What To Do If You Are Stuck Writing a Story

As someone who reads a lot of short stories, I often think about story structure and whether or not it is an important element of effective storytelling. It makes sense that structure is related to good storytelling but how does this relationship work exactly?

The majority of my favorite stories have a structure. If you take a screenwriting course, narrative structure is going to be one of the first things you learn. The traditional method of analyzing a story is to divide it into three sections called acts. This method is interesting but I have never found it to be particularly helpful.

One of my favorite philosophies when it comes to fiction writing is that a writer should include only what is absolutely necessary. This idea is helpful to me because I usually feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants while writing. If I have planned enough in advance, then I usually can tell if what I'm writing is necessary to my story. It may be unclear if what I'm writing is necessary. In this case it is helpful to reflect on where you are and think about the various paths that your story could travel. Something that I have found helpful in this situation is Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling. Rule #9 explains what to do when you are stuck:

#9: When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up. 

It doesn't matter what is on this list. The only thing that matters is making the list. This exercise is essentially a way of increasing your chances of writing something that coheres with the rest of your story. You must take a second to get all the bad ideas out of your head before anything resembling a good idea can show up. This directly relates to rule #12:

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th - get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

Unless you want to write boring stories your entire life, you should make this rule a habit. Writing the first thing that comes to your mind is a great way to create predictable stories.

Writing effective stories is difficult and it takes practice. Even if you manage to complete a first draft, you should revise that draft to make it better. Although writing stories is difficult, there are many tools to help you make it through. I find that focusing on thought processes while writing helps me recognize and thus break free from the patterns that limit my creativity. It also helps to consistently question whether what you are writing is necessary to your story. The most important question you can ask yourself while writing is "why does my story need this section?".

Car Crash while Hitchhiking Summary and Analysis

Summary

The story begins with the narrator waking up in a delirious state. The narrator has done a lot of drugs with a salesman, a Cherokee Indian and a college student. The narrator is in pain but he also seems strangely coherent. He states that he can sense things before they happen.

The narrator is picked up by a family in an Oldsmobile. The narrator knows that there will be a car crash but he chooses to say nothing and goes to sleep. The Oldsmobile crashes into another car and the narrator takes the baby into the night. Walking by the other car, the narrator notices a person lying on the ground. The narrator can tell that this person will soon die and later refers to him as the "dying man". The narrator is taken to a hospital where he sees the wife of the dying man. The wife shrieks like an eagle and the narrator states that hearing the shriek actually felt wonderful. The narrator then describes lying on a hospital bed and being given vitamins by a nurse. Then he describes an outdoor setting while directly addressing the readers of the story.

Analysis

In "Car Crash while Hitchhiking" Denis Johnson introduces us to the narrator that will remain throughout all of the stories in the book Jesus' Son. We do not learn the narrator's name until later in the book. It's a mysterious story without barely any explanation. The narrator's tone is similar to that of a journalist attempting to describe something as clearly as possible. The problem is that the narrator is high on several kinds of drugs which threatens the reliability of his story. The ending of the story presents the possibility that the entire story is just a hallucination occurring in the narrator's mind. Although we have no reason to suspect that the narrator is a bad person, his actions in the story make him seem self-interested. 

Another reasons why I believe this story occurs in the narrator's head is that he claims to possess the ability to see the future. I find it hard to understand why Johnson chose to include this element in the story. It does not serve a purpose for the story, seeing how the narrator does not act on his premonitions. The narrator is either too stoned or too tired to share his knowledge of the future. The only times the narrator expresses any feelings on the events taking place are when he sees the dying man on the road and when he hears the wife of the dying man shriek in the hospital. The narrator does not express grief during these moments but he does express feelings of awe.

"Car Crash while Hitchhiking" is an aberration of normal storytelling. There is a climactic event some exposition but none of the characters possess an arc and the story might be merely a figment of the narrator's imagination. There is more work than usual on the reader's end to find meaning because the story's purpose is unclear. 

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"Thief" by Jess Walter: The Senselessness of Guilt

In the stories I have read, Jess Walter tends to focus on blue-collar people or worse. "Thief" is no different. The story is about a family of five. Each family member's persona, except for the mother, is described in detail because each is a suspect. The father Wayne is tearing himself apart trying to understand why one of his children would steal loose change from the family vacation fund. At first I thought the father was the thief because he prowls around the house at night examining his children, however the father is simply a workaholic and possibly a drunk who thinks a lot about his friend Ken's affair with a woman named Donna. Caring about the Father's dilemma is difficult because the stakes of the story don't seem very high. Who cares about a few cents here and there.

