things that apparently get me unstuck with writing:
1. Doing research about the thing Iām writing about, and making notes/spreadsheets/calendars about it. I know people are like,Ā āDonāt waste time researchingā but itās never a waste for me. I spent a few hours entering figure skating routines into the spreadsheet, tweaking things until the scores made sense for what I wanted, and then the writing of the intense figure skating bits was suddenly easy once I had a list of who came in what order and what the scores were. No research orĀ āgo look it up while writingā is not very productive for me, butĀ ādedicate specific time to organizing your thoughts and research in an easy-to-refer sheetā is incredibly helpful. Iāve spent weeks or months or in one case, years on research before blowing out 4000+ words in a couple hours or 200,000 words in a couple months. It just makes the descriptions easier (and more accurate). I can decide, mid-research,Ā āOh, I donāt need to parse those particular scores because Iām going to gloss over them as not plot relevant, but itās harder to be trying to write and having to parseĀ āwhatās going onā andĀ āHow to describe whatās going onā at the same time.Ā
2. Rereading either the whole thing (if itās been a while) or the last two chapters (if itās long) and thinking,Ā āWhat comes next?ā (Related: Think about the timeline of the story, pick a random date, and think,Ā āwhat are they doing now? do I care about this bit?ā)
3. If Iām getting bored with a particular section, I assume my reader will, too. Time to skip ahead to another plot bunny. This means, for example, that I might be writing three different chapters at the same time, and then re-reading them and goingĀ āOkay, what happens in between and does the reader REALLY need to know?ā If my computer was a desk this would mean short pieces written on post-it notes randomly glued to the lamp, phone and someoneās forehead, but because google docs is easily searchable, it ends up being more manageable, do you whippersnappers UNDERSTAND that once upon a time tabbed browsing did not exist? Sometimes this means switching fandoms/projects.
4. Feed the muse. If youāreĀ āsupposedā to be writing a long, angsty fic and you have an idea tickling at you for a short silly smut... write it. Then go back to your original project. Sometimes cranking out something short and cracky will give you the boost you need to get back to the longer stuff.
5. Pick a spot in your story and start writing. Sometimes this doesnāt work at all, and sometimes I discover Iāve added another 3k words without trying. If itās not there, I donāt push it, but sometimes it just takes dropping the cursor in and saying the next thing, which sounds basic but is remarkably complex if youāre used to only writing when the mood strikes.
6. Hire someone to clean my house and get a lot of minor annoyances off my plate. (Itās not that I canāt write in a mess, but itās harder.)
And last, but not least...
7. Tell everyone Iām not going to write this month. That apparently wakes up the stubborn part of me that doesnāt like nanowrimo and aims it at a different thing to be stubborn at... my own stubbornness. IDK either! My brain is strange that way. But I barely wrote in October and Iām closing in on 10k for November, which isnāt all that high for me but which only represents about 3 writing sessions, so thereās that.Ā
