Wednesday Writing Tip: When Stuck, Skip!
We all know the term “writer’s block.” It can happen for all sorts of reasons, but a very common one is getting stuck on a tricky scene or detail that you’re not sure how (or not motivated) to write. Sometimes it’s a significant, climactic scene and you might get hung up on pressure to get it right, to make it impactful and capture all the emotions. Sometimes it’s a necessary but boring scene that you just aren’t interested in writing. Or, it might involve some details or information that you haven’t worked out yet, and need to research or brainstorm.
Whatever the reason, it’s very common to find yourself staring at that blinking cursor on the page and lacking the will or ability to type what comes next. At least for me, it’s one of the most frequent reasons I’ve fallen into writer’s block for days or weeks or…months.
So, what do you do? Skip that scene!
Keep your momentum, come back later
Oftentimes, these tricky scenes and details work themselves out down the line. You’re writing some other piece and suddenly get the lightbulb moment—”That’s how it should go!” or “I can make it work by doing that!” or what have you. It’s a highly satisfying moment.
Metaphorically banging your head against a wall and staring at that blank page won’t help you much. You’ll eventually sort it out, but you can do that while continuing to write the rest of the story. So just move on.
X marks the spot…or TK
Just note the scene you need to come back to. Some writers put a brief summary of what needs to happen (“MC steals a horse and escapes”) in brackets. That works, but it might be more effective to put it in a comment on the document, which will make it stand out and easier to find later. If you’re going to use text in the document itself, at least highlight it.
You can also use the industry-standard in publishing and journalism, which is the abbreviation “TK.” It means “to come,” and yes it’s the wrong letters, but there’s a reason for that. The advantage of a standardized solution to these need-to-come-back-to spots is that you can just hit Control F and search for every instance of TK, then work your way through.
Of course, feel free to make the abbreviation whatever you want, as long as it’s something that won’t appear naturally in the text (which is why “TK” is used, not TC, which will appear in words like “catch”).
Keep it consistent for missing details
Oftentimes, we writers have small details that we haven’t nailed down yet, and might not until the end of draft one…or draft two…or until five days before publishing. Who knows.
Such details might include:
- Names of places or characters
- Physical features or description details
- Dates and times
- And plenty of other odds and ends
As a book editor, this is something I see a lot. Some secondary character’s name changes halfway through the book. The timing of events doesn’t line up. Your MC’s daughter goes from being nine to eleven in the span of a month. Johnny has blue eyes in chapter one but brown eyes in chapter five.
Catching these inconsistencies is one of an editor’s many important tasks. However, we’re only human too, so if there are lots of them…we might not catch them all. The fewer of these inconsistencies you have, the less likely that any will slip through into the published book.
So, if you’re not decided yet on Johnny’s eye color, don’t write it. Write TK. If you’re not sure how old his daughter is, write TK.
- “Johnny’s TK eyes shifted right.” (But see my earlier post about eye descriptions…)
- “In all her TK years, his daughter had always…”
That way, you can search the document and amend all those missing details later when you have them.
I’d love to hear your writing tips and tricks. Happy writing!