It happens to every writer. You get stuck on a scene. For some reason you can’t make it work. You type a few lines and then delete. I’m sure I’m not the only who has written the entire scene and then wiped it away and tried to start over. Sometimes I can’t get the mood right or I decide I need to try it from a different POV. Or the scene commits the sin of not moving the story forward.
Sometimes I can work through it by walking away from the keyboard for a little bit. I’ll walk around the block or even just out to get the mail. In the summer I might go outside and pull a few weeds, sweep out the garage or the deck. All mindless activities to let my mind linger on the scene problems and search for a solution.
Sometimes I get up and fix a cup of tea or warm up my coffee. In the evening I might pour a glass of wine and sip it while I stare at the cursor, demanding the words rise to the surface of my thoughts.
Another thing I do is put on some music or even some favorite movie I’ve watched tens of times before. I usually pick something that matches the scene giving me trouble.
When nothing else works I try to power through it. I write a noun, a verb and create a sentence. Then another sentence. Often this works for me more than anything else. I sit there until there are words in the document. If it ends up being terrible, I slash and burn it in the editing process.
What do you do when stuck on scene? Is there a particular type of scene that gives you more trouble than others?