of when I would love to have someone I could contact to share problems. This group is doing the job very nicely, thank you.
  • This sort of thing happens to me frequently. I can get stuck on something because I can't quite get the thing
    written how I want it. for me the solution is to hit a couple of carriage returns, switch to italics and write, "What
    happens next is..." Then carry on with the next chapter. I don't worry about leaving holes in a first draft cos they
    can be filled on first edit.
  • I was going to post a thread about procrastination, too...but I'll leave that until next week... :-)
  • I never hit any wall. I do have pit stops, but never a wall, because I've planned the story in as much detail as I can - by that I've put together a framework from which the plot hangs, I have relative sub plots in place and I have well researched and fully rounded characters ready to go, I know the themes to explore, I know backstory, I know the kind of conficts that might appear and I have an idea of how it might end.

    More imortantly I've invested the time in plotting each chapter - nothing in depth, just a few sentences - as a guide, so if I do find the momentum slowing, I have that guide to fall back on. Fail to prepare = prepare to fail.
  • I like to write a scene from each chapter - the scene I'm most excited to write, whether it's a bit of dialogue, a descriptive scene or some internal wranglings. When I've got something written for every chapter, I find the blank page much less intimidating! I also find going out, writing snippets in notebooks helps.
  • This just shows how individual we all are in our approach to writing. I have a friend who is a novelist and writes newspaper columns. She starts with interesting characters only - no plot in mind at all- and just lets the characters get on with it. I have to have my characters, my begining chaters and a definite end to aim for. It's horses for courses, I suppose.
  • Try asking your characters "what if?". Change a line of dialogue, or a little incident that will steer things in another direction.
  • Sorry to bother you all again but you'll be pleased to read I have started writing again. The one day break has refreshed the parts other breaks couldn't reach. (With apologies to an old beer advert!)
  • Power to your pen (or keyboard) Norcot
  • Go for it!
  • Right, this is a future remedy. Look out of your window for five minutes then write down everything you see and hear, bird song, traffic noise, is it fine or is it wet, how do the trees look, can you see the people. Write everything you can think of and don't send it to the trash bin. File it as you might be able to use this for future work. I hope this works,Norcot.
  • Take a break from your novel by entering a competition.
    A short story will keep you writing and let the solution to your problem simmer on the back burner.
  • That's good advive. Liz. On mature reflection I realise I usually have a few projects on the go at once. Sometimes a short story, often an article or a book revision. This time I have been caught short - so to speak! There was nothing to sidetrack me.
  • Well, there's always TB, Norcot. That sidetracks me several times a day!
  • [quote=bertiebear]Well, there's always TB, Norcot. That sidetracks me several times a day![/quote]

    Me too - I should be getting shopping done so I can get back to re-writing my book.
  • I'm not into novel writing but with non-fiction books when I am stuck with a chapter I work on a future chapter and come back to the problem one. Sometimes the problem chapters needs some more research. I never write in the order of the final chapters.
  • Hey norcoot - I've done my shopping and am about to get back on track. How about you?
  • I've had a busy morning as well, Liz. Cleared the snow from the drive and the path outside the house. Walked to town to buy dog food for our hedgehog lodger. Preapared lunch. Erica was visiting a local 97 year old friend who we keep an eye on; especially this weather. I have written about 1000 words, before I'm accused of displacment tactics! At this moment Erica is starting an new wildlife painting and I'm settling down to more writing. Good luck with your 'back on track' Incidentally, when I was a child in deepest Lincolnshire we always called hedgehogs Piggy- oggies. I think that's what we will call this one.
  • My first husband's grandfather had a coat of arms, and his name - Harris - was represented by a hedgehog (apparently 'herries' in Latin).
    So my son's toy hedgehog was naturally called Harris.
    Years later I wrote a verse for each of my kids' toys, and this was one:-

    Harris the hedgehog loved to eat slugs,
    he’d go round the garden hunting out bugs.
    The gardener’s family started to feel
    the occasional worm was not a good meal.

    They offered him sausage and even paella,
    but he thought a treat was a fat caterpillar.
    They tried him with pizza and custard in jugs,
    “No thank you”, he’d say,"I'd rather eat slugs."
  • Great poem!
  • [quote=liz young]Take a break from your novel by entering a competition. A short story will keep you writing and let the solution to your problem simmer on the back burner.
    [/quote]



    Good idea, how about this one, max 1500 words:

    http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/


    This competition is also making a donation to a charity or voluntary group. See website for how a charity or voluntary group of your choosing could benefit.
  • [quote=liz young]Years later I wrote a verse for each of my kids' toys,[/quote]

    Well worth the effort.
    hedgehog seems to have been christened Snuffles, because my wife says that the only noise he makes.
  • edited February 2012
    Snuffles hasn't been to America recently, has he/she?

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2095112/Piers-Morgan-Joan-Collins-tried-cocaine-sneezed-blew-Sammy-Davis-Jr.html

    - towards the end of Tuesday (NOT the bit about Joan Collins).
  • right i kinda need some help its my GCSE for my final grade im 16 and i have this paper to wright on anything i want to but i have no idea what to wright about when it comes to wrighting my head just blanks can anyone help me !!!!!!!!!
  • I like that poem Lizy. :)
  • Amberini, they always advise authors to write about something they know. Have you any hobbies? Is there anything that really gets you going? That's what you need to write about.
  • Loved your poem, Liz. :)
  • [quote=Amberini] GCSE for my final grade [/quote]

    GCSE in any particular subject? If not, Norcot's advice is good.
    You could always try asking your family for ideas - they might surprise you.
    Or you could "interview" a grandparent or elderly neighbour - older people often have a fund of stories just waiting to be tapped and would be thrilled to be listened to.
    Record your interview on something - ASK permission first! - and make notes later. This method keeps the conversation flowing.
    Good luck.
    Oh, and if your name's Amber, an extra good wish cos we have a granddaughter with the same name!
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