: Re: Tactics to get past getting stuck? I love writing, but I can never truly get past the first few pages of a story that I am attempting. Even if it is well planned out. I always get stuck

@Hamaas631

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Try Freytag's Pyramid. It sort of a plot diagram. Begin with the exposition (characters, setting, nature of the conflict,) then, list a series of causally related events. This is how you can know in advance what is to happen next. It will become more interesting as you take your character through this chain of events. As you build action, your story will get more exciting. Take your story from the rising action developed by your list of causally related events to the climax, then to the denouement (unraveling to stable action.)

1) Develop the exposition necessary to our understanding of the story's initial situation. The exposition should name the main character(s) and the setting in which the story occurs.

2) In detailing the initial situation, be sure to reveal the main conflict that will drive the story.

3) Name those complicating (or causally related) events that lead to the story's climax. These events should serve two purposes: 1) to act as a link between the conflict and a plausible resolution, and 2) to maintain suspense or tension throughout the story.

4) Provide a resolution to the story for the reader (rather than for a particular character.) This resolution will be revealed as you describe the story's climax and denouement.

Writers have been using Freytag's Pyramid since 1863.

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