Wayne has fond memories of the vacations his family took when he was a child. He smiles while telling his wife about a trip to Yellowstone. The vacation fund is a tradition that started with Wayne's father. It takes two years before the family has enough money to take a vacation. Early on Wayne tells his wife why the missing money is a problem: "You want one of your kids stealing from their own goddamn family? You want your kids to be like this?" On his day off Wayne pretends to leave for work and instead hides in the closet, hoping to catch the thief in the act. Wayne hear the thief take money from the jar but he doesn't have the nerve to confront them. When the thief has left the room, Wayne can only reach for a beer. And here is where the story takes a turn. The narrator several numerical facts about the family in quick succession: "The house cost $44,000. The interest rate is 13 percent. The father works rotating shifts at a dying aluminum plant - day, swing, graveyard - for $9.45 an hour, and he comes home so tired, so greasy, so black with soot and sweat that he unrecognizable, and yet, every day he gets up to do it again." The ending completely changes how we view the rest of the story. Wayne becomes a messiah-like figure who dies everyday for his family's sins. You understand the father's struggle on a deeper level. Life is extremely difficult and Wayne struggles everyday to make ends meet with only the faint hope of a vacation every two years to motivate him. Sometimes the people we love don't realize the true consequences of their actions. The thief "burns with shame" but shame is not enough to keep the thief from stealing. What's on the surface is rarely enough to fully understand something. The truth is always far more complicated than appearances suggest. Few writers capture this idea better than Jess Walter.

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Why Starting at the End of a Story is best.

I recently read an interview where author Ted Chiang talks about his writing process:

"The way it usually works is that I have an idea that I’ve been turning over in my head for a long time: for example, the idea of a world where everyone is engaged in lifelogging. I think about different possible stories set in such a world; I can usually come up with a bunch of starting points, but I don’t know where those would go. It’s only when I come up with an ending that I can actually begin writing; I need to have my destination in mind. I don’t have the whole story worked out in detail, but I have a general sense of what needs to happen."

I love when writers talk candidly about their process and Chiang seems like the type of writer who would be completely honest about how he writes. It's interesting that Chiang can only begin writing when he knows how a story will end. Chiang refers to this as a "general sense of what needs to happen" as opposed to a sense of what could potentially happen. Writing is difficult so writers should use anything they can to produce their stories. Starting at the end works for Chiang because it allows him to see where things will eventually end up. Isn't it ironic that the ending is a more practical starting point than the beginning?

When I think about the most important stories in my life, I usually gravitate towards these stories' endings. The ending is naturally the most resonant part of a story because nothing comes after an ending. Often when I write stories, I find myself getting stuck somewhere in the middle, questioning every possible direction that the story could go. It also helps to have some idea of how an ending will affect an audience emotionally. The best endings leave readers in an extreme emotional state.

My goal is to write stories that resonate with readers. To make this happen, it helps to have a systematic method to make things easier. The less random I can make the process, the more likely it becomes that my stories will be effective. Starting at the end is one possible method that can make stories better. It may not work for everybody but it is definitely worth a try.

"Anything Helps" by Jess Walter

"Anything Helps" is narrated in the third person and the narrator has direct access to the main character's memories and thoughts. This main character, named Bit, is an experienced homeless vagrant who routinely panhandles for money with a cardboard sign reading "anything helps".

The story is intended to be a realistic depiction of Bit's struggle. I doubt that this is a true story but I can imagine many people like Bit who exist in reality. Sometimes fiction can be more "true" than reality. While the teller's motivation is never explicitly stated, I assume that the story exists to shine a light on a marginalized person. This is an honorable intention and it can sometimes backfire when the writer does not have good knowledge of the marginalized person's experiences. Fortunately Jess Walter seems to have a good idea of what a homeless person's life is like. That is what makes this story work.

The story is paced deliberately with very clear scenes that lead to a climax. It's easy to track Bit as he moves from point A to point B. It's the story of someone wanting to do something good for a family member but failing because of real-life circumstances. Bit buys a Harry Potter book for his son Nate but he does not realize that Nate's foster parents prohibit their children from reading Harry Potter. It's the thought that counts and Nate is mature enough to reasonably refuse his father's gift. At this point in the story, we understand Bit's pathos. All he wants is to give his son something so he can feel like good father he never was. It's too late and Nate is clearly better off living with Foster parents, evidenced by his bike and braces, which he likely would not have if he still lived with Bit.

The story is circular in that it ends exactly where it began with Bit panhandling at by the freeway. Bit's mind is on the Harry Potter book and its meaning to him as a reminder of his experiences with Nate. This is an ending that leaves you wanting more, a perfect opening story. There is no closure. We don't know what will happen to Bit. We only know that Bit thinks he would be better off dead like his wife Julie. Perhaps the ending is somewhat hopeful because it depicts Bit finding some solace in one of his darkest moments. I choose to think of the ending in this way.

