“Why Do I Get Stuck?”

When writers come to a dead stop there can be a tendency to panic.

It’s important to remember that your idea of your story is never the whole story. When you try to figure it out, you tend to dig a deeper hole.

Story is alchemy. As your story progresses it becomes something else entirely, and when you hold onto your initial idea, you reach a point where you can’t move forward.

Here’s the solution. Rather than looking at the “apparent problem” that your protagonist is struggling with, notice that underneath it lies a dilemma. By exploring the nature of this dilemma, you will be led to a deeper understanding of the character.

It’s sort of like when you go to a good doctor with a pain in your elbow. She looks at your shoulder. The goal is to identify the source. Remember, character suggests plot.

By exploring the character’s dilemma, plot will emerge, and you will get to the end of your story.

Learn more about marrying the wildness of your imagination to the rigor of structure in The 90-Day Novel, The 90-Day Memoir, or The 90-Day Screenplay workshops.