What do you guys do when you get stuck on a certain story problem?

[ueonts]

If there is a problem you cant seem to solve no matter how hard you try, what do you do to get past it? Do you just ignore it and continue writing?

[darthmongoose]

I write out notes, outlining exactly what the problem IS first.

Example: "I want the climax of this story to be a fight between these two characters... but the way the story is moving, they have no reason to be in the same place, or motivation to fight each other."

Then break it down to:
"This person wants this, and the way the plot is going, would logically go here. This other person wants this other thing, and would go there."

So then I can start thinking about either what might happen that would make them both end up in the same place, and feeling like they need to fight, OR what other exciting climax might happen instead.

I try not to just ignore problems if possible. Trying to spot them early so I have time to set up a better solution is ideal.

[river121693]

What issue do you have that can't be resolve? unless it's a foundational issue, I can't really think of something that bad.

I've written storyline that doesn't end where it should be, and wrote new parts to bridge it to fit story beats. I've even gone back and redraw old pages.

You could also just improvise a new story to fit with the issue. As long as your narrative is coherent and your characters are driving the story, how would readers even know?

[HGohwell]

Depends on what you mean by a story problem. Do you mean a part of the story won't come together, or have you written your story into a problem your characters can't overcome. It's the difference between "this plot point doesn't feel natural and I can't make it feel natural" vs "there's no believable way for the character's to sovle this mystery/beat this villain". In both cases, my first step, if you can, back away from the problem. When it comes to story, it's rarely the part you're stuck at that's the problem, but something befoe you became stuck. If you can ignore it and continue, it probably wasn't that importannt in the first place. But generally, if a plot point isn't coming together, or even your prose or specific scene isn't coming together, it's something further back in the build up that's the problem. Either you haven't set it up right, or something about the characterisation feels wrong.

If it's a matter of there's no believable way for this plot to be solved in universe, you haven't set up the plot right and that's a fundemental issue you need to rework because ignoring it can cause some major issues later.

If it's just that something about it feels wrong and won't come together naturally, the sort of thing often described as character's not cooperating, that's usually your instincts telling you this doesn't match with your characterization or pacing and you need to rethink. Ignoring this instinct is how you get plots and characters who feel unnatural and dragged around by the plot rather than driven by it, more common in people who stick rigidly to an outline.

So, generally, some of the best advice I've ever heard, is when you're in a corner, reverse out of the corner. But do not ignore it, it will compound and snowball and get even worse later on, unless it's a very minor issue.

[AmysGames]

I'm not sure how you would ignore a story problem and keep writing, unless you're talking about plotholes. I do think it can be fine to have a few minor plotholes, because worrying about nitty gritty details can sometimes drag down the story. Certainly there are plenty of professionally published stories with plotholes in them, lol.

In terms of more serious story problems, one thing that works pretty well for me is to make a list of some possible ways to solve the problem, with pros and cons for each option. Then you can pinpoint which one has the most pros and the fewest cons.

[maddu]

Usually some combination of:
- more outlining of possible ideas and consequences
- skipping to something else
- not writing for a bit to stew on it (sometimes a week or more), often something eventually comes to mind

And if none of those work after a while, I start to feel like it was a bad idea and I dug myself into a hole (I've definitely started a chapter or two over when what it started to feel unsalvageable).

[morganicfoods]

I usually just talk it out with my girlfriend, she's much smarter than me at story writing. Although even sometimes talking it out it makes easier to solve.

[cherrystark]

• Take a break. A lot of writing problems seem bigger than they are because we're trying to write them all at once. Take a break and clear your head.

• If the problem is big enough that it's stopping you from writing, it's probably been building for a while. I find it helpful to go back a few chapters and start re-reading to see where the cracks are starting to show. Often, it can be easier to fix the cracks in your foundation that slap a quick band-aid solution on the plot to move it forward.