Looking For Alternatives

Running into roadblocks with our writing is certainly an issue I think all writers face. We are in a serious role with our writing and then, all of a sudden, you don't know where to turn. This is really an issue that I do believe can be solved with several strategies: 1) Plotting; and 2) Feedback.

This popped into my head a couple of days ago when I was doing absolutely nothing other than playing video games, in particular, Flow.

If you have ever played this game, you know the strategy. Your goal is to connect the dots. The early games are pretty easy, but eventually, you end up with more dots and more squares. In many ways, this is what happens when you start developing more complex story lines. And, like this game, you will often find your self stuck.

So, how do I get out of these issues with this game? I go back to square 1 and pick a new color to start with. I do this simply because there are times when we get stuck in a rut knowing that the blue color HAS to go in one way. Taking another color will often shape the board in a way to allow me to see the correct route for the blue.

When it comes to your writing, you can do the same thing. There will be times when you see only one path with your story. You want that hero to do one thing but it is not coming into alignment with the heroine. So, an easy solution is to back up and approach the story from her point of view. Change the point of view and see if you can get the two together with another path.

One of my writers plays Bridge and when she runs into an issue like this, she uses a term Bridge players are fully aware of. I am having "transportation issues." You know how you want to get there, but can't see the path at that moment. She too does the same thing I do with the flow game. She just backs up and tries the story from a different angle.

The positive part of this is that you can often get to where you wanted to go WITHOUT losing that element of the story that was holding you up the first time. You will just get there in a different fashion.