scrape_r_rational/data/cache/3azbbz.md

[BST][WIP][Q] Seeking writing advice: Tropes vs writing block?

Post:

I've started writing bits and pieces for S.I. again, but not nearly at the rate I was writing before my hiatus.

I'm beginning to wonder if I should cheat a bit, and deliberately leave some of the details I'm having trouble getting myself to write about vague, and explain it away with some memory problems of Bunny-the-narrator for that period. Goodness knows there are plenty of ways Bunny's brain has been fiddled with so far, so it's not without precedent; and if it gets me over the hump and into full-scale writing again, it might be worth including the trope for that reason alone, let alone adding another mental issue to play with narratively.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Comments:

• u/Sparkwitch:

  Knowing how much you can afford to elide is one of the great ways to tighten your writing. Does it introduce a problem? Does it solve one? Does it reveal something important about a character in a way that advances the plot?
  
  If the story still work without some information, it's probably safe to remove it.
  
  Skip ahead to the fun stuff.
  

  • u/alexanderwales:

    > Skip ahead to the fun stuff.
    
    Make sure that you're skipping ahead for the right reasons though. I've seen timeskips done really poorly in the past; sometimes an author gets bored, and just wants to race ahead, and it can leave the audience scratching their head wondering why they never got the middle section. Elide too much, and you have pay-off without the build up, which isn't actually pay-off at all.
    
    I think that's probably what /u/DataPacRat is struggling with; when to skip ahead, and when not to. I think if you've got writer's block, it's fine to just write all the stuff that you feel like writing to get you back in the flow, but then you actually need to go back and write in all the necessary precursors. You can't have the climactic ending without any of the growth or development in place (or you can, but it's going to feel a little hollow).
    

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