Writer's Block VS Causal Inevitability
When you have a story in-progress but you don't know what to write next -- think about what HAS to happen in the narrative flow
Many things are demanded of a story in a way that can be hard to see at first, but which become obvious the more you think about the pieces you have in play and, indeed, all those other stories you’ve enjoyed throughout time.
Story structure is not always some boring constraint or thing to snub our noses at. Just because something is used a lot, doesn’t make it bad — and just because simplifications exist of structures, doesn’t mean we should ignore the fact of their popularity and frequency. Genre itself is more of a structural determinant than anything, with just as many rules as ‘Save the Cat’ or Hero’s Journey, or, most likely, far more.
If you have a brain, you need something to support and protect that brain. If you need to walk, you need to connect and support all those different parts of your body that unite to propel you forward.
If you're writing a horror story? You need scary things, and people to be scared. If you're writing a romance, you need people to feel romance.
From there—from the essential causal nature of reality and fiction, of A event leading to B consequence—you think about what leads into what in your own story, working backwards and forwards accordingly.
Working Backwards from What Must Happen
If I'm writing a story where I know a certain character committed a murder, and I know the main character is going to have to figure this out, I need them to A) learn about that murder, B) discover the murderer's identity.
If I know that the murder victim or murderer has XYZ details at play in their life situation, whether these are motives, personality details, relatives, friends, vocation, life situation, whatever —> these seed even more. It’s not just A → B, but putting all that other stuff into play that’s relevant, giving it room to breathe and for the audience to learn about it all, to have a chance to ‘work it out’ or fall for red herrings.
The game I’m making, even if it’s for an actual video game, is a game that doesn’t require button presses or specific tangible interactions here — it’s a game with the audience itself, of laying out clues and details and traps, and trying to shape interpretation without -stating- things and spoiling the illusion of my own invisibility as a creator in the mix.
And in a genre work like this, even if I'm blocked, I might look at other crime stories I like and just do a simple thing like counting the number of interviews, the number of clues, the frequency of certain kinds of scene and trope, and so on, especially in works that I really enjoyed or whose vibe has something similar to what I’d like to go for.
Do something like this in a genre you're working on, and you'll find patterns that recur even if no one on the internet or in some guidebook has talked about them, purely because there's a kind of evolutionary tendency towards them in the genre itself. You’ll discover a joy not just in writing, but in analysis, in thinking about what stories really are in their bones.
None of this is to say you need to obey those numbers specifically. You aren’t looking for religious commandments. But I might realise that my "what-the-hell-do-I-write?" anxiety transforms into something equivalent to an order in a restaurant — '3 scenes with people in a car chatting about the case', '2 interview scenes', and so on.
Do I stick to these? Does this whole set of numbers remain important? Not necessarily—but it gives me a starting point. The vast blankness that scares me into stopping writing becomes manageable as a result.
I have more to say on this—there are many different flavors of block, including its total opposite 'too many ideas'. But in most of them, keeping going, finding what you're enthused about, thinking about what's truly important to you and the audience—all these things will keep you on the right path.
Till next time!
Misc Notes about the last week:
This week, I finally started Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree; I saw and enjoyed WEAPONS, though, def watch Picnic at Hanging Rock (the original film) for creepier vibes; After never having seen much of King of the Hill, I am now devouring it rapidly — so so so so good.
This week, I have been haunted by thinking a lot about Pixar’s CARS
And upcoming:
I’m recruiting for my 101 Branching Dialogue course shortly if you’re wanting to push your writing skills in a new direction (aspiring and pro alike welcome). We use a custom tool I created with a pre-set branching narrative structure to inspire a whole range of different character-driven scenes drawn from real life and fiction alike. More information at https://www.gregbuchanangames.com/courses — I had a blast running it earlier this year and am looking forward to a fun second cohort!