What To Do When Your Story Just Isn’t Working

I can really relate to this (and I'm sure every writer out there can as well). My advice would be to figure out where the problem is rooted: Is your structure the problem? Is every scene important and pushing the plot forward? Are your characters doing purposeful actions, or just wandering about?

When I get stumped in my writing, it's usually my structure, pacing or my backstory having holes, therefore leaving me clueless as to why things are happening in my own story.

Consider the timeline of your story. Loosely following a structural guide can help keep your story on track and making every scene important to the story as a whole. There is Save The Cat, The Hero's Journey, The Three Act Structure and more.

Here's an image that I got from Pinterest (Three Act Structure) that I look back on when my story hits a wall or I feel like my scenes aren't making an impact. You don't have to follow it religiously, but it's a good tool to make sure that your story is actually progressing (rather than just a bunch of scenes with no forward movement towards the end).

Larger Image  More things to consider would be:

Character Goals

Does your character(s) have goals that they are perusing, therefore pushing the plot forward? The goal can be simple or extreme, but it is what begins their journey. They want to assassinate the king, or they just want to get a new job.

Passive characters are led by the events/plot of your story, whereas active characters have goals make decisions that force the story forward.

Begin to Fix Plot Holes

Find any contradictions, missing pieces of information that the reader (and you) need to know for it to make sense or add laws and rules. Sometimes our stories go through rough patches of not working because we haven't flush everything out enough.

Writing Prompts

Take your characters and put them in a scene that is completely separate from your story. You can follow a writing prompt or just explore a random event that you place them in. This can get your juices flowing, can be a nice stress reliver as it's just for fun and even bring to birth new ideas you never would have considered in the first place.

Scene Structure

Are you following a scene guide that ensures every part of your scene is important and needed in your story? Every action should have a reaction.

Your character needs to be in pursuit of something (a goal) in every scene, no matter how small or basic it is. Are they searching for an ancient relic, do they want a bowl of cereal from the kitchen or do they just want some peace and quiet on their day off?

They then face a conflict while trying to obtain their goal which leads to a negative or positive outcome (they get it or they don't). After dodging traps they find the ancient relic (positive), they are out of milk (negative), someone is outside mowing their lawn (negative).

They then have a moment to react which can be a quick display of emotion or a drawn out one. They kiss the ancient relic, in an upset motion they grab their keys to go to the grocery, the man who wanted quiet starts yelling out the window at the neighbors.

Then comes the reflection which can be as small as a single sentence or a long inner monologue on how your character feels about what just happened. They think about what they'll do next. The journeyman considers the possibilities of what he can do with the relic, the girl hungry for cereal curses herself for not remembering to get milk, the angry man considers going somewhere else to find quiet.

Lastly, there's the decision. What are their next steps, what have they decided to do? This sprouts a new goal and the cycle repeats. He's decided to use the relic's magic to help people in need, the cereal enthusiast goes and buys two cartons of milk instead of one, the angry man leaves to go to the library.

All those decisions set in motion new scenes.

I recommend looking at the page I linked because it goes into better detail. Once I started understanding scene structures, my story started flowing better and didn't have much room to get lost or astray.

Read More Books

When in doubt, read. Sometimes we're just out of brain juice and need to feel the excitement of a good book. See how they do things successfully (not unsuccessfully) and try to integrate that into our own writings.

I hope that helps and isn't too long and rambley. Thanks for the question! Instagram: coffeebeanwriting

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Thank you for the question! O3O.

How to Switch from Writing in First Person to Third Person POV

Writing in Third-Person Omniscient allows the reader to watch the story from the outside looking in. They get to join the journey from a perspective that is different than that of the characters. The reader can often times learn things the characters don't know yet.

When making the switch from first person to third person, here are some things to consider: • You'll now be using "he/she/them/they/etc" which can create some emotional distance... however, you can bring that personal pull back in through the dialogue and actions of the characters. • Third person is good for world building and explaining information in a seemingly neutral way to the readers. With first person, the information is processed by the main character and can be warped by their beliefs. They can lie, bend the truth or misinterpret information. With Third Person, you have an opportunity to reveal information without the personalities of the characters interfering, in a factual, "as-is" way. • Third person omniscient can bounce from one side of the world, to the other side and tell the events of multiple characters. • Third person is great for detailed imagery that the characters might not be able to see, know or understand yet. With first person, you can only see what the main character sees and understand the world as they know it. With Third Person, you can see that world before they do and learn it at the pace that the narrator reveals it to you.

Here is an example on how first person can be more personal/intimate, and how third person can reveal information to the reader that the character isn't aware of yet:

All in all, when writing in third person you'll want to pull out of that first person point of view and become the "god/all-seeing eye" of your story. You don't have to stay limited to one perspective, place or time. You can reveal information to your readers before your characters know about them, and you can build up beautiful imagery and worldbuilding as you are not limited to through the eyes of the protagonist anymore. Before swapping over to third person completely, I'm going to say something that some might consider treason. Your story can contain both first person and third person, together. The only flop to this is that you have to execute it well to work. Understand the rules to break them. You can really jar your reader if the first thirteen chapters are told in first person and then you randomly slap in a third person POV without any warning. You have to find a way to weave the different perspectives into your story seamlessly. Here are some sources for mixing the two perspectives: How To Mix First and Third Person POV 

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