I’m Stuck
I’m having a heck of a time writing this fourth Shar scene. I have literally thousands of words on it, none of which make sense.  It’s nailing the arc of her discovery. The first time I wrote it, I moved her coming awake too far up. The second time I wrote it, it was boring as all hell.  So clearly I have to get in my mind where she’s coming from and what she’s going to. Well, I know that, it’s figuring out what naturally comes in between.  Not the events, I know those, too, but where Shar’s head is.  I found great music for her–Dusty this time–but it’s wrong for this scene so I keep going over the edge.
All of which is to say: I’m working here but it’s not good.  Not even rough draft good. ARGH.
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Can you move on to the next scene and just type “mutter, mumble, discovery” as a placeholder to get the pressure off your brain?
Did that already. The next scene needs revised but I can do that in half an hour once I have this one. Shar had five scenes in Act One and this is the last one. And I can’t do Kami until I get Shar in place.
Argh.
Change hats.
Sometimes these will work. Don’t laugh, it’s because the techniques mess with brain-wiring.
Think about your problem while doing one of these:
1. Write with the other hand for a while.
2. If right-handed, block off the left nostril (tissue or something). Reverse if left-handed.
3. Brush your teeth for a while.
Or go do something for a few hours that’s really different from writing and involved so you don’t think about your problem: Driving in traffic, riding with Bob driving in traffic, calculus, chainsawing down a tree.
Bubbleshooter. Just ask Lani.
http://www.gamegecko.com/bubbleshooter.php
(puts on her tinfoil Psychic Hat)
Take Wolfie for a walk. You will meet a tall dark man — try and chat him up. Not the “Hey, baby, what’s your sign?” type of chat up, just a normal conversation with a stranger. Weather will work as well as anything. Return home, get in your comfy chair, and tell Wolfie The Story of The Scene. Get a drink, then start writing.
(Takes off beanie.) Now, I shall make a bowl of popcorn and get back to work myself. (-; I bet all your problems were solved before I even had a chance to post.
Have you tried you pull the quilt over your head and tell yourself the story one? Isn’t that one of your tried and true tactics?
Having not read the scene for a couple days, I’m trying to think what I got out of it. Shar thinks she’s dreaming, then realizes she’s not but tries to talk herself into beliving she is. She has the unfamiliar notion of finishing something pinging around in her head. I tend toward the problem of leaving something off without finishing and have trained myself now to ask, “what must I do to make this be done?” And reaquaint myself with the project goal if I got off track, like when I start reading stuff when I should just be dusting.
Does Shar even realize at this point that she wants something? Or is she still just living her same-old-same-old life and only toying with the idea of personal growth? Then some hot dude showed up in her bedroom and her talking dog wigged out. Frankly I don’t even know what I would think about this. This is why I read books. Not that having nothing to say would shut me up.
I’m confused (as usual). Are you talking about the scene you’ve already posted, or the one that follows that?
What are her start and finish points? How many steps does ancient wisdom suggest she should take to get from one to the other?
Curse you Pam W!!! I so did not need another game to get addicted to. (But thanks for posting about Bubbleshooter. It’s fun. I like it. Sigh.)
Jenny - I hope something about the scene hits you soon so you’ll get unstuck, but I have to say it’s encouraging to see someone with your writing experience get stuck. Just reassures me that it’s a normal part of the process.
Not the one I already posted. That needs some work but it’s a scene.
This is the scene between that one and the turning point scene which also is done in rough draft and I can fix.
And I think the problem is that I still don’t have a handle on what Shar wants in the overall arc. I know what she wants in each scene (except this one) but the whole “finishing” thing I was working with is more of a joke than a motive. You know, orgasm, big finish. I wrote a lot of stuff about her finally unleashing all that repression because I found Dusty music that did it, but that comes in the next act, not this one, I was jumping the gun.
And way over the top. Plus, the first chunk of it is summary, showing how the world is beginning to see her differently, and I wrote pages of the damn stuff and it can’t be that much, it’s boring. Lightly, lightly across the summary, Jenny.
I know, it’s all a process.Why does it always take me so long to know my characters? Thank God for music.
Is it just me, or is this “it’s only a dream” idea a very popular fantasy? Well, my fantasy is a bit different from Shar’s. My dreamboat invites me to–and he makes good on it, and I don’t have to apologize or negotiate because I’m pretending it’s all a dream, and he’s totally buying it. Maybe I even convince myself it’s only a dream. I do have episodes of lucid dreaming, but they’re harder to control than you may have been led to believe. Anyway, wrapped around all of this is the fact that it is a fantasy, not a real thing, and not even a dream. Got that?
My only problem right now is I’m between fantasy hotties, so, phooey anyhow.
