What's Holding You Back? Part 4: STORY LOGJAM

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There you are. Sailing along . . . whipping out the chapters with delightful abandon. Now you’re confidently taking the plunge into the deeper story waters, far beyond the opening chapter shore.
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You’ve carefully charted the journey. With compass in hand, you’ve thought out your premise, scene-stormed, plotted, mapped out a stellar synopsis and have your characters’ goal, motivation and conflict down pat. Sails full-blown, you’re valiantly bucking the waves as a clear-skied sun sparkles off the endless waters surrounding you.
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But wait a minute . . . what’s happening here?
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Are those clouds gathering overhead? Is the wind faltering to barely a puff? The once-warm, exhilarating air now getting nippy? And what’s that debris up ahead, blocking your way, slowing you down?
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Ah, welcome to a story logjam. ‘Tis a wee bit difficult to sell a manuscript you can't finish, is it not?
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Sometimes it’s a mini-crisis—a brief squall. The sails are adjusted, bits of debris pushed aside, and on you go. Other times, it’s a major storm—bailing water and digging out the oars to beat a path through the choppy waters and ever-thickening flotsam and jetsam. Endeavoring to paddle against the tide to the far-off shore. Sending up SOS flares. This journey, launched with such anticipation and sense of adventure, no longer excites. Daily word count diminishes. Scenes flatten, become episodic, pointless. Who cares if the boy gets the girl, the pioneers reach Oregon, or the mystery is solved?
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The clock is ticking . . . daylight is waning . . . and your story is dead in the water.

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Ever had that happen? You’re not alone. And no, it’s not just seat-of-the-pants writers who must on occasion journey through these sluggish, stationary waters. I don’t know how many writers I’ve talked to—whether pansters, plotters or plansters—published or unpublished—who haven’t at some time encountered a crisis of confidence somewhere in a book.
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How could this happen? They had the story thoroughly mapped out one way or another—in their head or on paper or a combination of both. But then seemingly out of the blue—logjam. At his point, some less experienced writers give up, toss in the towel. Go off to start a new story. But others, who’ve been this way before, develop methods to get to the heart of the problem, fix it, and set sail once again.
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How it happened may not be the most driving question at the moment. That can be addressed later. Philosophical speculation when you’re sitting there, water lapping around you and going nowhere, isn’t foremost among your needs. You have to get moving again. Get beyond the barrier. Over that seemingly insurmountable wall. Find the source of the clog and get the story unstuck.
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Quite often this jam can be traced to our subconscious recognizing that SOMETHING in our story as it currently exists is WRONG. Despite careful planning, somewhere deep inside we come to a point where we intuitively realize this even if our conscious mind doesn’t. The story balks. Won’t allow us to move ahead. But what IS it? It’s not always obvious. So what can we do to unearth the problem and recapture the confident excitement we experienced in the opening pages?

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I asked The Seekers for practical ways they deal with this not uncommon issue . . .
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Missy Tippens: I re-read my tons of original notes—all the pre-planning I did. It really reminds me of the heart of the story. I’ve also taken sticky notes and thought up all the things that could happen. I put them across the top of a huge tri-fold poster board that has one of my kid’s science fair projects on the back. Then I keep adding sticky notes for what could happen next in the story. I often end up with forks in the road. Then when I get to the end, I pick which route I like best.
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Mary Connealy: I’ve found it helps to just start throwing ideas at my own mental wall. What if this? What if that? I spent a long car ride today doing it and really liked what I came up with for handling a sticky spot in my WIP. And this has been annoying. I couldn’t quite get a handle on this one piece of back story and how to weave it in. And today, on the long ride, I got it.
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I day dream a LOT and I spend long stretches when I’m in bed at night flipping ideas, trying to think outside the box, but also testing cliché-ish ideas. Some might call them time-tested or classic ideas. The longer I think, the farther out I go, and it’s amazing how I can find a new angle, how I can discover myself clinging to something I love that is a stumbling block—and finally let it go.
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A lot of times I’ll be stuck because I need to throw something MAJOR out and don’t want to admit it, not even to myself, because of how much work it’s going to be. That’s been holding me back on my WIP because I’ve got this whole subplot already written and I’ve been TRYING to save it “as is.” But today I finally gave that up. I figured out what to do and now I’m excited about it.

