Activity

Hello, my wonderful Scribe Peoples! I thought I’d pop on real quick and share something I just discovered.

Lately, I’ve been dealing with the dreaded Stuck Scene. I know where I’m going, and I want to get there, but when I sit down to write, I just… can’t… get there. Everything seems gray and blah. My heart isn’t in it and I don’t even know where to start, and then I end up wasting time, accomplishing nothing, and feeling like a horrible person in general.

BUT. Sometimes I think the problem is that we focus too far ahead, and don’t take time with the here and now/little things of a scene.

For instance: My MC is hiding in a cave, waiting for some bandits to attack. I was so focused on the bandits attacking that I didn’t think about her tapping her fingers against her knees and shivering from the cold before they attacked. I didn’t think about her sweaty palms slipping on her dagger hilt as she tried to pull it from the hidden pocket of her cloak, and I didn’t think about how the first bandit paused in the entrance of the cave and sniffed, looking more like a bloodhound than a human.

In my mind, all I could see was, “bandits = attack: MUST WRITE.”

When you’re stuck in a scene, instead of looking at the broad picture of what’s going to happen, try narrowing things down to a sequence of little details. Instead of having to make something big and epic happen, make one little thing happen, and then another, and then another, and see where it takes you.

If y’all have any more thoughts/tricks on unsticking stuck scenes, I’d love to hear them. This topic has been fascinating me of late, and would probably be beneficial for all of us. (Read: I’m desperate at the moment.)

@r-m-archer @kate @elizabeth @literatureforthelight @j-parkhurst @noahlitle @julianne @r-j-karas @rosemarylouise @msqueen8 @samuel @eden-anderson *pumps fist* Yeah!! I can remember tags! (Sometimes…)