Ah, good question.
Beats me. :)
When I started writing Childhood of a Modern Dynasty back in May of last
year the plotting and first two chapters came pretty easily to my head
(especially after adding the future segments). Then I took a vacation to
Utah and the flood gates opened. By the time I was done I had about 5
more rough chapters done. They still needed some heavy revising, but the
first draft is usually the hardest for me.
So my advice for clearing writer's block is... go to the Utah desert.
But seriously, sometimes it's a matter of getting away from your computer
and home. Get a laptop or write on paper (paper is this white stuff you
put ink on using your hand and a thin object called a pen or pencil).
I went back to Wisconsin for Xmas (brrrr) and managed to get over a block
on writing Chapter 14 of CMD. Chapter 15, being a very pivotal moment
that I have thought a lot about, has come flooding in once I finished CMD
14.
If you're doing a series, getting stuck on a particular part can be
rough. I sometimes think of events after the current parts in order to
see some way to write the current part. In one case I even wrote a bit of
a future chapter and it helped focus my thoughts and I got over an
earlier problem (CMD ch6 was a short part of Ch7 at first because I
couldn't write it all out as I had originally wanted, so I wrote what
became of ch 7, 8, and parts of 9. Somewhere along the line I suddenly
realized that I could use Kuno (even if I was saving him from knowing
about the split for a future story) as long as I kept him from seeing
Ranma and Ranko together. That opened the floodgates and one of the 'fun'
chapters of CMD was born.
So putting it aside temporarily could help, but don't forget it. Just try
to look at it from different angles and you may find a diamond in the
rough.
-=-
Jim Lazar
E-Mail - mailto:jimlazar@earthlink.net
Home - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar
FanFiction - http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlazar/anime
-=-
Kasumi found her father cradling her mother in his arms. He
had run out of tears to shed long ago, but the expression on his face
told the story. Kasumi calmly slid the door closed and knelt down
facing her father and mother, tears started flowing from her eyes.
After several minutes of silence, Soun asked with a scratchy
voice, "Kasumi dear. Will you please say goodbye to your mother and
then go get Mr. Saotome?" He didn't look up at his daughter once.
"Of course, Father," Kasumi said. She stood up, took one of her
mother's hands in hers, and said a soft, "Goodbye, Mother. I'll keep
my promise."
Ranma-ototo: Please Save My Family - Part 2
3rd place, Aug 1998 Mini-Series, Best of Ranma Fanfiction Awards