Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Dreaded Stall...




Happy Friday!



I thought it would be fun to chat today about what I do when my story stalls.

When I wrote The Challenge, the initial meet between my h/h stalled me for a bit. I knew where they met, how they met, I knew why the heroine was there, but I was still unclear as to the actions of my pride leader hero. Bastian is part adrenaline junkie that's for sure, I mean what alpha male shape shifters aren't, but would he risk himself by going on a mission that had a potential for danger just for the rush?

Probably, but he has responsibilities to the pride which I know he knows. So why tempt fate? Thing is, if he didn't go he would miss out on meeting his mate. I knew he had to go, but he didn't know Marina would be there and he went anyway. I needed a reason why...
I've found the best way for me to work through something that stumps or stalls me is to interview my character. So that's what I did.


Meet Bastian...


Me: Good Morning, Bastian. You awake?


B: Grrrrr


Me: Yikes, no need to be snarly, not enough sleep last night?


B: My mate needed me last night and I provided. Now what the hell do you want.


Me: ~sigh~ What I want and what I need are totally different states of mind my dear. ~pant, pant~


B: Ha! ~snickers~ What do you need then, sweets?


Me: stay on topic, girly. Ok, I need to ask you some questions. First, what the heck were you doing at the casino, the night you met Mari?


B: Shit, only good thing to come from that night was Mari. I was there tracking a rouge shifter. The ass munch got baked on some ganga he’d grown on the Den’s acreage and decided it would be a kick to walk down main street in his cat suit or so say his friends, but being as high as he was, he couldn’t find main street, thankfully. Like we need that kind of exposure. Anyway, he ended up at a local farm, harassing the livestock. The farmer didn’t take kindly to the nuisance and shot at him, but claims that he only got him in the hind quarters. Stoner boy made it all the way to the fricking casino with shotgun pellets in his ass… go figure.


Me: Well that explains what the enforcers were doing, but why were you there?


B: Boy you are noisy aren’t cha. The enforcers were there, I just happened to be with them. And before you ask why, well, I was bored.


Me: You were "bored” so you put yourself at risk? And your guards allowed that?


B: Watch your tongue little one, I'm the leader and I do as I damn well please.


LOL, Though he never really answered my question, he did give me a wealth of attitude and personality to work from and it got me past my stall. Amazing how that works, huh.


So, what ways have you found to move out from those dreaded stalls?
Have a great weekend!!

4 comments:

Paris said...

I get out my antique writing utensils, you know, the trusty colored pens and yellow legal tablet and then I start asking myself: what possible logical reason could my character have for behaving this way? This usually reveals something about my character that I didn't know before and can lead to finding out some pretty interesting internal conflict! The other thing that helps is listening to music that puts me in the right frame of mind for whatever action I'm trying to get my character's to work through.

The whole interviewing my character thing sounds like fun though and I may just try it on my next story! Thanks for the idea!

Serena Shay said...

Oooh antique writing tools...I love doing that too! Usually with a large blank tablet, colored pencils and lots of colorful balloon ideas!

I agree...music is a must for me too!

LOL...interviewing is fun, but it can get quite intense too, I tend to find out A LOT about a character...if they're talkative that is. :)

Have a great weekend!

Savanna Kougar said...

Serena, what a character! That was a verra entertaining interview.
I should interview my characters, though, they usually come through. After all, I can't write their story if they refuse.

Serena Shay said...

Thanks Savanna! Yeah, I'm always reminding my characters that I can't write without them. Unfortunately, sometimes those cats can be sooo ornery!

Have a great weekend