Going Nowhere!

I was reluctant to title the topic 'writer's block'. It doesn't elucidate what's really happening most of the time, for me anyway.

So question is...when you hit a scene that you know's going to be an absolute bitch to write, and you find yourself micro-analysing everything previous to avoid it; what do you do? I'm not sure it's a block necessarily, just a bad habit of editing things I've drafted because I'm running scared.

The easy answer is 'just start writing it', but does anyone have any golden nuggets of advice? I'm the world's biggest advocate of "don't get it right get it writ" and unfortunately the world's worst practitioner.

Always finish your writing on a scenenhalf way through. That way when you start writing again you are not faced with a blank page,

You've given yourself the best advice.
Just 'write ugly'.
First - ask yourself do you even need the scene?
If you do - tell yourself why it's so important.
Work out the absolute fundamentals of the scene - who's in it and what has to be achieved during it.
Sit them down at a table and make them talk their way to the end of the scene with as much on the nose dialogue as necessary.
Then carry on with the next few scenes.
Next day come back to your godawful bit of writing and change it using all the usual rules - late in, early out, change of location, keep them on the move. make sure the end of the scene points to the next one etc etc.
Fight your way through it!

And what is the scene? Why does everybody talk in airy fairy abstracts for goodness sake!!

Quote: Lazzard @ 8th January 2015, 4:15 PM GMT

Sit them down at a table and make them talk their way to the end of the scene with as much on the nose dialogue as necessary.
Then carry on with the next few scenes.
Next day come back to your godawful bit of writing, Send it in and watch your work on Eastenders!

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Are you making a scene Notorious.

Lol. Scene but not absurd!

Thank you, few nice tidbits in there; will definitely leave myself half way through a scene for the next day.

It's a few scenes from a comedy series/drama I'm grappling with. It's beating me witha big stick at the moment.

Quote: Wills @ 8th January 2015, 9:03 PM GMT

Thank you, few nice tidbits in there; will definitely leave myself half way through a scene for the next day.

It's a few scenes from a comedy series/drama I'm grappling with. It's beating me witha big stick at the moment.

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Did you outline, or are you 'feeling' your way through?

Thanks for your suggestions Lazzard, being more direct with dialogue is definitely helping. I feel like I'm standing over the characters saying "blah blah get to the point idiot. And why are you even here?!" I should get fresh air today....

My brain is not very good at outlining things, it has to 'feel its way through' even if that means spending more time on something. That will always be the case me thinks.

Quote: Wills @ 9th January 2015, 11:58 AM GMT

That will always be the case me thinks.

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I used to be the same, but the demands of the job forced me to outline properly.
Best lesson I ever learnt and I would NEVER go back to winging it.
Might be worth persevering with it.

Scrivener - of which most on this forum will know I'm a huge fan - has a good corkboard/outlining function along with all the other formatting stuff.
It's only about £30 or £40 so won't break the bank and is great for getting your thoughts in order.

Just make the scene as short as possible. Maybe even one line! Maybe no dialogue at all!

What is the bloody scene anyway? What specific problems do you have?? Help is on hand if you ask properly!!

I've posted a few scenes from it in critique - I'm sure they all need editing and/or discarding! Still, first draft and all that.

I do a mixture of the two.

I find that I need to outline, as Lazzard said, to get me to the end of the story.

On the other hand, my most creative stuff comes out when I am actually trying to write the script.

So I write the whole thing, knowing that it is, in effect, draft 0. I follow a basic structure, but if I deviate from it to try something out - well that is OK too.

Good question.

Personally, the only thing that works for me is to go away for weeks or months and come back when I'm in the right frame of mind. If you're not really sure of the dynamic of a scene but knuckle down and write it anyway you're going to make something shit and that could gel. What do you have then? Shit gel.

Something that helps me is to have all the beats of the episode at the beginning of the script and edit them very thoroughly - entirely for my own benefit. If you keep them very short and simple it can help you to get that helicopter view of the whole episode.

My recent dry spell was broken by laying all my character sheets out on my floor, having a few beers and looking at all my peeps and how they're doing. This helped bring the spark back.