You've written something marvelous. You have intrigue, romance, and a plot line so unique it can never be equaled. You follow the logical path, bringing your character to a sentinel event.
The wave has crested and you plan to ride it to the shore and collect your adulations from admiring fans. Then the fog of joy lifts and you realize you’ve written yourself into a corner.
The advice from those experienced in these events is as follows:
1_Take a break, something will come to you; 2_Don’t be afraid to go back and rewrite the storyline; 3_Throw in a plot twist; 4_Study your manuscript to see how you arrived at this point, then tweak one or two minor things; 5_Keep writing, the problem often solves itself.
Those corners sometimes occur because we are organic in our writing. We don’t have a plot structure or outline. We have an idea where the story is going but not how it’s getting there.
I’ve written both ways, from an outline and organically (stream of consciousness, borrowing the notion from James Joyce and his masterpiece Ulysses).
For whichever way you write, you can never allow your characters to stop speaking to you. I’ve read formulaic books from best-selling authors. Those novels can be fantastic. But occasionally, I wonder if a novel is a mish-mash of seventh grade essays with a noted author’s name slapped on the cover. Cha-ching. Money in the bank because of a good reputation.
One of my favorite ways out of a corner has been used by Stephen R. Donaldson in his Thomas Covenant series, by Joss Whedon, creator of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and other celebrated screenplays, and by many other authors time and time again…
Eliminate some of the readers favorite characters in order to move the story-line forward. If done well, it has impact and touches the reader in a deep and meaningful way.
Whichever approach you decide to take, never stop writing.
My Click Here post provides the prologue of "Unrighteous Indignation", a novel I wrote in 2007. I found myself in a plot corner and put it on hold. I have plans to revive the manuscript in 2017. For more about Unrighteous Indignation, check my future projects section.