Are You Stuck?
How to get past that brick wall and start writing again
It’s happened to all of us. Fingers flying, the word count is ticking up nicely, then suddenly, BAM. You sit down to write, and it’s like dragging a refrigerator up the hill. You make yourself finish the chapter, but it has all the charm of a lead balloon.
Okay, no problem. You push back your chair and take a walk. Maybe let it stew overnight. You know the edited version is always better than the first draft, so you come back and face your keyboard with renewed energy. Make the dialogue punchier. The setting more vivid. Pull something out of left field to shake things up.
Ugh, still no good.
Now what?
When I was writing my first Only In Tokyo mystery, I plotted out all the chapters in a spreadsheet. It was a thing of beauty. It was even color-coded. All the plot threads wrapped up neatly at the end, just like a mystery should. All I’d have to do each morning was sit down and write what was on the agenda for that day.
It worked for about twelve chapters. Then, BAM.
I brainstormed, I googled, I tried every technique I could think of to get past it, but my characters were flat out refusing to move forward.
And finally I realized why: characters change, just like real people.
I was only twelve chapters in, but I’d already put them in situations and done things to them that affected them. One character was now much more afraid than they’d been at the beginning, too scared to take the chances my spreadsheet was demanding. Another was grieving the loss they suffered too profoundly to bounce back and hunt down a killer.
And it’s not just the characters who changed—their relationships with each other changed too. One was madder at another character than I thought they’d be. Another was more hurt than I expected. Nobody felt like doing anybody any favors—even grudgingly—let alone put themselves in harm’s way.
So, how can we get past “stuck” when this happens?
First, take a moment to congratulate yourself
Be glad that this problem stopped you in your tracks. One of the reasons human beings have survived so long is that we’ve developed an innate ability to judge who can be trusted and to predict how people are likely to act. Readers know (and resent) when a character is made to do things that are out of character, especially when it’s done to further a plot point. Recognizing this in your own writing is a sign of maturity, not a flaw in your ability.
Second, carve out a safe place to stash the cut bits
Sometimes the only way forward is to unravel a piece of what I so carefully knitted, but before I start slashing and burning, I save each chunk of lovingly crafted prose into a folder, telling myself I can always put it back in if the new direction doesn’t work out. Hitting that delete key is much easier when I’ve got something—flawed though it is—in the bag.
How many times have I actually put those cut bits back in? Never. The new version is always stronger and better. But sometimes there are bits and pieces (settings and descriptions, for example) that can be re-used.
Third, pick your poison
I rely on two possible fixes for this particular sticking point:
Go back and change what the characters went through to make them feel the way they do.
- Can I make the situation that changed them more/less severe?
- Can I change the experience, so it affects them differently?
Go forward and adjust the plot to accommodate the characters’ new feelings and relationships with other characters.
- There are many paths a stream can follow to join the river—can I think of another way the character can get to the place I need them to be?
- Can I think of ten other ways?
- Can I think of ten bad ways? Brainstorming outlandish plot twists is actually a great technique for breaking away from an idea that’s not working and discovering something far more interesting that does.
- When I was working on The Last Tea Bowl Thief, I hit a snag because the two main characters are about as different from each other as it’s possible to be. Both of them need to possess the same missing artifact, but neither can obtain it without the other. I rewrote and rewrote, trying to forge a friendship between them, but nope, nope, nope, that just wasn’t going to happen. So, in desperation, I listed all the things that wouldn’t work. And out of that list came the solution: what if they didn’t help each other because they were friends? What if they helped each other because they were enemies? Considering the impossible opened up a new way forward and led to plot changes that made the whole story much more engaging.
Keeping up with characters as they’re buffeted by a plot isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. A killer storyline and a way with words might be why someone picks up your book and dives in, but watching the characters as they grow and change is what keeps readers coming back for more.
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Jonelle Patrick is the author of five novels set in Japan. She’s a graduate of the Sendagaya Japanese Language Institute, teaches at writing workshops, and is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime. She divides her time between Tokyo and San Francisco.
Her new mystery, The Last Tea Bowl Thief, is out October 20, 2020 from Seventh Street Books. More book info and assorted Japan goodness is at jonellepatrick.com.
THE LAST TEA BOWL THIEF
One tea bowl. Two strangers stuck at dead-end jobs with nothing in common. Except that the mysterious tea bowl may be the key to unlocking both of their futures…
Modern-day Japan. Robin Swann’s life in Tokyo is grinding to a halt. She’s stuck in a dead-end job testing antiquities for an auction house, but her true love is poetry, not pottery. Her stalled dissertation sits on her laptop, unopened in months, and she has no one to confide in but her goldfish.
On the other side of town, Nori Okuda sells rice bowls and tea cups to Tokyo restaurants, as her family has done for generations. But with her grandmother in the hospital and the shop next door stealing their best customers, the family business is foundering. If her luck doesn’t change – and soon – everything she’s worked so hard to build will collapse around her ears.
The two women have nothing in common, until they learn that both their futures depend on possessing a cultural treasure that went missing before they were born. The past sets the stage for the hunt, while the elusive tea bowl leads Nori and Robin to secrets that make them question everything they believe. As they close in on the prize, it becomes clear that they will have to choose between seizing their dreams or righting the terrible wrong that has been poisoning the legacy of the tea bowl for centuries.
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Joenelle Patrick is a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Language Institute, and also a member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime. She first moved to Tokyo in 2003, and now splits her time between San Francisco and Tokyo.
Since then, she has authored four novels based in Japan, and continues to write about Japanese culture. In addition to the Only In Tokyo mystery series, she produces the monthly newsletter Japanagram, the Only In Japan blog, and the site The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had. Patrick teaches at writing workshops, appears as a panelist at Thrillerfest, and has been the keynote speaker at the Arrow Rock Writing Workshop.
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR ONLINE
Website: JonellePatrick.com
Facebook: /JonellePatrickAuthor
Twitter: @jonellepatrick
Category: How To and Tips
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