Slime

Do not use the website called Sci-Hub!

It lets people access scientific articles for free. This is dangerous. It helps the free flow of knowledge and reduces the competitive edge of all the people who worked really hard to have been born into a wealth.

Like, it’s literally a website where you can type in the DOI of an article and read it, without ever having to pay the publisher who exploited the author.

Every writer inevitably gets to that scene that just doesn't want to work. It doesn't flow, no matter how hard you try. Well, here are some things to try to get out of that rut:

1. Change the weather

I know this doesn't sound like it'll make much of a difference, but trust me when I say it does.

Every single time I've tried this, it worked and the scene flowed magically.

2. Change the POV

If your book has multiple POV characters, it might be a good idea to switch the scene to another character's perspective.

9/10 times, this will make the scene flow better.

3. Start the scene earlier/later

Oftentimes, a scene just doesn't work because you're not starting in the right place.

Perhaps you're starting too late and giving too little context. Perhaps some description or character introspection is needed before you dive in.

Alternatively, you may be taking too long to get to the actual point of the scene. Would it help to dive straight into the action without much ado?

4. Write only the dialogue

If your scene involves dialogue, it can help immensely to write only the spoken words the first time round.

It's even better if you highlight different characters' speech in different colors.

Then, later on, you can go back and fill in the dialogue tags, description etc.

5. Fuck it and use a placeholder

If nothing works, it's time to move on.

Rather than perpetually getting stuck on that one scene, use a placeholder. Something like: [they escape somehow] or [big emotional talk].

And then continue with the draft.

This'll help you keep momentum and, maybe, make the scene easier to write later on once you have a better grasp on the plot and characters.

Trust me, I do this all the time.

It can take some practice to get past your Type A brain screaming at you, but it's worth it.

So, those are some things to try when a scene is being difficult. I hope that these tips help :)

Absent: preoccupied 

Agonized: as if in pain or tormented

Alluring: attractive, in the sense of arousing desire

Appealing: attractive, in the sense of encouraging goodwill and/or interest

Beatific: blissful

Black: angry or sad, or hostile

Bleak: hopeless

Blinking: surprise, or lack of concern

Blithe: carefree, lighthearted, or heedlessly indifferent

Brooding: anxious and gloomy

Bug eyed: frightened or surprised

Chagrined: humiliated or disappointed

Cheeky: cocky, insolent

Cheerless: sad

Choleric: hot-tempered, irate

Darkly: with depressed or malevolent feelings

Deadpan: expressionless, to conceal emotion or heighten humor

Despondent: depressed or discouraged

Doleful: sad or afflicted

Dour: stern or obstinate

Dreamy: distracted by daydreaming or fantasizing

Ecstatic: delighted or entranced

Faint: cowardly, weak, or barely perceptible

Fixed: concentrated or immobile

Gazing: staring intently

Glancing: staring briefly as if curious but evasive

Glazed: expressionless due to fatigue or confusion

Grim: fatalistic or pessimistic

Grave: serious, expressing emotion due to loss or sadness

Haunted: frightened, worried, or guilty

Hopeless: depressed by a lack of encouragement or optimism

Hostile: aggressively angry, intimidating, or resistant

Hunted: tense as if worried about pursuit

Jeering: insulting or mocking

Languid: lazy or weak

Leering: sexually suggestive

Mild: easygoing

Mischievous: annoyingly or maliciously playful

Pained: affected with discomfort or pain

Peering: with curiosity or suspicion

Peeved: annoyed

Pleading: seeking apology or assistance

Quizzical: questioning or confused

Radiant: bright, happy

Sanguine: bloodthirsty, confident

Sardonic: mocking

Sour: unpleasant

Sullen: resentful

Vacant: blank or stupid looking

Wan: pale, sickly

Wary: cautious or cunning

Wide eyed: frightened or surprised

Withering: devastating

Wrathful: indignant or vengeful

Setting

Abandoned Mine

Airplane

Airport Check-in

Alley

Amusement Park

Attic

Bakery

Bank

Basement

Bathroom (home)

Barn

*GE* Barn 2 (Dairy Focus)

Beach

Bedrooms

Birthday Party

Bonfire

Bowling Alley

Bridge

Bookstore

Cafeteria

Casino

*GE* Catacombs

Cave

Church

City Park

Classroom

Closet

Coffee House

Courtroom

Cruise Ship

*GE* Cryogenic Sleep Chamber

Daycare

Desert

Diner

Dragon’s Lair

Dungeon (Caution Graphic Description)

*GE* Egyptian Pyramids

Elevator

Farms

Forest

Frozen Tundra

Gallows

Garage

Garage Sale

Garden

Graveyard

*GE* GLOBAL WARMING (dystopian)

Grocery Store

Halloween Party

Haunted House

Herbalist Shop (fantasy)

High School Hallway

Hospital

Hotel Room

House Fire

House Party

Kitchen

*GE* Laboratory

*GE* Laboratory (secret genetic)

Lake

Library

Locker Room

Meadow

Medieval Castle Armory

Medieval Marketplace

Middle School Dance (informal)

*GE* Mindscape (Mind Magic)

Mountains

Movie Theatre

Night Club

Nursery

Ocean/Sea Bed

Old Pick-Up Truck

Pirate Ship

Playground

Pond

Pool Hall

Prison Cell

Pub

Public Pool (Outdoor)

Rainforest/Jungle

Ranch

Restaurant

River

School Bus

School Office

Shopping Mall

Sleep-Away Camp

*GE* Spaceport

*GE* Spaceship

Stands at a Sporting Event

Storm Sewer

Subway Station

Swamp

Taxi cab

Teacher’s Lounge

Toolshed

*GE* Trailer

Treehouse

*GE* Tropical Island City

Urban Street

Video Arcade

Waiting Room

Waterfall

Water Slide Park

Wedding Ceremony (Church)

Woods at Night

Zoo

Weather

Air Pollution

Avalanche

Blizzard

Breeze

Clouds

Dew

Drought

Dusk

Dust or Sand Storm

Earthquake

Eclipse

Fall

Falling Star

Flood

Forest Fire

Frost

Hailstorm

Heat Wave

Hurricane/Typhoon

Lightning

Mirage

Mist or Fog

Moonlight

Mudslide

Rain

Rainbow

Sky

Sleet

Snow

Spring

Summer

Sunrise

Sunshine

Sunset

Thunderstorm

Tornado

Vortex

Wind

Winter

Color, Texture, & Shape

Color

Black

Blue

Brown

Gray

Gold

Green

Orange

Pink

Purple

Red

Silver

Spotted

Striped

Transparent

White

Yellow

Texture

Bumpy

Barbed/Spined

Crackled

Crumbly

Crusty

Foamy/Spongy

Fuzzy

Gritty

Pitted

Powdery

Prickly

Saw-edged/Serrated

Slimy

Smooth

Sticky

Shape

Arch

Circular/Sphere

Crescent

Heart

Oval & Oval-like

Rectangle

Spiral

Star

Square

Triangular

Tube

Wavy

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So here’s a true story: my father, sometime in the 70s was looking for his first job. He went to the local McDonalds and told the staff, [manager’s name] said I was supposed to start today. They took his word for it and started training him and by the time the manager saw him and asked who he was, people just said “oh that’s the new guy.”

Somehow this actually worked. My dad worked there for a couple of years as a cook. He even won an award plaque which he had on the wall until the day he died.