Insert Inspiration Here

[sun_set_bravely]

Ach! I've been working on this one scene in the script for many days now, and I can't get it to work! I've been working by myself, with a partner, with the whole group, and we can't figure it out. It's making me crazy!

For those writers out there, what techniques do you use when you keep writing in the same rut? I try to write the scene differently, but every time, it seems to end up in the same place. Yuck yuck.

Comments

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I set it aside and do something else for a while. The pieces often fall into place while I'm away.

[oceanic.livejournal.com]

This is going to sound really weird, but when faced with a rut, I try to do it backwards. So imagine how you want the scene to end up, then go backwards from there and see where it takes you. Just to shake your brains up.

[nickelchief.livejournal.com]

I try to open the floodgates a little by doing some free-form writing, nothing to do with the project at hand, just random stuff, stream-of-consciousness autobiographical stuff and song lyrics and nutty absurdities and pseudo-poetic fluff. Sometimes there's something in there that opens up new possibilities.

One attempt from college began, "A calumny of sorts rages Nixon and me," and it stuck for some reason. I use that little enigmatic mind-fart as a rocket launcher into new free-writes when I'm stuck. Never underestimate the power of flatulence. No more coffee for the Chief this morning.

Re:

[sun-set-bravely.livejournal.com]

Yes - opening the floodgates is exactly what I've been hoping to do. I tried by writing a scene where the ceiling suddenly lifts off the character's office building and the sky starts raining on her, but I think that was still too close to the project. Free-writes are our friends.