Author Topic: Stuck.  (Read 3492 times)

Offline Sir Huron Stone

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Stuck.
« on: August 15, 2011, 07:30:14 PM »
Okay. Right now I'm at a scene where the character has an internal confrontation with light self, dark self, and beast self. I'm right at the beginning, and I'm not sure where to go with it.
Some people are like slinkies; they're utterly useless, yet you can't help but smile as they fall down the stairs.

Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2011, 09:52:54 PM »
Okay. Right now I'm at a scene where the character has an internal confrontation with light self, dark self, and beast self. I'm right at the beginning, and I'm not sure where to go with it.

how much do you know about what has to happen afterwards ?
Mildly OCD. Please do not troll.

"What do you mean, Lawful Silly isn't a valid alignment?"

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Offline Sir Huron Stone

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2011, 10:13:38 PM »
A general idea. Not much detail aside from a few scenes.
Some people are like slinkies; they're utterly useless, yet you can't help but smile as they fall down the stairs.

Offline Snowleopard

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2011, 10:21:53 PM »
Well you could do it a number of ways.  Serious or funny.
Dark self and light self talking and the beast interrupts violently or perhaps, in a silly vein, dark and light talking and beast comes in and starts to raise a ruckus and Dark self has to call a time out on it - or hit it on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.  The idea in funny/silly is to take it to a ridiculous end.
Or a very serious vein where the conversation is completely disrupted by the beast and he/it is destroying everything around the other two and their plane of reference keeps getting changed as the beast destroys something else.  Forcing either a temporary alliance or one has to take charge.

Offline Lany79

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2011, 11:34:15 PM »
It would probably also help to determine where you want your character to go, or what impact you want that scene to have later on. That might help you find where you want to take the scene.

Offline jeno

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2011, 11:39:30 PM »
Think of what you want your MC to learn in the scene, and/or what new problem he'll have after it's over.
You think you know how this story is going to end, but you don't. -Christopher Moore

The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. -Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Offline Taurus425

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2011, 02:17:20 AM »
I'm a rabid note taker so my suggestion is a bullet point outline.

3 POV's; have they been aware of each other going into it, does one personality like one over the other, what are they fighting about, are all of them going to be speaking or is one just observing, is there a narrator/mediator or is it an all out chaos of voices, what do they hope to accomplish at the end of it...

and those are just things I'm curious about :)
And I must say, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a tale in which someone who wants to become an assassin actually kills innocent people for money.  You know, like an assassin."
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Offline Sir Huron Stone

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2011, 03:26:58 AM »
It's First Person, and its the first time the MC has seen any of them aside from the beast one. He had to conquer his beast part back when he was eleven.
Some people are like slinkies; they're utterly useless, yet you can't help but smile as they fall down the stairs.

Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2011, 06:46:41 PM »
how much do you know about what has to happen afterwards ?

I would say approach it from two sides; form Taurus425's notion of coming to it from before, and from figuring out what you need the outcome to be like so you get what you want to happen next. With luck those two things will meet in the middle for you.
Mildly OCD. Please do not troll.

"What do you mean, Lawful Silly isn't a valid alignment?"

kittensgame, Sandcastle Builder, Homestuck, Welcome to Night Vale, Civ III, lots of print genre SF, and old-school SATT gaming if I had the time.  Also Pandemic Legacy is the best game ever.

Offline MClark

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Re: Stuck.
« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2011, 11:04:34 PM »
You could also consider whether the scene is supposed to be a Scene (mostly conflict) or a Sequel (reflection and decision making). Jim Butcher has (had?) a blog with an essay describing the Scene-Sequel process.