When writing won’t flow…
It’s been a long time since I posted one of these. I just haven’t felt compelled. But just now, a client asked me a question. What do I do with this scene, she said, that I’ve written over and over and I just can’t get it to work? I can’t get into the flow of it.
We’ve all felt like that, and I’m sure we’ve all found that there were different reasons at different times, and also different answers. So let’s explore that a little.
Step back.
First, listen to yourself, listen to what’s happening. A feeling of blockage is vitally important because your plot, your characters may not be doing what they need to do. So let that mull.
If a writer has trouble finding their flow with a scene, it's typically because there's something about the content of the scene that feels wrong to them, even if this is subconscious. This could be several things:
One or more of the characters is not being true to themselves.
The action isn't strong enough for the scene to truly feel necessary.
The scene takes the story in a direction that doesn't feel right.
It's boring. It needs something unexpected, some pop of surprise in the action or a character's response.
It lacks energy and/or the characters don't feel relatable. (This one is almost always the result of one of the first four, because if the writer is having trouble finding their flow, it's hard for them to write their characters honestly or sympathetically.
So what to do?
I find the best way to get through this block is to let yourself off the hook and just write. Don’t judge. By that I mean, forget any preconceptions about how you want the scene to turn out. Just get into your character’s head and write. Ignore background stuff: focus on the main character of the scene. What has she just done and what frame of mind has that put her in? Where is she now? Let’s say she’s just failed massively at something that was critically important to her. Now she’s in a park. Is she sitting? Where? On a bench? On the grass, maybe? What's she looking at? How are her legs feeling? What's she doing? Rubbing a sore muscle? Trying not to cry? Watching a spider trying to crawl over a dandelion? She's doing something. Everyone is always doing something. How they do it reveals how they feel, and also affects the flow of what they think about. So watch what she does, don't try to control it, just let her get on with it and write it down. Once you start, you'll find she'll tell you how she's feeling about what she's thinking.
The big thing is, once you've got inside her mind, is to be honest to it. Don't try to judge it or criticise it. Be open. Does she feel just one thing, or are there different, maybe even conflicting emotions going on? She may be angry or defiant or even excited and wanting to try again. She may feel freed. She may be so past caring that it just feels funny to her. The point is, don't pre-decide her feelings. Give her room to breathe and write whatever she tells you to write. She may surprise you. Then let her act on it. Watch what happens to her - the action of the scene. Does she witness a mugging? Whatever it is, watch how she responds. Don't decide what she does, but watch and write it down. It may be completely different from what you'd planned. It may be difficult, dangerous, imperfect, frightening. That’s okay. Take a deep breath and let her be honest to how she feels.
Don't worry about anything like whether you're writing well or not. Just write. Throw your character into the situation and let her lead the way.
But I can’t let that happen in the story. It’s too [scary/cruel/inappropriate/other unsettling thing].
Anything that gets written in this state will most likely need rewriting, pruning, altering, because ultimately you have to craft a story. Sometimes it will disappear again completely, but it will leave a new understanding of something, and it will be worth it. It's a process of discovery, not a polished end result. But the revelations can be extraordinary and the story/plot/characters will be that much richer and more real. Nobody wants to read a story that feels as if someone has planned every step, and it's all so logical and predictable. A reader likes to be surprised, it keeps them reading. How better to find moments of surprise than to allow yourself to be surprised by the characters as you allow them to live?
And, just maybe, that feeling of discomfort that it brings you could be a vital clue to understanding your character and her story.
So will this solve my writing problems?
There really isn't a definitive answer on what's a correct approach to writing. What's right is what works for you. But most writers recognise the state of trance that we can go into, where our consciousness of ourselves as writer goes away. We get so immersed in the flow of it that they stop thinking about how to write or even the act of writing. The story and the characters take over. This is why authors often say they don't feel as if 'they' wrote something. They feel as if it was given to them, or that it already existed, they just discovered it.
Pantser or Planner?
People often ask, ‘Are you a pantser or a planner?’ Do you write flying by the seat of your pants, or do you outline your plot and know what’s coming? Like almost everything else, the answer is usually ‘It depends.’ You can have an outline that you believe in utterly and there are still going to be time when the story wants to go a different way. If you ignore this in the name of the Outline, you risk ending up with a draft that’s predictable and lifeless, or that lacks surprise, or that feels dishonest. But equally, if you try to write a story with no idea where it’s going, the draft you eventually, maybe, get to the end of is unlikely to be coherent. It may offer other things - often a revelation about what you really want to write about - but it’s probably going to be a shapeless, shifting cloud of a plot.
Don’t be afraid to use all the options. Make the outline. Depart from it. Play around. Experiment. Come back to reality. Rewrite the outline. But if there comes a moment when you want your characters to do a particular thing, and they shut down on you, and the words won’t come or they don’t seem to matter, try going on an adventure. Throw out your preconceptions and hand over control to your people. There's no way to go wrong. If the result doesn't work for you, don't use it. There’s no loss. If it gives you new understanding, celebrate it. And obviously, if it gives you a perfect scene and you're in love with every word, be grateful!
