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I am currently writing the first draft of my novel. I have its outline panned out, down to the chapters, even what should be happening in each chapter. I have written a rough draft, where I have described the parts which were clear to me and skipped those which were not.
After that, now when I'm starting my first draft, I find that, now, I'm not able to flesh out the details of some of the scenes. I know what the outcome of the chapter should be, I know what is supposed to happen in the scene but don't know how to get there.
For e.g. there is a scene in my novel where a person is brought to
trial. I know the outcome of the trial, I know the arguments to be
covered for the trial but I'm not able to visualise and hence pen the
scene. Which order should the arguments be presented? How should the
minor characters interact during it ? etc
Mind you, that this is only for certain scenes (which, I admit, are not entirely clear to me). There have been scenes where I've written the entire chapter in one sitting. So what should I do to fill out the details of the blocking chapters ? I find myself procrastinating while trying to work out the flow of the chapter.
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I have this happen to me quite a lot. It usually implies research.
Very often I want some event to happen but, since I've never been through similar events, I can't visualise what would naturally happen. The process is always the same:
read (books or online) general descriptions of the particular event (the objective is to understand how it usually, or ideally, unfolds)
read (books or online) anecdotes involving the particular event (each person experiences similar events differently, so different personal takes will widen a writer's horizons)
talk to people who have personal and first hand experience on the topic, whether face to face or on forums
watch videos (youTube, TV shows, films, whatever) about the event, whether it's real footage or fictionalised (but, if fictionalised, try to ascertain how much creative license was taken)
Feel free to interrup the process the moment you can visualise your scene. Some events are easier to get a feel for than others.
In your particular case, if this scene is about trials, find out how a trial really works. Read about it, talk to someone who knows about it, go to forums where you might expect someone to give you some hints (and by hints I mean real life situations and anecdotes, which are often quite different from idealised descriptions) and ask about TV shows or films that are relatively true to life. If possible, see if you can sit in on a trial or talk to someone who's been through one. Sometimes, just the possibility of walking around a place (in this case a courthouse) could be enough to give you plenty of ideas, especially for little details that can bring the setting to life.
It sounds like you're writing top down. Try bottom up where you're having difficultly. Let the characters lead and follow their interests. Introduce conflict and goals at that level. You should start to feel your charters acting of their own accord and that may help you move forward.
I'm also wondering if you feel bored by what you are writing. That's a huge indicator you need to shake things up. This can happen to outliners who need to develop discovery skills to keep the writing interesting.
If all else fails, try to remember the fun idea that got you to write the scene. Often times when I get bogged down, finding the fun fixes it.
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