Stuck on the Negative

A number of years back, I was stuck in mid-story and complaining about it bitterly to a non-writer at a gathering meant for other purposes (i.e., it wasn’t a bunch of writers getting together to talk about the horrors of the literary life). He made a couple of intelligent suggestions, and I immediately began explaining all the reasons why they wouldn’t work, because writing was different and creative and …

“Stop,” he said.

I blinked at him.

“What is the next thing you have to do to move this sto...