Page 49 syndrome

[madpoet]

I've got this phrase I coined for my own writing... Page 49 syndrome.  It's not always page 49 of course.  But somwhere in that area I inevitably get stuck, and get stuck big time.  I can sit down and blast out the first 48 and then poof, I lose it.  Does anyone else have Page 49 Syndrome?  Any tricks to beat it?  At this point I'm sure it's just a psychological phenomena, but I feel it lurking as I slowly close in on it.  Gah! 

[Darwinist]

I don't get writers block, per se, I have plenty of ideas to work with. I just run into a block where what I'm writing just doesn't feel as good as it should be. So I take a break from the project and read. A lot. Inspiration comes in different places, and what works for one person can't necessarily work for all. That's why most books on writing are usually crap.

Best thing I can recommend is to just plot out an outline, as vague or as detailed as you want it to be. That way if you get to page 49 and hit a wall, at least you have an idea of where you think you wanna go next. And just because you have an outline, doesn't mean you necessarily have to adhere to it if the writing takes you another direction entirely.

[SCARPA]

I think everyone gets it whatever each person calls it. Having some structure / outline / framework helps. What works best for me as I am trying to finish the latest draft of my novel, is that I dont stay stuck in one place. If I am stuck on ch 20 then I go work on Chapter 22. The point is to keep writing and for that matter, dont be afraid to write badly. You can always edit it or fill in blanks later. The most important thing is to keep your rythm literally and figuratively.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I think everyone gets it whatever each person calls it. Having some structure / outline / framework helps.

Unless you're the sort of writer for whom having an outline kills the story, where you have to not know what's coming next and make it up as it goes along to make it work.

There are successful NY Times bestselling authors for whom this is the case, such as Steven Brust.  How he deals with plot block is, he keeps writing the characters going about their daily lives, and sitting down and chatting over dinner, and complaining about the situation, until they figure out what comes next, and then cuts the bits of middle between actual plot-important stuff.

Figure out what works for you, do it, and don't worry too much if it goes against advice you see elsewhere because writers work in a wide variety of ways and anything that gets words on the page is right.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

What works best for me as I am trying to finish the latest draft of my novel, is that I dont stay stuck in one place. If I am stuck on ch 20 then I go work on Chapter 22.

Wouldn't work for me.  I can;t write a chapter in something that's working without learning something I did not know before; if I hop from chapter 8 to write chapter 15 and then go back, by the time I have the story through 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 and 13 and 14, it won;' come to the same 15 any more.

[Aludra]

But you won't be stuck, either.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

But you won't be stuck, either.

Writing something that is wrong and I know will be wrong is not better than writing nothing.

It can, in some cases, be worse.

[Starbeam]

Wouldn't work for me.  I can;t write a chapter in something that's working without learning something I did not know before; if I hop from chapter 8 to write chapter 15 and then go back, by the time I have the story through 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 and 13 and 14, it won;' come to the same 15 any more.

And now I know how to explain to my b/f why I write linearly and have trouble with his suggestion of skipping over what has me stuck.

[RobJN]

When I hit my "page 49," I took a little break, worked on a couple other projects, then came back after a bit. I read what I had written up to that point, and then picked the thread of the story back up. Ran with it for a ways, wasn't pleased with what I got. So I backed up, and tried again, doing a few things differently along the way. Still wasn't satisfied... I must have rewritten the two key scenes half a dozen times apiece before I got something that was almost decent.

I felt a bit like a sculptor working with dynamite. But when the smoke finally cleared, I had found what I needed amidst the various failed attempts: A bit here, a bit there that caught the spark of the storyline, or was precisely what I wanted a given character to say.

So, don't be afraid to keep writing. Or rewriting.

[meg_evonne]

and ever and ever and ever rewriting....  :-)