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HELP ME – I’m stuck on my WIP!

  • Writer: Holly Jane - Writer
    Holly Jane - Writer
  • Apr 18, 2020
  • 7 min read

A writer’s guide on turning a crappy situation into a positive working space.

To be frank, I would bet my last pound coin that every writer will experience this at some point in their lives. It’s all inclusive – no matter your experience, background, ethnicity, sexuality. It’s coming for us and there’s no way to stop it. A lot of people will blame the dreaded writer’s block for their lack of connectivity with their current project, or maybe another external factor. Needless to say there’s always going to be something going on that externally affects our writing time and availability. But don’t let this become one of them.

Hold my hand and let’s talk through this together.

“I'm stuck on my WIP. Now what?”

You aren’t really stuck. You’re demotivated and uninspired. When you first had that glimmer of an idea hatch in your mind, you could easily project the whole story ahead and you could see yourself in the ending. The big finale. Emotion ensues. But… It’s short lived because no matter how much you can visualise ahead, you stammer and stumble because the hardest part is actually getting the whole damn thing written down.

And you’re totally right – it’s an absolute herculean effort to get from ‘Once upon a time’ to ‘the end’, because a whole journey has happened and unlike the reader, you’ve poured your heart and soul into creating such a beauty and you’re excited to be done with it and get it out there in the world. But soon enough, the honeymoon period ends and we find ourselves looking around the plot we’ve created, in despair.

I’ve compiled a short list below of the most common complaints of why writers fall out of love with their art. Is yours here too?

  • I’m stuck for ideas

  • I think my plot is awful

  • I have low confidence in my work

  • I keep editing and re-editing as I work, which means a first draft is never completed

  • My characters are flat and lifeless

  • My locations don’t feel alive enough

  • I hate the sight, the thought and the feeling of my current WIP – I can’t look at it anymore!

I’m here to let you know that it’s completely normal to feel this way at any point through writing. It’s a normal part of the process and now, we need to work together to get over this hump. So, what can we do together?

Beta readers (not your friends or family)

Yes, it’s scary, but I find that one of the most wholesome moves you can do for your writing, is to see how complete strangers feel about your work. There are so many online communities and gatherings that are equipped for this sort of thing, filled to the brim with aspiring writers and lovers of words. So much free feedback as your very own fingertips! The best thing? You don’t know these people and they won’t be caught up in conserving your feelings when reading your words. It sounds torturous doesn’t it? But trust me, you need this. If you want to be a writer, you will need to dip your toes into the pool of possible rejection and constructive criticism. So why not do this in a safe space where everyone is trying to help each other out?

Spend some time away

This is obvious point, but it’s still something I do forget: I am only human. I need time away from my work, my characters and my plot. I will work hard to knock out that first draft and then I’ll step back for at least a month and won’t touch that project. If I have thoughts? Perhaps I’ll jot them down into a notebook, but I won’t explore it properly. I’ll let my brain reboot, wait for my energy to replenish and I’ll return 4+ weeks later to continue.

You may not want to give up on that brain just yet, but the moment that working on your WIP feels like a chore and you aren’t enjoying it as much as you did? You need a break from it.

Listening with our eyes and watching with our ears

I’m talking about organic conversation, movement, situations. All around us, are stories everyday playing out as we go about our day to day lives. It’s easy to get caught up in our work and almost revert to a fanfiction-like state of speech – but we do forget to sit and just listen. I want you to go to a coffee shop one day and just sit quietly with no music, no distractions. Taking a pen and paper, write down everything you hear and what you think the rest of these conversations could be reaching towards. That couple in the corner on their phones and not speaking – are they having marital problems? The two burly dudes by the sandwiches with grumpy expressions; are they having trouble adopting children together?

Really focus on speech patterns. Real characters rarely speak every work properly and form full sentences. Or if you’re still stuck in quarantine; utilise this extra time to do some media research via television, Netflix, YouTube, ect. Exact same exercises.

Reading aloud

I don’t know about you reader, but I can’t stand the sound of my own voice. But this is fabulous way to see how your words sound when they’re read into a room. Sometimes something as basic as speaking aloud and hearing how the speech forms to your ears, will give valuable insight to how the words come across.

Similarly to this, there are text to speech functions on Microsoft Word and also across the internet as well. Don’t be afraid to try out those weird lines that don’t look quite right to you!

Mind mapping

This is my go-to technique every single time I need a new submission idea or I’m developing a plot for a new novel. The best thing is? You’ve probably had a lot of experience with mind mapping through education at some point! It’s quick, free and will steam a wealth of ideas in that noggin’ you didn’t even know you had.

See the photo below. I’ve taken keywords and stemmed off several connected words that come to me when I’m dissecting this. I’ve taken these words and further analysed them into additional connections – and from this, I can begin to weave some ideas together and look at how I can develop these further. I can make some rough notes and character ideas for plot and go from there. Mind mapping will be the best friend, you never even knew you needed.





Use Google maps

If you feel like your locations are flat and unbelievable, they probably are. Your readers need to feel like your characters are really alive and existing in the plane you’ve place them. There’s no better resource than simple Google to get what you need. OK, so you want to base your story in London? Look at everything that would be connected to the area you character comes alive in. I’m talking local history, local legends, mapping routes to work, mapping key locations, events in local London, seasonal changes, gritty atmosphere.

A great challenge is to try and write about a location you’ve never been to. Ideally, you’d want to spend some time where your character(s) is going to be laying their head, but money and work/life situations get in the way. Get around this by looking at video tours of your location on YouTube. Read resident reviews of the area. Make us believe that you’ve walked these gritty, smog filled roads, help us to smell the fumes of Chinese food cooking at 2am and the feel of rain on tired skin.

The world is literally, your oyster.

Make those characters come alive

Combined with media research and going out to experience the world and those in it (after quarantine of course), we really have the opportunity to make our creations come alive and feel like real people. But this is a daunting task in itself, how on earth do we make people?

Again, a simple idea to get you going. There’s actually a website right here: https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/ that utilises the magic of modern technology and has phased hundreds of photos together, to create photos of people that don’t actually exist. That sounds perfect doesn’t it? That means we’re free to use these images to create our characters without the pressure of real-world traits pushing into our mindsets (which is why I don’t like using people from Google).

Pick out an image that ‘speaks’ to you. You don’t necessarily need a full name, bio, family history, shoe size just yet. But start expanding on what exactly this character could become and who they are. Don’t be afraid to explore out of the box – this is your world and your character!




Impatience I struggle with this more than anything. I hatch a half-baked idea in my head and think; OH MY GOD, WHAT A MASTERPIECE and then tap my foot, expecting the work to be absolutely perfect, so I can release as soon as possible. The fact of the matter is that art takes time to craft. You are creating a proverbial baby in your brain. You are forming the bones, the structure, the muscles, the tissue, the organs, the features and the clothes. Every book you’ve ever read was a culmination of hundreds of hours of work and your book will be no different. Give it time; the world will get the chance to hear your story but you’ve got to give it space to grow and mature. ---

If you’ve found this article helpful, please support your local neighbourhood writey and please share this with anyone else who might find this remotely helpful. Every little helps and enables me to continue writing, hunched like a goblin in my dark bedroom.

I am indeed taking requests on my social medias, so feel free to get in touch!

HJ

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HOLLY JANE - AUTHOR

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