Have you ever written yourself into a Dead End? This probably mostly happens to pantsers like me who wing it all the way (like the A-Z Challenge).
Some people will call it Writers Block perhaps. But, to me, it's not a lack of ideas, more the fact that they don't work.
It happened to me with "Perfect Score". Sam was a girl originally. I kid you not. But circumstances made me realize that to be the character he is, he had to change sex (no pain involved, I promise).
Tess in "Hewhay Hall" was a bit of shrew at first (Hewhay Hall will be launched soon). But she needed to be likeable, so her personality had to change.
I'm having the same problem with my WIP. I need a reason for one of my main characters to make a journey, and my good friend and mentor Elin Gregory suggested I make the two m/cs brother and sister.
Hey! Why not? It means a good re-write, but it'll work and it's got me backing out of the dead-end.
So...change the sex, change the personality, change the relationship. Three ways out of a hole. Do you have any other suggestions?
I'm a pantser too, and write myself into corners all the time. I'm thinking one of these days I'm going to learn how to outline, but I wonder if it'll take some of the fun out of the writing process - part of the fun is discovery.
ReplyDeleteEnjoying your AtoZ so far ;-)
I don't have dead ends as much as sagging middles. I am impressed that you did a MC sex change. :)
ReplyDeletePantsers amaze me. I don't think I could make it more than a chapter without messing everything up.
ReplyDeletei know what you mean susan--i recently had several entries to a new story "autumn of the heart"---i became uninterested in it and rudely wrote the character off--may come back to it one day---nice post!
ReplyDeleteI've never had to do a sex change before lol! Usually for me it's a duff storyline that needs tweaking so it works without messing up everything else.
ReplyDeleteI'm constantly writing myself into a corner. I've never had to do a sex change before. Well, not really. I did combine two character, one male and one female, into just one male character but that's not really a sex change as much as it is absorbion or something. =)
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for your comments! Katie, I think once your pantser (of some sort) you'll always be - I've tried plotting and outlining, but all the excitement goes out of it for me. Brinda, LOL - sagging middles! Libby, we're all different, just as well really. Oh yes, Lynn, one day you'll resurrect that work and it'll be fantastic. Don't worry, Kyra, Sam was much happier in the end. Absorbion! MJ -I like that. And that's another technique, combine two characters.
ReplyDeleteThe dead end and I are well acquainted. Usually involves backing out and doing a rewrite to get back on track.
ReplyDeleteTrue enough L.G. - I wrote 17 versions of Perfect Score!!!
DeleteFor me, when I write mysteries, I have to know the end. I have to know why the murder was committed and why the suspects are suspects--that means a lot of planning. However, in regards to MC development, I've had to have plausible reasons for the two MCs to be together and that has often led to dead ends. I've gotten out of it by changing careers of the characters.
ReplyDeleteThis was the best advice. Dead end is better than writer's block because that is what you have reached when you can't go further "a dead end." thanks for that and I'll be back. Great insight. Thanks for visiting me today.
ReplyDeletedreamweaver
Dead ends are often a great way to enter into new beginnings!
ReplyDeleteGreat A-Z post!
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
dead ends are challenges to me! like solving puzzles, there has to be a way to figure it out!
ReplyDeleteThe final big action scene in my first book stumped me, because I started seeing plot holes in the execution. So I went back to the beginning of that scene and tried a new direction, and with every step made sure it was possible. I hit several dead ends before I found a way to make it work.
ReplyDeleteChanging careers! Good one Clarissa. Thanks Debra and nutschell! Tara, yes, I'm tenacious I refuse to let dead-ends beat me. There has to be a way out! So frustrating, isn't it Alex? Still, we get there in the end.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I don't like to write until I have the story figured out (mostly) in my head. Even then, sometimes I get stuck and have to put it down until I have it worked out.
ReplyDeleteI usually go back and rewrite if I've hit a dead end. Or, if I'm pressed for time (like for NaNoWriMo), I'll just start a new chapter and continue as if I'd written previous sections that would get me out of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm an outliner...so no dead-ends for me! :)
ReplyDeleteDL @ Cruising Altitude 2.0
Co-Host of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.
I outline, but I've still written myself into a corner. My characters high-jack things and I have to go back to fix their chaotic nature.
ReplyDeleteFist bumps to a fellow pantser. And yes, I have written myself into a dead end. it stinks all the back tracking, but I have yet to be able to complete a detailed outline that was not thrown out the window the minute the writing started. :)
ReplyDeleteFound myself a lot at dead ends. Maybe you should stick to what you feel is write.
ReplyDeleteAm here - http://janukulkarni.blogspot.in/
Great D post. There's been a few times where I had to do this. Mostly I change relationship or career for a different motivation. You can add a character quirk or add something that happened in the past.
ReplyDeleteI tend to follow Raymond Chandler's advice:
ReplyDeleteIf in doubt, have a man with a gun burst into the room.
No guns in classical Greece so in 'Bees' I used three feet of water and an out of control bay stallion :)
Thanks everyone! Christine, I like the idea of adding a character quirk. LOL, Ess, send in the guns!!! Kill off a few characters - that's not a bad idea...
ReplyDeleteI had this problem with my current story. I needed a reason as to why one guy wouldn't kill another - so I had to give them a whole prior relationship instead of them being strangers.
ReplyDelete