So, here's my question for the day

[smg01]

This for those out there who do writing.

What do you do when you find yourself in the midst of a section that you suspect just isn't working at all? Do you:

1. Give it up all together?
2. Fight your way through at and hope it turns into something?
3. Leave it alone, go to other sections, and wait for inspiration to strike for resolving the problem passage?
4. Other?

I'm just curious what other people do. I'm in the midst of a story that I think could turn out to be pretty good. (Damn you internet people and your fanfic influences. I'm still waving the *shaky fist* *g*.) But in the meantime, I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew--it just keeps growing. And I've got a section that I think might be a mistake. I keep plugging away at because it might turn out to work after all once I get everything else laid out. But I have a feeling that I'm going to have significantly cut or eliminate some chunks of what I'm doing right now.

How do you problem solve when you run up against writing dilemmas?

Comments

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

I do either 3, work on another section and see if that gives inspiration to go back or...sometimes try and approach the scene from a different angle (start the scene in a new spot)

But in your case, I'd say just free write it knowing it may not stay. It might be something you use for another story or you could get inspired to use pieces of it.

(Damn you internet people and your fanfic influences. I'm still waving the *shaky fist* *g*.)

*evil grin*

[jungleeyedgirl.livejournal.com]

But I have a feeling that I'm going to have significantly cut or eliminate some chunks of what I'm doing right now.

The big question is why you're having trouble with a section. If it's a general writer's block thing, then move on to something else you are excited about and see if that helps. If it's the section itself, then you maybe do need to step back from the "writing" mindset and stop and think about the importance of that section. Maybe you're having trouble with it because it's not where the story is supposed to go.

[datawhorevoyeur.livejournal.com]

I mostly go to 2 & 3. Sometimes I take out the section, and put it in a holding file. If it doesn't end up back in the original piece, it sometimes gets developed for something else. If I especially struggled with it, I hate to throw it out completely...

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Heh. The process of writing out that post, reading responses, and going to lunch seems to have unlocked something. I think I figured out the solution to my current dilemma. Part of the conversation I'm writing needs to happen at a different time, and the other part of the scene can just be tweaked a little.

I think. ;)

It's fun to think about, and hear how other people approach this kind of stuff.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

I fight it for a long time, refusing to give up until i realize it had won before the fighting began. In those cases, I put that part aside and then I wrote from where I felt it went wrong. Most of the time, I go with my gut.

The result is that I may have several branches from the main truck that lead to dead ends, but I still have that base to start from.

[aka-becker.livejournal.com]

I'm currently in the middle of writers block on an episode that is going to be apparently twice as long as it should be if I keep plodding away at it like I have been (or was when I last was able to write more than a sentence at a time.

Generally, if it's just a section that's bugging me, I'll skip it and come back to it. If it's what I've got right now, then I just have to step back and hope my brain gets back into it.

So I'm sketching an idea out for a screenplay instead.

[adrililith.livejournal.com]

I have no wisdom about writing. I write by feel more than method and far too often my muse takes a vacation. But I enjoyed reading your post and the responses to it and I'm glad you worked it out :)