from point b to a // how to get out of the creative rut your scene is stuck in

Hey y’all!

I’m loving being out of school. I have accomplished so much. I’m still working on larger things, but the smaller daily tasks and things have been getting done (IN A TIMELY MANNER) and it’s beautiful.

However, I did a large thing yesterday! I finished the extended outline for Mirage of Shards!

That made me really, really happy and accomplished-feeling. XD

This was one of the first times I had actually completed any physical form of outline for a novel of mine. It gives me such a rush of joy in my planner heart, because now I know exactly how it will finish and I know how to get there.

It’s a underrated feeling; I can not even begin to tell you how good it feels.

in order to reach that completed outline however there was a fair bit of stereotypical, borderline serial killer, completely 100% writery google searches. please do not freak out anyone. i swear that i will not use my new knowledge of the femoral artery and its importance to human life against anyone.

Needless to say, it was a bit difficult to conjure up in my brain exactly how I wanted and needed the story to end. (this, by the way, is not only for my purposes. My novella, The Wolf of Talfryn, got mixed reviews on the ending… I want to make sure I don’t end up with that again XD)

It’s harder than you would think! If it isn’t a series, you are ending the link between that world and this one. If it’s a series, that job is even harder! You have to close one strand of the link, but keep the rest open for the next one! Props to writers who create series, like y’all are mindblowing. It’s crazy.

So how do you end a book? How do you tie up the ends of your freshly created story? What do you do if your brain is like “yeah sorry no we are clean out of creative juice right now, so good luck, Barney.”

(K I don’t know why I wrote that. My brain has never once referred to me as Barney. I apologize. XD)

I have learned how to do this from many different sources, one of these being K.M. Weiland. She’s crazy amazing.

One of the main ideas that is repeated everywhere is this: when you find yourself stuck, work backwards. This was one of those things where up until yesterday, I had kinda nodded along to and rolled my eyes a little. Like “yeah sure how is that supposed to work?” But seriously, guys, they all have a point.

A plot point, that is.

When forced to think in a non-sequential fashion, your wheels begin turning again. This works because let’s be real, our brain is so desperate to finish its task that sometimes it ignores that one perfectly good option in the corner.

Another thing I have found, going along with this, is that you need to find that end goal. What do you want to see happen? Start describing it, writing it down, and then look back through it and find some material to work with.

When you know that you want Painted Rock and Croissant to end up together, how do you get them to that point? What has happened in the story already? What do they both need to overcome to reach the end goal?

Maybe in order to end up together, they should legally change their names… just a suggestion, Painted Rock and Croissant…

It’s really hard a lot of times when you hit a road block and can’t think of anything to fix the scene you are writing except two memes and maybe an emoji. But we are strong, and we are creative. So we push through… although not without some struggle. XD

I have watched so many movies lately with this message. Sometimes when it feels like you can’t do anything else to help you, you gotta turn the thinking on its head. That is when the change starts coming.

I didn’t mean for this to be a sappy motivational speech, but if you wanna see change, you gotta change something. The emoji that is sitting under your other paragraphs is cute, but he ain’t helping anyone.

So to recap, if you feel stuck in your WIP, reverse your brain a little. Go from point B to point A, my friends. Point B to point A. Figure out the “how did we reach what we wanted to reach” instead of fretting over the specific scene you are stumped on. 😀

Now go forth, mis amigos and amigas, and smile. Your day is just beginning. Make the best of it. Don’t procrastinate. Work hard. Make me proud. 🙂

Love you all,

Madeleine