I’ve really been enjoying writing on my current project, but ever since yesterday, I’ve hit a wall. I’ve got the basic plot figured out and it’s not like I’ve run out of ideas, I’m just sorta stuck on how to move to the next beat.
Are there any general tips y’all have for that sort of thing?
Would love to hear what you have to say!
So here are a few tricks I have when I hit a writing wall
1. Definitely switch genres/gears as suggested above! From a practical point of view perhaps find a public story and add a chapter, even if it is a set up or linking chapter than can help revitalise a stale branch. Treat it as an exercise rather than get too worried about it.
2. This might sound a bit crazy, but sometimes I will literally talk to myself. Specifically, I will do the dialogue of the characters in the safety of my own home almost like improv and not worry too much about the description of the surroundings and then write down the dialogue. In a sense its not changing genres so much as changing medium from writing to improv.
3. Also with erotica I will sometimes just jump to the sexy bits I know I want to write. Often that inspires me to write my chapters backward to find the link to where I am stuck. E.g Chapter A B and C are done. I know roughly I want to get to H which is a massive orgy or whatever but I am stuck on D. I will just write H. Often this will allow me to write G and then F etc. Once I have the through line from A to H then going back and editing and amending is much easier than writing from scratch.
4. Also consider whether the transition chapters are strictly necessary. e.g you want the character to travel from LA to New York and for it to be a terrible journey with a delay and to have an argument with his girlfriend about something stupid and they don't speak for the trip. You're stuck writing the Chapter. Except we've all had this kind of trip, or at least have seen it on TV or whatever, so perhaps consider whether literally a one or two line sentence is actually all that is necessary. In other words what is the extra detail adding and can you get the reader's imagination to do the heavy lifting?
That said you can only do this a bit and the more the readers know the characters and the context the easier it is.
(This is something I am trying to get better at myself).
5. Similar to above I write down what the Chapter is trying to achieve. As in, how is this building the world? how is this advancing the plot, how is this developing a character? (+ for CHOYA what sex scene am I adding!). Don't force any answers. If you are coming back blank then the answer to why you are hitting the wall might be that the Chapter is just a stepping stone or an "establishing shot" (to use a cinema term) and might only need to be a paragraph or even less.
6. Sometimes I get hung up on a previous Chapter not getting the likes I think it "deserves" (kind of daft really considering it's written porn lol) or some other non-creative ego reason and that makes me doubt myself and where the story is going. So maybe there's a mental pressure thing happening.
7. Finally you might literally just need a break for a day or two. Watch a movie or whatever!
