Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Momentum Block

Momentum Block

I don’t suffer from writers block….my problem is momentum block. There are times when I just have to struggle to summon the energy. I get overwhelmed by the complexity and daunted by the task of writing a chapter.

When this happens I go back to the outline of the novel and as a first step rough out the scenes. Then for each scene I write the moments and then I fill the moments with words. I have said this before but it bears repeating because it enables me to take my limited energies and apply them to a task that is doable.

As I sit looking at the chapter outline with the scenes and moments I can focus on the micro and somewhere in that list is something I can write about.
For example in Chapter 7.

Chapter 7 The Big Picture

Scene 1 The Battle

Moment 1: Benvolio and Carlos providing background on their lives.
Moment 2: The Battle at the Forest Edge
Moment 3: A Prisoner is brought before them afterwards

Scene 2 Compromise of the King

Moment 1: Confession with Antonio
Moment 2: Encounter with Louisa

Scene 3 Cardinal Mendoza and Isabella

Moment 1: Isabela's World
Moment 2: Solution to the False Believer Issue
Moment 3: Relationship with her husband

Scene 4:

Moment 1: How things go down in the Convent. (Theory)
Moment 2: A practical Example

Now the reader should be able to see that each scene and moment still contains a great deal of complexity. To deal witht his the writer breaks the moments down into seconds….These are even greater subdivisions and what I call bit size chunks that can be written with relative ease. I’ll talk more of these tomorrow and show how they expand the outline.