I am stuck at the start of my story!!!!
I am writing a piece of fiction and am stuck in one part. Most of the story I got going but this part at the beginning has me pulling out my hair. The hereon is in a bar and the hero has just bought her a drink. It is how the conversation goes from there that is rough. The story is more in the guys point of view. It is just hard to figure out how he should continue. I have asked my husband but he's not sure he wants to get involved with this. So I get to set here and put my hair out!
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I used to live in NYC, working as a fiction writer, screenwriter and script-doctor. When I'm stuck in a dialogue scene or dialogue-driven prose-narrative, I role-play it out with friends.
I don't tell them what to say or do or how to play it out, I don't even tell them where I need to the scene to get me to. I only tell them who their characters are, in-synopsis. Generally, as a participant, I can steer it somewhat to get it to be what I need; part of it actually is that sometimes through the exercise, I realize that it needs to go somewhere else from where I initially intended it to go.
I have a lot of actor friends but this can be done with anybody. It can be done with strangers too who don't know that they playing, I've gone out to bars and role-played my scene to figure out how real people would react to the scenario.
I don't do this one or two times, I do it 10 or 15 times with different people. I take notes. I synthesize the conversations to get the flow, feel and narrative I want.
(On an aside, I'm thinking about hanging out a shingle and teaching creative writing workshops. If this advice works for you, let me know. If not, let me know. I appreciate the feedback b/c it allows me to dial-in on a "best curricula."
I like to walk away from these kinds of problems because it messes with my outlook. Who needs imaginary people fouling the day with their obstinance? When characters refuse to perk up and tell me what to write, they get ignored for a while.
Sometimes a character isn't mature (developed) enough to tell me what they need from a situation. Other times I'm not interested enough to listen. These are my own personal observations that rarely share with others, because the statutes for involuntary mental assessments are pretty lax in my state.
Make a cheese dip, give a pet a bath, have red hot monkey love in the afternoon with your sweetie. Don't pull your hair out, people will talk and hairpieces are expensive.
Sometimes I'll let a lifeless character write a blog post on an unrelated subject to try and find out what's wrong with him or her. If he won't interact with other characters or has issues, I fire him from the story and let someone else take the reins of action. Sometimes the character just isn't prepared enough for a scene and will work more smoothly a little later in the story.
Hope this helps. Keep smiling while you write, this is supposed to be fun!
and do some people watching--the story could write itself
The smells, the sounds and the dramas may inspire some more stuff....just an idea.
Good Luck Lady Freedom Returns!!
