: Re: Getting stuck on imagining what should be happening in the moment I frequently experience a specific type of writer's block and am looking for strategies to work around it. I lean toward discovery

I am not a discovery writer. I am a retired software engineer who plans and plans some more. Thus, my advice might not apply to your situation.

Good engineering practice requires the engineer to look at a project from several viewpoints. What are the requirements and does the software/mechanism/building/freeway satisfy each of those requirements? How well does the application perform? Availability, reliability, usability, security, and privacy each gets their time in the spotlight? If one aspect has blocked the engineering team, other aspects will not.

A story (at least in conventional presentation) is a linear stream of words. But if it is a really good story (at least for me) the story gives me the sense that it came from a multi-dimensional world. I write science fiction and that allows me to think out loud about technology, politics, culture, art, human relationships, and so much more. If I cannot figure out the details of one of these aspects, other aspects await my attention. I do not construct the story in linear fashion. I overbuild my world and then select (as a tour guide might) the parts that will draw the reader in.

If your genre is not science fictions or fantasy, there are still multiple dimensions that you can explore. Write a detailed backstory for each of the major characters. Write detailed descriptions of locations, buildings, social movements, meals, and costumes. Write about the trivial things in this world. Write about kindness and cruelty. Rant about something silly.

Or write the last chapter. Think about what has to have happened to make that chapter believable. Then write the chapter before that chapter. Rinse! Repeat!

But write! Something. Anything. Write with the notion that you will exclude most of the writing from the final story. But write! Only then can you pick through the possibilities. Only then can you blaze a path through the world that you have constructed.

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: Re: Getting stuck on imagining what should be happening in the moment I frequently experience a specific type of writer's block and am looking for strategies to work around it. I lean toward discovery

More posts by @Ravi5107385

: Structuring a book? So I am attempting to write a book, the first I have attempted yet. My current method has been to just write scenes that come into my mind and I have over 40 pages of

: Limited 3rd Person: How to reveal character's black skin? I have a scene that I'm working on. The character in the scene is an actor who's black wearing a black face. At the end of the scene

: Publishing other peoples anecdotes I have asked friend and relations a question and want to publish the answers with their name by the answer. If I ask them if they mind it being publishes

: How to refer to a crowd of many different species? How could I say the equivalent of "A pouring wave of humanity," when there are more than one species in the scene being described?

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