Other writers on the internet have done some really great writing on this story. I recommend this piece from greatwriterssteal.com.

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Related Posts:

• Mr. Voice by Jess Walter

"Redeployment" by Phil Klay

"Redeployment" by Phil Klay is told from the point of view of a soldier named Price as he readjusts to normal life. Price begins by talking about some of the atrocities he experienced in the Middle East. His least favorite parts were shooting dogs and almost dying. After a brief detour in Ireland where every soldier gets as drunk as possible in a three hour span, Price arrives in the U.S. where he is greeted by his wife Cheryl. Price is also reunited with his dog Vicar who is so old that he can barely move or eat. Price attempts to resume life as usual. This involves sitting on the couch, watching baseball and going shopping which turns out to be stressful because it reminds Price of the war. When Price and Cheryl return from shopping, they decide that Vicar is too sick and should be put down. Price understandably takes his time to shoot Vicar. Price remembers the only other time he can remember hesitating when he was looking down at an Insurgent hiding in a cistern of feces. Price shoots Vicar three times, twice in the chest and once in the head, quickly because it is the most humane method. 

War is a traumatic experience. It is incredibly difficult to experience war and come through unscathed. Those who experience war are left with long-lasting psychological problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Somehow our society expects soldiers to adjust back to normal life with little difficulty. "Redeployment" is a story that focuses first and foremost on the soldiers who must overcome the challenge of readjusting. I have read a few different stories like this, but I find this story never gets old. I relate with these soldiers because I too find it difficult to fit in with society. Perhaps my interest in these stories is morbid but I believe that our society should pay more attention to the soldiers like Price. These men have learned their entire lives to ignore their pain and pretend to be strong. Psychological pain is just as serious as physical pain and in some situations can have much more devastating effects.

Lydia Davis - The Professor

Lydia Davis. The Professor. Analysis. Summary. If you came looking for anything related to these words, then you came to the right place. I have been really digging Lydia Davis recently. Been reading her story collections and some scholarly articles on her work. I started with Break it Down and I'm currently reading Almost no Memory, which contains the story I am writing about today.

Lydia Davis is more philosophically concerned than the average writer. Her stories don't really possess narrative as you would traditionally think of narrative. Instead her stories exist in the minds of her characters. There is some action but it clearly takes place in the form of memory, which is less exciting than action that takes place in reality, but I don't really mind. It's all the same to me and I actually enjoy many elements of Davis's writing style. She's a good writer and more importantly, she's a writer who does her own thing regardless of what anyone else thinks. The following is a summary and analysis of Davis's story "The Professor".

Summary

The narrator tells us that a few years ago she fantasized about marrying a cowboy. She admits that she lives on the East Coast and she is currently married to a someone who is not a cowboy. The idea of marrying a cowboy is appealing because it would stop the narrator from thinking so much. Feel free to take offense if you're a cowboy. The narrator says she got this idea from watching a movie with a friend which causes her to envision herself as a tough businesswoman who owns a motel. Around this time the narrator also met a student who was the closest thing to a cowboy that the narrator would ever find. She asks this guy out on a date and he says yes. On the date the man reveals a gun in his car and says that dangerous men are looking for him. The date goes well but the man says that he can never see the narrator again, which she understands.

The story ends with the narrator admitting that she thinks about marrying a cowboy much less often than she used to. She is so used to her husband that if she married a cowboy, it would essentially be a threesome.

Analysis

"The Professor" is classic Lydia Davis in that it presents a problem without an answer. The narrator is clearly longing for a great change. This longing takes the form of a cowboy fantasy. The fantasy merely occupies the narrator's thoughts while she does her job and lives the life that developed naturally for her.

It's interesting that the problem is never resolved. The narrator admits that she still thinks about marrying a cowboy today. This is par for the course with Davis's fiction. In a different story the narrator would end up actually meeting and marrying someone who fits her view of a cowboy and they would go off and live an idealized lifestyle. This is the traditional narratives of many stories in the romance genre. In Davis's world, she merely goes out on one date with someone who somewhat resembles a cowboy and that's that. It's a truncated and more realistic version of that much longer traditional narrative. Davis shows us that real life is often much different than what we read in fiction. This by itself is an old and cliche idea. Davis's stories may be fun to read although they seem to focus on the same ideological territory too frequently.

I am still pretty deep into the Lydia Davis rabbit hole so expect more posts on her work in the future. Thanks for reading.

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