Ways To Un-stick A Stuck Story

Ways to un-stick a stuck story

Do an outline, whatever way works best. Get yourself out of the word soup and know where the story is headed.

Conflicts and obstacles. Hurt the protagonist, put things in their way, this keeps the story interesting. An easy journey makes the story boring and boring is hard to write.

Change the POV. Sometimes all it takes to untangle a knotted story is to look at it through different eyes, be it through the sidekick, the antagonist, a minor character, whatever.

Know the characters. You can’t write a story if the characters are strangers to you. Know their likes, dislikes, fears, and most importantly, their motivation. This makes the path clearer.

Fill in holes. Writing doesn’t have to be linear; you can always go back and fill in plotholes, and add content and context.

Have flashbacks, hallucinations, dream sequences or foreshadowing events. These stir the story up, deviations from the expected course add a feeling of urgency and uncertainty to the narrative.

Introduce a new mystery. If there’s something that just doesn’t add up, a big question mark, the story becomes more compelling. Beware: this can also cause you to sink further into the mire.

Take something from your protagonist. A weapon, asset, ally or loved one. Force him to operate without it, it can reinvigorate a stale story.

Twists and betrayal. Maybe someone isn’t who they say they are or the protagonist is betrayed by someone he thought he could trust. This can shake the story up and get it rolling again.

Secrets. If someone has a deep, dark secret that they’re forced to lie about, it’s a good way to stir up some fresh conflict. New lies to cover up the old ones, the secret being revealed, and all the resulting chaos.

Kill someone. Make a character death that is productive to the plot, but not “just because”. If done well, it affects all the characters, stirs up the story and gets it moving.

Ill-advised character actions. Tension is created when a character we love does something we hate. Identify the thing the readers don’t want to happen, then engineer it so it happens worse than they imagined.

Create cliff-hangers. Keep the readers’ attention by putting the characters into new problems and make them wait for you to write your way out of it. This challenge can really bring out your creativity.

Raise the stakes. Make the consequences of failure worse, make the journey harder. Suddenly the protagonist’s goal is more than he expected, or he has to make an important choice.

Make the hero active. You can’t always wait for external influences on the characters, sometimes you have to make the hero take actions himself. Not necessarily to be successful, but active and complicit in the narrative.

Different threat levels. Make the conflicts on a physical level (“I’m about to be killed by a demon”), an emotional level (“But that demon was my true love”) and a philosophical level (“If I’m forced to kill my true love before they kill me, how can love ever succeed in the face of evil?”).

Figure out an ending. If you know where the story is going to end, it helps get the ball rolling towards that end, even if it’s not the same ending that you actually end up writing.

What if? What if the hero kills the antagonist now, gets captured, or goes insane? When you write down different questions like these, the answer to how to continue the story will present itself.

Start fresh or skip ahead. Delete the last five thousand words and try again. It’s terrifying at first, but frees you up for a fresh start to find a proper path. Or you can skip the part that’s putting you on edge – forget about that fidgety crap, you can do it later – and write the next scene. Whatever was in-between will come with time.

Misumi's and Amou’s Character Profile From The 20072017 Yoneda Kou Fanbook

Misumi Takahito (Age 62)

Character Profile

Born on August, 21th Lion, Type O 180cm/76kg Can be compared to: Lion Likes: sushi, whale meat, mahjong, clubs, golf Favorite cigarettes: Parliament Favorite car: Benz (it used to be the Crown Majesta)

Parameter

Tolerance: 5 Lewdness: 4 Intelligence: 4 Body type: 4 Straighforwardness: 3 Prudence: 3.5

Foot size: 28cm

Weak point! None

Amou Shizuma (Age 44)

Character Profile

Born on January, 1st Capricorne, Type A 177cm/67kg Can be compared to: a horse Likes: tofu skin, konnyaku, zaitech (investment, financial techniques), estimating Favorite cigarettes: once in a while, he smokes Misumi’s cigarettes in secret Favorite car: Elgrand (he uses it when Misumi goes far away)

Parameter

Tolerance: 3 Lewdness: 1 Intelligence: 5 Body type: 3 Straighforwardness: 2 Prudence: 4

Foot size: 27.5cm

Weak point! None

Please let me know if I made any mistakes!

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bubreherro

5 years ago

😳👀

sensei seriously?🔥🔥🔥

70 notes View Post

bubreherro

8 years ago

She's amazing!

Sensei on Twitter

“Lately I’m trying to bring out Doumeki’s masculine side more. We know him as this sweet and pure guy who sometimes blushes … But he is a man after all. And the recovery of his manhood probably has quite an impact on his hormonal balance.”

Feb 8, 2017 / Source

332 notes View Post

bubreherro

8 months ago

"Hello, maaate!" - Mexican GP Full Access

Tags

Charles Carlos-pay-attention-to-meeeeeee-and-ONLY-me Leclerc

696 notes View Post

bubreherro

1 week ago

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLx0qTss1F9/

im sorry but its crazy that its Gabi having Noemi on the phone! Did Noemi call Gabi? Sweet. Or is this Nico’s phone and this just confirms that Gabi already knows Nico’s password

Tags

instagram gabriel bortoleto nico hulkenberg celebrations gabico british gp 2025 sauber f1 nicodium hulk podium sauber f1 celebrations

69 notes View Post

bubreherro

6 years ago

@evilpixiea PLEASE DO WRITE WHATEVER YOU WANT TO WRITE!!! I have yet to watch the movie, but once I do, whatever comes from you will be the best thing to happen!

Ships

Week Ending November 19th, 2018

1. Catradora Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 2. Klance Keith & Lance, Voltron: Legendary Defender 3. Symbrock −2 Venom (symbiote) & Eddie Brock, the Marvel universe 4. Tyrus +5 TJ & Cyrus, Andi Mack 5. Kiribaku −2 Kirishima Eijirou & Bakugou Katsuki, Boku No Hero Academia 6. Phan −1 Daniel Howell & Phil Lester, YouTubers 7. Sheith −3 Keith & Shiro, Voltron: Legendary Defender 8. Tododeku Todoroki Shouto & Midoriya Izuku, Boku No Hero Academia 9. Bakudeku +1 Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Boku No Hero Academia 10. Supercorp −3 Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Supergirl 11. Jikook −5 Park Jimin & Jeon Jungkook, BTS 12. Drarry +1 Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, the Harry Potter universe 13. Reylo −1 Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe 14. Destiel +1 Dean Winchester & Castiel, Supernatural 15. Stucky +1 Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes, the Marvel universe 16. Thasmin Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan, Doctor Who 17. Newtina Newt Scamander & Tina Goldstein, the Harry Potter universe 18. Suselle Susie & Noelle, Deltarune 19. McHanzo −8 Jesse McCree & Hanzo Shimada, Overwatch 20. Grindeldore Gellert Grindelwald & Albus Dumbledore, the Harry Potter universe

The number in italics indicates how many spots a ship moved up or down from the previous week. The ones in bold weren’t on the list last week.

4K notes View Post

bubreherro

1 week ago

Oh lord we live in Gabico world and we’re just here witnessing. I thought he was gonna kiss him.

Mattia crouching there like “well that’s just the second pair of drivers I witness falling in love, I guess”

OH MY GOD?

Tags

2025 f1 gabico british gp 2025 sauber f1 nicodium hulk podium I thought Nico was gonna ask Gabi in holy matrimony when he leaned in

1K notes View Post

bubreherro

5 months ago

Reblogging because this is so entirely true. Also I need to try that verbatim Google because all my skills have been very annoyingly not leading to fruitful results the way it used to