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Ruth Logan Herne: I listen to music. Country music inspires me because it’s soooo situational. I can envision what they’re saying, doing, the action/reaction, and it helps me push forward. Stating my block to the Seekers usually feeds me ideas that then inspire more ideas on my end. Then I can charge forth again. And I’m a muller. Stories go ‘round in my head all day and night, so when it clicks there’s like this pinball wizard effect. BING! BING! BING!
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Audra Harders: I don’t fight it. I get up and walk away from the computer. Once I stop pounding my head against the screen, I begin to get thoughts floating through my mind and then I’m off on tangents again. They may not be good tangents, but at least I’m writing something!
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Janet Dean: When I’m stuck, I go back and reread the story. Usually that gets me back into the flow. When I’m stuck, it’s usually because I need to raise the stakes. So I make a list of possible conflicts and trouble I can give my characters. I can focus better on paper than rolling ideas around in my mind.
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ANONYMOUS SEEKER: I basically cry. And surf the Net. Nothin’ practical about it.
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I know for myself, I’ve often resorted to methods similar to that of some of the other Seekers (including that of our anonymous contributor!) in order to “clean house” and reconnect with the story spark that originally captured my imagination.
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Techniques I’ve used include . . .
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- Rereading the manuscript to see at what point do I, the author, begin to lose interest in it. When I start drifting, skimming, getting bored, no longer caring---that can tell me a LOT about precisely where I’m getting off track.
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- Rereading the synopsis to refresh my memory. It’s amazing how I sometimes forget that I already had a resolution to a seemingly major roadblocks thought out and built into my synopsis.
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- Reviewing the overall story premise that should ideally ground each scene. This helps prevent them from becoming episodic. Touching even in a small way on that premise in a scene helps keep the thread going from beginning to end, providing continuity and purpose.
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- Rereading my notes. Again, it’s amazing how many things I thought out at the beginning can fade from memory—character-revealing encounters, dialogue snippets, plot twists. Having rediscovered them, I can then weave them in to give that limping-along scene renewed substance and direction.

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- Using bestselling author Shirley Jump’s “Rule of Six” method (take one of her classes on this topic if you get a chance!). You pose a specific story issue, set a timer, and write as many off-the-top-of-your-head options as you can. The first ones come easy, are probably cliché-ish, but as you push to a minimum of six and beyond, your subconscious is forced to dig deeper to dream up out-side-the-box ideas.
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- Jumping ahead and writing the epilogue or the last few chapters. That gives me a solid target to aim for when I attack those earlier, stubborn scenes.
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- Reevaluating the subplot or effectiveness of secondary characters – it’s easy to get too caught up in them and lose my story focus
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- Watching a movie that captures the essence/mood of my story. Are you writing a romantic comedy? Watch one. A shoot ‘em up western?—dig out that old John Wayne-Maureen O’Hara flick! I find “setting the mood” feeds my creative subconscious.
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- Switching a scene’s viewpoint character to get a fresh angle on it – perhaps the previous POV didn’t have as much at stake in it as the new one?

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- Stepping back and resolving to sacrifice a “pet” scene, secondary character or direction that’s not moving the story forward.
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- Interviewing a character or letting them ramble on paper as I “listen” to discover how they FEEL about the situation I’ve plopped them into. Readers read fiction because of how it makes them FEEL. Maybe my story is stalling because I’ve forgotten that?
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- Forcing a character to make a choice, divulge a secret, or take action earlier in the manuscript than originally planned. Or vice versa.
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- Throwing in a new deadline to raise the story stakes, escalate the tension.
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- Reordering scenes, placing them in a more effective sequence.

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- Strengthening and clarifying the story goal, motivation and conflict in previous chapters so that when I return to the bogged-down spot in my manuscript, I have the ammunition to charge through it with confidence.
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- Tying up loose story threads that are subconsciously nagging. You know, those details you skimmed over in the synopsis, planning to “fill in” during the actual writing. How the bad guy actually was able to do what he did. Something in a character’s background that is integral to the current story but you haven’t yet taken the time to figure out. The timing of an event that must be established and airtight or the whole thing falls apart. Deciding how the character is to grow and how you will show that growth. This loose thread issue can subconsciously take the wind out of your sails and drag the story to a screeching halt.
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- Reminding myself of the audience I’m writing for—what are THEY expecting when they pick up my book? What twist or turn or enriched element would warm their heart? Put them on the edge of their seat? Make them turn the page?

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So how about you? What do YOU do to ferret out the problem when your story logjams? Is dead in the water? How do you go about clearing the debris, catching the breeze and setting sail once again?
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If you’d like to be entered in a drawing for a copy of Kelly L. Stone’s “Time to Write,” please mention it in the comments section and leave your e-mail addy (remembering “at” and “dot”).
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Glynna Kaye’s Steeple Hill Love Inspired “Dreaming of Home” is a 2010 finalist in the “Carol Award” and “Maggie Award,” as well as a first place winner of the “Booksellers Best” and “Beacon” awards. “Second Chance Courtship” released in February 2011 and “At Home In His Heart” debuts August 2011!