Writers: How do you push past a chapter?

[Montylyro]

Went through a session where I had trouble getting words out. Just couldn’t get a single sentence without difficulty. I outline the chapters and know what they’ll entail but in front of the screen, my mind goes blank. How do you get over that hump when the words aren’t there?

 

[Zenftiy]

Went through a session where I had trouble getting words out. Just couldn’t get a single sentence without difficulty. I outline the chapters and know what they’ll entail but in front of the screen, my mind goes blank. How do you get over that hump when the words aren’t there?

Take a break if you need to,

or just push through and write whatever pops into your head. Don't worry if it's messy. A draft is just you figuring the story out for yourself. You can always edit later

 

[Anaktoria]

Honestly, I just kind of vomit out words, delete, and rewrite until I have something I like! I think the act of typing forces me to figure out what I don't want to do in the chapter, which in turn gets me closer to what I do want to do. It reminds me of the sketch stage in drawing, where I erase and redraw over and over till it feels right, and then I'm able to proceed to polishing.

 

[Bald-san]

Went through a session where I had trouble getting words out. Just couldn’t get a single sentence without difficulty. I outline the chapters and know what they’ll entail but in front of the screen, my mind goes blank. How do you get over that hump when the words aren’t there?

You might be tired man, don't push yourself into writing if you're not in the mood. Relax, maybe play a game while pondering what words you wanna write and go back if you have figured it out

 

[LiteraryWho]

I think the advice to write through your block is probably the correct one, though taking a walk outside, or reading a good book, might help get you in the mood.

I've found that just writing the scene in a very stupid way can help get me past that point in the story, and then I can come back later. I once wrote damn near half a novel's worth in embarrassingly cringe sentences, but when I went back and did the second draft, the story proved to be one of my favorites.

 

[Montylyro]

Just want to thank everyone for their advice here. I think my problem is word choice and the need to get it right the first time. I hate spinning my wheels and repeating things over and over, but I guess that's what first drafts are about.

I'll push through and put whatever I have in my head on the screen. I'll take a break when it's done, then look at it with sort-of fresh eyes.

Thanks again, everyone.

 

[Zagaroth]

Painfully. The chapters that are worst for me always come out feeling awkward and I am not entirely happy with the result. But they get that job done, and I can move on.

Once I am through them, I can let them rest. My wife is my editor, so she can do some clean up on it, but I also won't be looking at it again for a few weeks, and I do an edit of a chapter the night before it goes live, so I will no longer be feeling the pain of writing that chapter, and I can make it better.

So, sometimes, 'gets the job fucking done' has to be your starting point, and you can come back to polish it later.

Oh, and you know it's bad when a Patreon's comment is "I am looking forward to reading this again once your editor has a go at it."

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

Rip through no matter the consequence! Even if I have to rewrite a dozen times. Just keep going, no matter how painful or how bad. There are no easy answers, just push until something breaks, even if that something is you. It can take ages, and rewrites can be even more painful. But you gotta get through it one way or another, and the only methodology I've ever found is the brute force approach.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

Write out of order. If the current chapter is hanging you up, and you're struggling to get through it, it might just mean you don't have all the ideas yet to get you past that chapter, so go ahead and write another scene in another chapter that excites you to want to write and write that. At least that gets you writing. Do that for enough scenes in future installments, and you get a series of markers to help you anchor your story from the nebulae of ideas like street lamps on a runway. Then go back to the previous chapters and see what you can extrapolate out of them to get the current chapter moving again using the other scenes you wrote ahead as beacons for what you can do and then see what happens.

I know this is a hair-brained way of going about it, but it works for me. See if it works for you.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

You don't.

Take a break if you feel exhausted writing it, but you don't rush a chapter, or it'll be bad.

 

[LesserCodex]

Like everyone said take a break, but if that doesn't work then try it like this write one sentence of what happens in a chapter how it'll begin and end, like if its just a day of exploring, start with mc woke up, and write a small sentence about his next action and next, and all these smalls things will build up into your chapter, that sort of how I've been doing it. Start middle end, and just add things in between.

 

[Supperset]

Take a break. Do some exercise. not up to it? Play games or just do a simple meditation. Or go for a walk.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

This is why I typically work on two or three stories at a time. If I hit a wall in one, another one takes center stage until I figure out how to go under, over or through said wall...

 

[Cookiez_N_Potionz]

Baby steps.
I push through slowly and write a little everyday