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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Stalling


I find myself stalling in my current middle grade. I mean, how long can a conversation on the back staircase of a castle go on for? One page? At the most, two, right?

"Lovely staircase, isn't it?"
"A bit winding if you ask me....getting a bit dizzy."
"Well, why don't we just get to the bottom of it?"
"Well, that is a good question. I suppose the author would have to figure that part out."
"'Spose so. Do you think there's any hope for that?"
"Dunno. She's had us walking down these stairs for what....four pages?"
"Seems a bit ridiculous if you think about it."
"Doesn't it, though?"

Yeah, so I desperately need to get them off of the staircase...(and there are dogs on the stairs, too. I am getting claustrophobic just thinking about it.)...I just need to figure out what is going to happen when they reach the bottom.

I don't get stuck like this often. Usually, things just tend to roll along. But when it DOES happen, well, it is a bummer. It means I can't keep seat-of-my-pantsing-it along and I need to revisit the manifesto and journal to myself about just exactly what kind of book I am trying to write.

Something in my brain is unsure about the direction I am going...which is why I am stalled on the stairs.

Stairs! Why stairs????

Maybe someone needs to jump from the tower.......


hrh

11 comments:

Sherrie Petersen said...

Oh, Shelley, you made me smile. Love this exchange :)

lisa and laura said...

Ha! At least you've gotten them on the stairs. We're still in the planning stages of our new WIP and it's tricky business. Why oh why is that blank page so freaking intimidating?

Jemi Fraser said...

I'm always thankful for the 2nd draft when I get like this. At least I can cut all the junk :)

storyqueen said...

Sherrie-Wish it wasn't so close to the truth....and I totally avoided working on getting my peeps off the stairs today....maybe tonight.

L and L-The blank page is just soooo....I dunno...blank? (Wow, I is a good riter to-day.)

Jemi-Good point. Maybe I'll just skip a head a bit. Obviously I am either bored or confused......

or both!

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

That photo is awesome. I can see being stuck on those stairs for days! In fact,I kind of remember the stairs up Notre Dame taking half a lifetime to climb.
Good luck!

storyqueen said...

Tricia-ah, that's the thing...the staircase isn't that long, I think....it's just that I am stalling in the manuscript because I haven't decided what is going to happen next. (Usually when this happens, I just need to jump ahead and go for it.)

I can always change it later, right?

Shelley

Katie Anderson said...

Ha! This is too funny! Good luck :)

Lydia Kang said...

How 'bout you stick something menacing at one end of the stairs, and then they'll have to get their butts off those steps and quick!

storyqueen said...

Katie-I miss you! (And it would be funnier if it weren't so true...ugh)

Lydia-You're a thinker!! Yes...something that will come and eat them if they don't get off!!

Myrna Foster said...

Or spit something at them? Just kidding - my word verification is "spitale."

I hope you figure out where they're going and why soon. It's hard to be stuck.

Anonymous said...

Interesting predicament. I'm sure you'll figure out what it will take to get them off those stairs. In the meantime, I like the idea of skipping forward. You can always change things up later.

Great picture by the way.