Stuck in Some Kind of Moment

Whether it's Justin Bieber's Stuck in the Moment or U2's Stuck in a Moment, the point gets across and really hits us writers. I know that you know what I'm talking about. Remember those rewrites were you've felt so into your plot that you're just plain stuck? You don't know beginning from end and the characters seem to be walking around the room as you try to write—overall a very distracting experience.

Why? You ask.  You'd think that being stuck in your book is a good thing. Yes and no. It's important to get into your characters' minds, to understand your plot, to visualize your scenery, BUT (notice that this is a big but here) you also don't want to lose yourself as you go along. You don't want your characters or scenes to blend into one big mush pile called your brain.

How do you stop this? Honestly, you may not always be able to stop this. Sometime circumstances force you to really dig into a rewrite. Maybe it's deadline crunch time and you don't have the luxury of just setting the book aside and coming back to it later. If you do have the time, that's definitely a thought. Set the book aside and pull out another work in progress. After a few days away, you'll be able to come back to it with renewed gusto.

For those of you hitting rewrites hard for deadlines, this is where your critique partners come in handy (or those lucky family members who get to read your draft material).  Work with that other person to find out whether the emotions you want to across are doing so. Have them tell you what they feel about the rewritten material. First impressions usually give off the cleanest thoughts so if you can have a couple critique partners who haven't already read the scenes give their thoughts, even better.

At the end of the day, you just need to know that getting stuck in the moment is all part of the writing process. It's normal and inevitable. Don't let it slow down your pace, but instead, prepare for it by giving your critique partners or family members a heads up.  If they're not available, move onto another part of your book and come back to this part later. No need to panic.  As Bob Marley sang, "don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right."

Filed under: Toni Kelly, Writer's Life, Writing Topics