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One of the things I see as a recurring theme when people are stuck with a particular scene is that they think their “writer’s block” is caused by things external to the story. I hear people say:
- they don’t know what happens next,
- they think they aren’t on the right schedule, or
- they think they’ve “run out of ideas.”
That’s where all the typical advice like “walk away,” “write something else” or “read something” typically comes from. Or, of course, to set up a “writing place” and make sure you write on a set schedule, because…“it’s a job too.”
I’m not saying that these aren’t symptoms of other things, but every time I hear it, I think about the claims of how Jane Austin would write as and when she could.
My own experience is that things like routine help, but I’ve also been stuck when I wasn’t quite sure was next…and I’d plow through all the advice of starting with anything and trying to make progress.
But later, once I started to actually understand more about how the world worked from my studies of psychology, human behavior, and in particular, systems thinking, I realized that the problem wasn’t the schedule.
The problem was that I didn’t know my characters—or their environment.
Specifically, I didn’t really know much about what made them unique, interesting and different. Sure, I followed the advice.
I gave them a backstory.
I gave them motivations.
I had strengths, flaws and quirks.
They had their arcs. And I thought I “knew them inside out” like you were supposed to.
But the thing I didn’t quite realize was I didn’t understand people. I didn’t understand *why* that backstory happened vs. other things.
I didn’t understand why they were motivated to do something…
…or when they’d do something that went *against* what they said they wanted.
And most of the strengths, flaws and quirks were isolated and superficial.
Because it’s true that you can’t predict what your characters will do in your story if you don’t understand both your characters and the environment they’re in.
But you can’t really understand how those characters will *react* until you understand who they truly are—not just as a collection of characteristics and events…
…but what that makes them think, believe and value.
This is generally the stuff you’d find if you were talking to some friends at the pub after work—after a few drinks and a few sessions for sure.
But only if you were paying attention to the “in between” bits that connected everything you knew about the character into a coherent whole of a real person.
Because when it comes to writing scenes with your characters, most people don’t directly connect what they know about the characters to the actions they take.
They assume they know…they do it by feel.
And that’s exactly how characters sound flat…scenes feel hollow…and continuity drifts.
That’s where the information in the Breakthrough Scene Blueprint becomes so valuable, because it helps keep you focused on how your characters as people respond in the situation.
Not just in broad strokes—but in detail.
And when you can do that? You’re not guessing anymore.
You’re not “out of ideas.”
And you’re no longer staring at a blinking cursor taunting you from the top left of an empty page.
You just write the story your characters show you…
…because you literally know your characters better than themselves…
…and because you understand how what you know about them drives their decisions.
That’s exactly what the Breakthrough Scene Blueprint™ going to help you discover. Grab your copy of the Blueprint here:
https://storysys.me/blueprint
And before you try to take another crack at that breakthrough scene…
…make sure you make your characters at least buy the first round.
To unlocking the soul of your story,
ast
—
Andrew S. Townley
Creator of the Perpetual Story System™