Anyway, if this fantasy is as popular as I suspect it is, Jenny, you may be feeling a little extra pressure because you know you’re fooling with something that is very personal to a lot of readers. Of course, you’ve done that before. Like that rowboat thing, and that thing on the dock.
JENNY, YOU NEED SOME WATER IN THAT SCENE!
Well, there was a glass of Kool-aid by the bed, but she drank it.
Have you tried storyboarding? Or clustering?
Either way, you need big paper. I like newsprint, because you get a lot of it for cheap, but posterboard would do as well.
Storyboard, you draw something like a comic strip. Don’t bother with words. Just think about the effect you’re looking for and draw that.
Clustering, oh, put the main word right in the middle of the paper, then write down the other words than come to you. Put them in a kind of a cloud around the main word. As you feel the information coming, draw circles around the words, and then draw lines between the circles to illustrate the relationships between the words.
Then, was it Bradbury who advocated using lists? I like clustering better, but MRTO.
I remember hearing that Quincy Jones had gone broke. Everybody was feeling all sorry for him. Not me, I figured, like John Connally did, he made one fortune now he just needs to make another one. Or, to put it another way, Hell, he’s still Quincy Jones! Meaning, whatever he had that gave him his earlier success was still chugging inside him. I was right.
Maybe you could get into an email argument with somebody. I know people who get a real charge out of arguing. Seems to free up something. It makes me cry, mind you, but for some, it’s a great boost.
If I can add my 2 cents, take a walk. Not too long ago I was going nuts trying to add pages to my WIP and the kids and hubby were getting on my nerves, so I put on my sneakers, plugged into my iPod, said “I’m going for a walk!” and shut the door behind me. Midway through lap 2 I realized my antag’s motivation was all wrong and needed a complete overhaul. By the third lap I was all but running home to get back to “work”. It’s a PITA to get ideas with no notebook handy but that sometimes seems to be the case, doesn’t it? On the other hand, I repeated my new ideas in my head, over and over like a mantra, until I could get back home and start tapping at the keyboard.
Not that this works for everyone, and MRTO and all that, but if I can combine writing with exercise, hooray!
Finishing something is letting go of the past, but it also implies a willingness and strength and courage to begin something new, to be open to new possibilities. Finishing, in and of itself, as a goal, feels flat. Think about what you see her doing or wanting to do in a year, five years, ten – there’s your exciting stuff. Write the ending, even if it’s not the book’s ending, and then you’ll see the steps she has to take to get there.
Just a suggestion.
Then again, if the quilt over the head thing works for you, do that. Ever tried a few blankets draped over the dining room furniture? As I recall, my kids came up with some pretty interesting stories while under the dining room table. Try it. Dignity is overrated anyway. But do bring pillows. And Wolfie.
I have to echo the “thank God for music” comment. My muse loves music. Not just any music, though. She has strict guidelines. I must be in the car and the music must be loud, loud, loud - thus drowning out any input from me. ;c) But its heaven when she finally shows. Everything becomes clear, problems get solved, characters start talking…until I have to park and get out. *sigh*
Anyway, good luck with the scene, Jenny. You’ll have to let us know what finally works.
Kate
Well, what DOES she want? Does she want to finish to do something else? Has she not finished because then she’d have to think of something else? Does she want a different career, or a new slant on the old one? Or has she been using her inability to finish as an excuse to avoid having a real life while she focuses on her career and a place-holder man? Because I know people who have found themselves in all of these positions (including me).
We haven’t heard anything about Shar’s female support group yet (or I’ve missed it) - friends, sisters, etc. Maybe her career is fine, but what she’s missing is the people that will make her life full and satisfying - not just a man, but others to whom she is important and who are important enough for her to invest in. And maybe she’s puttering away on her work because all those important people aren’t showing up and she doesn’t like to hang out with just anyone (except, apparently, placeholder guy, whose name I have forgotten because he’s imminently forgettable and why is she with him, anyway?).
Or maybe she just really wants a cinnamon bun.
Shar’s the Mesopotamian scholar, yes?
Is there a theme here about studying something vs living it?
It’s like the cinnamon bun discussion. One can study the recipes, discuss the dialectical differences of the nomenclature, and the origins of the cinnamon filling - but if you’ve never tasted a cinnamon bun …
Also, if I may - maybe it’s not the right name for the character? I believe I’m the right generation and the right social group, and I don’t know anyone who contracts Sharon to Shar. It sounds like a hairdresser, not a professor.
Maybe you mean Lor, for Lauren or Lori? Lots of variations on those names my year …
It’s amazing that you’re sharing this process with your readers. It makes us appreciate the work that goes into the effortless prose. Thank you again.