#257. Stuck in Chapter One or the Messy Middle? What Your Stuck Point Reveals
episode
Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice
16 min
1 speaker
2 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Why does where I get stuck in my draft matter for the story, not my skill?
If you've been working on your novel for a while, you've probably hit a point where you just kind of stall out, where you open the document, stare at the screen, and have no idea what's supposed to happen next. If you can relate, then I want you to know that where you're stuck isn't random. It's actually a clue. And by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what your stuck point is trying to tell you, as well as exactly what to do about it so you can start moving forward again. Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming. So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away.
So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started. Almost every writer who stalls out while outlining or drafting their novel assumes the same thing, that getting stuck means you're not cut out to write a book, or that you don't have the discipline to finish one, or that you're just missing some magical writer gene that everybody else happened to get. And yes, these are reasonable things to assume, but they are also wrong. Because getting stuck usually isn't about you at all. It's about your story, and more specifically, a piece of your story you haven't defined clearly enough yet. And that's genuinely good news because something like this is fixable.
Now, I do want to be fair and say that sometimes writers stop writing or outlining for reasons that have nothing to do with their craft. Life gets full, your energy gets low, a hard season just doesn't leave room for writing. All of that is of course real and that's okay. But when you keep stalling in the same part of the outlining or drafting process, outline after outline or draft after draft, then that pattern is worth paying attention to because usually it's showing you exactly where your story needs more support. And after more than a decade of coaching fiction writers and editing manuscripts, I can tell you that those stalls tend to land in the same three places again and again, either in chapter one or right before starting chapter one, somewhere around 20 to 30,000 words, and or somewhere deep in the messy middle.
And each one of those spots is pointing straight at a specific piece of your story that isn't quite developed yet. So today we're going to walk through all three, including what each one might be telling you about your story, as well as what you can focus on strengthening so you can start moving forward again. All right, so let's dive right in, starting with chapter one. Now, if you're stuck in chapter one or right before chapter one, here's what that tends to look like. You have the idea, maybe even a whole folder full of notes, but every time you sit down to write your opening, nothing feels right enough to commit to, so you don't commit. Or maybe you've started writing about 10, 15 times, so you write chapter one, you hate it, you delete it, and you start over again.
And now you've polished that opening until it gleams and you still can't make yourself move on to chapter two. If you can relate, I just want you to know that none of that means you lack discipline or anything like that. The real issue is that you're probably still working with a situation rather than a fully developed story. In other words, you have an intriguing premise, but you haven't decided what kind of story is going to grow out of it yet. So what central problem this situation creates, what it forces your protagonist to do, and where that conflict is ultimately heading. So let me show you what I mean. Let's pretend we're working with a premise like a woman discovers her husband has been living a double life.
That does sound pretty interesting, right? But what is actually going to happen because of that discovery?
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Chapters
2 chaptersSpeakers
1 identifiedMore from Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice
#261. 5 Mistakes Writers Make Using the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet
#260. Student Spotlight: From Stuck at 25k Words to a Finished Draft With Lindsay Sfara
#259. How to Finish a Novel With Kids at Home & Limited Writing Time
#258. 5 Myths Keeping You From Finishing Your First Draft
#256. Why “Just Start Writing” Can Be Terrible Advice for New Writers
#255. Student Spotlight: How Grace Draven Learned to Write Faster (Without Sacrificing Quality)