I'm Stuck Writing This Scene: How to Get Unstuck

I don't think I can be the only one: I know what the next scene I need to write is, but when I try to write it, I've got nothing. It's a variation of the blinking cursor or blank page struggle, not quite writer's block, but just as frustrating. This is a technique I've used to banish that blank page.

As I was writing Deadly Decaf, I was juggling multiple major elements: The cafe where the protagonist, Immie, works and the murder occurs, the theater department where she studies, and the production that she's rehearsing. Early on, I realized I wasn't sure what that looked like. Even though I drew on my experiences as a theater student decades ago, my school wasn't her school.

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I had big unanswered questions: What classes did she have each day? What did she need to prepare? What kind of pressure was she under? How did that connect to the broader themes in the story? Without knowing those things, I couldn't effectively articulate what she was going through.

So, I took a step back and decided I needed to answer some of those questions first. I realized that I needed to get more specific. I started by looking at what classes she would be taking. To do that, I needed to figure out what the requirements of her program would be. I looked into different University programs for inspiration and pulled together a list of what courses Immie would take during her entire time at my fictional University.

Defining those classes was a step in the right direction, but it wasn't enough to get me past the dreaded blinking cursor. So, I dug deeper. For each of the fictional classes, I created a fictional syllabus. I had the experience of creating syllabi when I taught years ago, so I was able to pull out a very old one to use as a template and dust off those old skills.

I researched similar classes online and checked out their textbooks, assignments, and even learning objectives. I asked myself, "if I were teaching this class, how would I approach it?" I broke the course down into a schedule and determined grading rubrics. I researched alternative textbooks and even found a textbook that was helpful to me in shaping ideas in the story.

The syllabus for a fictional course that was cut from Deadly Decaf.

All of this background information gave me an idea of what Immie's day-to-day life looked like: when she needed to be in classes, what those classes were covering, her homework, and the professors' expectations. Thinking through those details also helped me to identify the struggles that Immie would be experiencing and the pressures she would be under, which helped me to understand how she would react to the story's events.

It's similar to acting. An actor needs to know where the character was before coming onstage. What just happened? Where was the character? What's the actor thinking or feeling? Even though the audience doesn't ever know what's in the actor's head, it translates into depth in the performance. You may not be able to put your finger on it, but the performance feels more realistic. The same is true with writing. Those details may never end up in the story, but they add depth and authenticity that comes through in the narrative.

But most importantly, doing that background work let me think through the details of the scene I was stuck on, so by the time I went back to that blinking cursur, I not only knew what the scene was at a high level, I knew the details. I knew who was in the room, what was being discussed, and its context, and even some scraps of dialogue. I no longer felt like I was starting with a blank page, and I was able to move forward.

A similar hurdle I ran into was writing the rehearsal scenes. I had plenty of rehearsal experience to draw on, and I had already selected Agatha Christie's Black Coffee as the play being performed, but I realized I didn't know what scene they'd be rehearsing, who would be in the theater, where they were in the rehearsal process, or even what the set looked like.

So again, I took a step back. I looked at it as if I was actually directing a production of Black Coffee. I broke the script down and figured out a rehearsal schedule so that I knew which characters would be in the theater on which days. It also let me figure out where they would be in the rehearsal process and what scenes they would be working. It also helped me think through where the pressure would be building for everyone involved.

The fictional rehearsal schedule for Black Coffee in Deadly Decaf.

It still wasn't quite enough; I still couldn't visualize it. So, I tackled the set. I figured out a rough set design. What would the layout look like? What were the required set elements based on the script? How far along would the set be in being built? What would be the hard parts to build? What would the shop struggle to complete?

That information helped, so I knew what the set looked like, which actors would be in the rehearsal, and what they'd be rehearsing, but not how the actors would interact with the set and each other. So, I blocked the first act. I figured out when actors came onstage, where actors would move and when, and what the stage pictures would look like. I essentially went through most of the prep work a director does before the first rehearsal.

A fictional floor plan for Black Coffee in Deadly Decaf.

Since I had the advantage of fictional characters instead of real actors, I was also able to imagine which characters would be struggling and which ones succeeding. I could see a character failing to get the gist of a line or going too big. I found the spots that would be tricky technically, with lights or sound. I could walk through Immie's performance and understand what she might worry about.

When I went back to write it, I knew exactly what was happening onstage and off. I could imagine specific notes for different actors, and I knew the parts where problems were bound to occur. It gave me realistic details to incorporate, and a much richer tapistry to weave. After that background work, those scenes nearly wrote themselves.

However, there is one caution: do the background work, get really specific, and then be willing to change it when the story dictates it. Having the details is a huge help, but they're there to serve the story, not the other way around.

Do you have other techniques for getting unstuck? Share them below!