Writers... help! I can't finish the story!

[Number57]

I've had this story worked out in my mind for going on twenty years. 1989. But now... I am stuck. I started a book based on it, but I'm no writer, obviously. I constantly re-read and edit, and re-read and edit more.

Probably because I've posted part of the story on sites that critique writing.

Anyway. I've hit a wall. A large brick wall. I've since stopped editing my own stuff, but try as I might, I can't write another chapter that I'm okay with. How do you, in your experience, get past it? I'll appreciate any help anyone can offer.

[processing please hold]

I've had this story worked out in my mind for going on twenty years. 1989. But now... I am stuck. I started a book based on it, but I'm no writer, obviously. I constantly re-read and edit, and re-read and edit more.

Probably because I've posted part of the story on sites that critique writing.

Anyway. I've hit a wall. A large brick wall. I've since stopped editing my own stuff, but try as I might, I can't write another chapter that I'm okay with. How do you, in your experience, get past it? I'll appreciate any help anyone can offer.

Hell, edit some of that and it's an opening to the first chapter.

[JRios1968]

Sometimes the FReepers decide to pass on the obvious! LOL

[fishbabe]

Write a general story line,write biographies of each main character and their relationship with each other,write 2 or 3 possible endings .......If that doesn't work this is how to get over the hump...Cry,drink like a fish,make EVERYONE around you miserable and then write a best seller about how unfair the world is...{soap operas are always in vogue!!!!}

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

I was 1st runner-up in that sucker one year

And you won't share with us your winning prose stylings?

[Quix]

Uhhhhh . . . that's encouragement?

[P-Marlowe]

For some reason I'm imagining a novel that starts with a wedding in India.

Jack blew the smoke off the end of his custom nickle plated S&W 500 Magnum. "Smokeless powder my a$$" he muttered. He slid the pistol back into his shoulder holster and smiled. He had reason to smile. It's not everyday you can save the world. Too bad nobody would ever know.

Ok number 57, you've got your ending. Now get back to work!

[Yaelle]

The sea was angry that day, my friends. Like an old man sending back soup at a deli.

[fish hawk]

She played with the top button on her blouse then slowly started to unbutton down one at a time. The Forty Niners were on the ten yard line of the Rams and it was third and goal. I asked if she minded getting me another beer while she was up........

Would you like me to help you finish you book? LOL

[Number57]

Thanks to your totally selfless reply, I am going to rename one of my female characters Chena. She will be 26 and a hottie.

Alas, she is the first victim.

lol... absolutely fictional

[macamadamia]

Do what Salvador Dali advised. Eat moldy cheese right before you go to bed. You'll get fantastically horrible nightmares. Keep a tape recorder ready when you wake up. (Click it on after you finish screaming though.)

[Number57]

gotta think...

BB in 30 minutes

[Bommer]

How to write a novel in 100 days!

[Mordacious]

I'm just too lazy. But I'll write for 14 hours if inspiration strikes me.

Okay, this, IMO, is a problem. Writing when you're inspired is easy. Writing when you're not inspired is what separates the men from the boys. You should write every day, even if it's just a few paragraphs. The habit of writing is the one thing that nearly all successful writers have in common.

[GeronL]

This was a fictional story, right? ;)

or science fiction?

*ducks*

[Chena]

I thought I tagged it a vanity. Sorry.

Pay no attention to delacoert. Wait! I retract that statement! Use this person to your advantage! Use the persona of "delacoert" as the surprise villian in your story, or the mean old nanny, or the monster that ruined a great story thread. ROFL! No offense, delacoert. I'm sure you meant well, but we're trying to end writer's block, not create another one. LOL

[Chena]

Writing on toilet paper works for me. If I don't like what I wrote, I can just flush it. Better than a trash can brimming full of my words that will never be read.

[processing please hold]

The almost irrational fear that had crippled his brittle excuse of a life.

A brittle life beaten down by life itself. Who could he blame? Not himself, it was never his fault. His stooped shoulders and slow gait was all he had to show for a life unlived. A life he merely passed through unattached to anything or anyone. When he was young it was enough to be alone, the not needing or wanting what life could offer. Now, in his latter years, he sees the mistakes he has made and is angry. But, not with himself-with the world.

[Mother Abigail]

Time is winding down. Use the moments remaining with grace.

For all that we have failed to accomplish, there must be a letting go. Find joy and beauty in this moment and this day.

For tomorrow and the day after are tenuous concepts.

Rejoice in this dawn, if it arrives, and look for the peace that permeates all creation.

MA

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Start the chapter:

It was a dark and stormy night..

The moon fades into the ominous clouds above.

The wind hows through the trees as in a tattletale pattern.

No one knows from were it comes and were it goes, but, it's there, the chill in your bones and soul.

The path has never been tread before by a mere mortal, only the courageous go and press on.

The long shadow lurks and looms, it's there, but, when you look and try to focus, then it's gone in a instant, a flash.

[Chena]

LOL! (good advice though)