If you’ve ever been stuck as you write your novel, I want to share three ideas that hopefully will help you get writing again.

I notice with almost every novel I write, that I write up to 25K to 30K words and then I seem to hit a plot snag.

But, there are some ideas that I’ve tried that I hope will help you to push past whatever is holding you back.

Continue reading below or watch the video to learn more…

3 Ideas to Help You Breakthrough When You Hit a Plot Snag in Your Novel

With every novel I write, I sketch out possibilities for the outline… but I’m not a detailed outliner.

Some might say, I’m more of a “Tweener or Puzzler” outliner.

I write out ideas that might happen with my main character… and I also do a deep dive into what my Hero and Heroines’ fears and flaws and lies they believe.

Knowing the main character’s lies and wounds is what helps me to pinpoint what the climax will be near the end of the novel.

As I’ve continued to read many great novels, I’ve noticed one thing: the main character must face her/his greatest fear at the climax.

So for me, knowing my main character’s fears and the lies they believe, literally helps me pinpoint what the climax of the novel will be. Knowing the climax of my novel is like a homing beacon — leading me to the end point of my novel.

Even still, the problem has been that I seem to get stuck around the 25K to 30K word mark writing my novel.

I was relieved when I heard famous fantasy writer George R.R. Martin had also experienced a plot snag when he was writing his book “A Song of Ice and Fire”.

I remember reading about his interview years ago. He said something like, “I know many readers are very angry with me that the book isn’t finished. He went on to say he was mad about it himself. He wished he’d finished the book four years ago.” He said he had “many dark nights of the soul wondering if he’d ever finish the novel.”

So if a famous author like George R. R. Martin faced the terrible plot snag… I guess the rest of us writers are in good company.

As writers I think most of us can relate to hitting a snag or what feels like a block in the writing of our novel.

It might come at a different point in your novel.

For me the writing hurdle comes when I’m writing the inciting incident. I don’t know why… but suddenly I can’t seem to figure out next scenes(except for the climax, which I’ve usually figured out ahead of time).

I also worry that my story seems too simple to hold a reader’s interest — or that I don’t have enough action moments in my scenes 0r that my subplot isn’t working.

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but being stuck with only a quarter of the novel written, has felt like I’m between a rock and a hard place — with no way out.

Today, I want to share with you ideas that I’ve tried that hopefully will help you get the story figured out — and to help you begin writing again.

Some of these ideas are inspired by authors who have written helpful books for writers. Books like: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors by Alexandra Sokoloff;  Plotman to the Rescue by James Scott Bell; and Layer Your Novel by C.S. Lakin. As you read through these writing books, I believe they will take you to the next level in your writing.

 

If you find yourself stuck, here are some tips that I hope will help you figure out your story and get you back to writing again.

 

1.Ask yourself what inspired you to write this particular novel in the first place.

To help you re-discover your passion for your novel some questions below might help.

What is it about my main character that I really love — and that appeals to me?

What situation can I create that will make my main character’s life even more difficult?

What is the backstory of my minor characters — that will make life interesting for my main character?

What is it about this story idea that drew you in the first place? Is it the quest for justice? Is it a story of lost, but second chance love?

Keep asking more “what if” questions and jot down the answers that come to mind.

“For the first thing a writer should be is — excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches…” Ray Bradbury

So finding joy and passion as you write is critical. It not only helps you break through the writing snag/obstacle.

 

2.Step away from your manuscript for a morning, afternoon or for a full day.

In fact, go to your favorite place to think. Whether that’s a park or a coffee shop or some place that inspires your creativity.

I did this with my recent women’s fiction clean romance novel that I’m finishing now. I took an afternoon and created a map of the beginning of the story to the climax.

It was very helpful to see where scenes were going to happen — with which character and when they would happen.

When you go to your favorite place to think — take with you a pad and pen and begin to write.

Some helpful ideas to brainstorm:

a) Write down a summary of what you envision for your novel.

b) Write down every character in your novel — whether major or minor character.

Answer this question: When I think about what this character wants in the story — what would be the next best scene I could write. Or write down what this character would do next?

Hopefully you’ll get lots of scene ideas from writing this down.

 

3.Bring a character onto the scene who surprises everyone.

It will help if this is a character that has appeared before in your novel. When they show up in the scene they will bring more problems to your main character’s life.

Remember, with each character in your story — it’s important to think about their wounds, fears, backstory, secrets, etc. I highly recommend reading The Emotional Wound Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. I’ve been given a ton of ideas simply by reading through different wound ideas in their book.

Working to discover those details, hopefully will inspire different scenes to pop up in your imagination.

 

Start by asking these questions and write down the answers in your notebook:

1.Why did this character suddenly show up on the page and into this scene? What is their motive?

2.Perhaps this surprise character has a secret that will cause big problems for your main character?

3.How strong is the motive for this surprise character — what is she willing to do to reach her goal?

 

These are questions I like to write down the answers to in my notebook that I use for each book. I hope answering the above questions will help give you the inspiration you need to breakthrough and write all the way to The End of your novel.

Keep writing and don’t quit!  Your readers are waiting for your next novel!

Happy Writing! 🙂