Select Page

Do I have writer’s block?

by | Apr 11, 2017 | General, Writing

So, I wrote myself into a corner and can’t get out.

The story is stuck.

My little band of adventurers has once again failed to locate Agrimon, who is never where he’s supposed to be. But I feel that they’ve been chasing after him for far too long now. Something else needs to happen. I need CONFLICT!

But I have conflict, don’t I? After all, they DID get attacked once on the way to some city!

Long story short, my current WIP sucks. It’s been entertaining enough up to its current point, but that’s just it. It’s merely entertaining. It’s not really good. So I’ve been letting it sit and simmer, while I waited for my Muse to whisper a solution into my brain. Only none would present itself. And every time I opened my laptop, the story would stare at me accusingly, wanting to be written, and I failed to put any words down.

It’s not that I’m lacking ideas – I have some great ideas that I want to use in the story, I just can’t seem to make it work properly.

I dug around online, and found a book called “Rock Your Plot” by Cathy Yardley. It came with a 5-star recommendation by Alex from
RisteaReviews.com, so I gave it a shot.

The first thing it pointed out was that the goal of my plot wasn’t quite clear. Then it went on to show me that at least 3 of my adventurers have no internal conflict at all, and their external conflict was nearly resolved already. They had no reason to stick around any longer. And one was a Mary Sue, having no flaws and being great in every scene. Readers would hate her!

I also realised that having the group travel together was boring as hell. I needed to dump something like 40,000 words of the manuscript and separate them before they even start that journey. Create conflict. Make them miserable. Sell them into slavery. Throw them overboard in a storm. Get them kidnapped. Whatever.

I’ll have to re-write some parts, but that’s okay. I’m going to work on the plot points, then go back to the manuscript and start new storylines. Hooray!

More From This Category

What do people read on their commute?

What do people read on their commute?

I spy with my little eye...My recent obsession is to spy on other people’s reading habits on the commuter train. On my way to work I first take a bus, then a tram, and then another bus. My way home is timed so that I can catch an express train, ond only have to take...

read more
What do people read on their commute?

What do people read on their commute?

I spy with my little eye...My recent obsession is to spy on other people’s reading habits on the commuter train. On my way to work I first take a bus, then a tram, and then another bus. My way home is timed so that I can catch an express train, ond only have to take...

read more
What do people read on their commute?

What do people read on their commute?

I spy with my little eye...My recent obsession is to spy on other people’s reading habits on the commuter train. On my way to work I first take a bus, then a tram, and then another bus. My way home is timed so that I can catch an express train, ond only have to take...

read more