Thursday, September 26, 2013

Writers block, plot holes, and picking up the pieces: Oh, my!

I've been trying to resurrect the ol' blog as of late, but I'm realizing I have turned my tiny slice of the interweb into a one-way street, complete with potholes and road construction.  Possibly even flooding.

For the first time in a long while (read:  "first time ever"), I'm calling for interaction from the masses.  Yes, you there, in your old woolly socks.  Yes, you, eating a chocolate bar for breakfast.  You are the ones I want to hear from, because you are the ones that are here.

I'm going to start writing in the morning.

At this point, it's just past 10pm and I have no idea what I'm going to write about.  I know that somewhere around here, in one of these desk drawers, I have a partially-completed novel in the 33000-word-range.  I know that at this point, I'm not sure if the best thing to do is to give it a reread (considering it's been collecting dust for the past year --- okay, maybe two), or just plow ahead with a "best guess" at where I left off.

I know I put it away because I hit a snag, and maybe that's what people mean when they talk about "writers block."  If so, writers block is indeed pretty shitty.  I felt like I hit a brick wall, surrounded by concertina wire and alligators.  Inpenetrable.  It was a gaping plot hole.  I couldn't figure out how to get from point A to point B, but I realize now that it doesn't matter.  The rules and conventions of "our world" don't necessarily have to apply in the land of make-believe.  Science fiction writers do it all the time:  Just write it and make it believable enough so the validity of the action doesn't come into play.  No one turned off Minority Report because there aren't really telepaths that predict crime, right?

Right.

(Wait.  Are there?)

Have you ever had to work around a plot hole?  Have you ever had an idea for a great beginning and a great ending, but couldn't quite make the pieces fit?  If so, what did you do?  How did you turn frustration into success?  I'd love to hear some examples or ideas.

In the meantime,
Cherstin, out.


1 comment:

  1. Testing via Disqus. I can't believe this might actually be working, because I had to tweak some of the HTML myself. Woohoo!

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