Thread: Stuck...

Halfway through the most dramatic part of my novel and well... nothing is coming to mind to fill the hole in the end of chapter 18. I've written out the rest of the story and I'm just missing that stupid "oh they're finally back where they can love each other again" section... See, the story is Noda's Honor. Noda a 19 year old by this stage in the story has been through rough training over a year's time and her love Maurice has showed up at her um military headquarters that is trying to overthrow the Guardianship. Noda has been disowned by her family and broken from her family vows to never harm another living thing. She's a bounty hunter now and Maurice is trying to ignore the fact she's a killer and he doesn't get she’s too cold inside to rush to the warmth of soultouch (A feeling inside that connects to souls to one another by a warm buzz, they feel each others pain, happiness, joy, etc...) So I've gotten to the part where Noda is saying "You don't know what I've heard, what I've done... I’ve heard children cry as they watch their Mothers be slaughter. I’ve heard the pleas of the wives as they were defended by their husbands, knowing they were next. I’ve seen men, women and children run from burning buildings only to be greeted by gun fire.” And he goes to touch her and with her training, her reaction is to stop him by slamming him to his knees and locking his arms behind him... I'm stuck right there... Someone who has any idea of what's going, help me?

Hmm... I can't really help you continue with Noda's story, since that's yours and I wouldn't want to restrict you. But I could help with some generalities when it came to Writer's Block. I have a couple of things up my sleeve when I get stuck:

1. Chandler's Law: Chandler's Law is a trope stating that when you are stuck in a scene, throw in ninjas. Simply put, add in a new element that even you as a reader would be caught off-guard. From that last scene you mentioned, the one with the reversal putting the guy into his knees, perhaps a horde of gunmen suddenly downs the door and enters? Something to that effect is what you call Chandler's Law.

2. Take a Walk: If your muse decided to go to Hawaii for a bit, then follow suit. Take a vacation from writing as well. It refreshes the senses and makes you all the more eager to write once the muse returns from her away trip. True, this process could take a really long time (I had writer's block for six months, and I still have pseudo-writer's block 'till now), but it just takes a bit of waiting, that's all.

Hmm, that is a bit of a tricky situation. I think most people would have a hard time falling in love with someone that's gone around murdering children. That's a pretty big deal-breaker. I'm sorry, but if Maurice is still interested in someone like that, he must be just as psychotic as she is. It might be a different story if she had somehow been forced to commit such acts against her will. But even then I would think they'd need a bit of history together to move past it. You're going to have to play it very carefully if you want characters like this to still be likable. Good luck.
By the way, you say she's a bounty hunter, but the description sounds more like a hitman.

Well that's the thing in this story. Her aunt Linda who hates Noda's mother and father has lied Noda about the lies that Noda's parents told her. So Noda took every word she had been told and believed it without question. Her aunt runs a military operation that is overthrowing Noda's Father's protection on their land and the world. Linda takes Noda and bends and breaks her body and mind. Noda for 6 months was locked in a dark unsanitary room and left with nothing but her mind. She soon doubted who she was and when Linda finally let her out, Noda was told everything she was. She honestly has no understanding of true right and wrong, only what she has been told and that is to follow orders.

Noda and Maurice have a strange history. Maurice is a medical student and always ran from any kind of problem. Soultouch connects them both. She can’t help but love him. When they first met again after a long year of Noda’s “training” (Onn the scene I’m stuck at) Noda is doubting The Rules, but thinks he soul is far to cold to just dive back into the warmth of Soultouch…

If you can't logically connect where you want your characters to be with where they are now, doesn't that indicate a flaw in their design or development? You said yourself that Maurice has to be willfully ignorant of who Noda is and what she's done for it all to work out. Doesn't that strike you as a little...problematic?

Noda's a killer who has no problem with being violent towards Maurice and who literally cannot feel the heat of soultouch. Maurice is a guy who can't connect to Noda and has to deny to himself who she is if things are to work out. Is it any wonder that you're having difficulty making the jump to "happily ever after"?

Have you tried taking a break and working on another project? I have three projects I am working on, 1 novel and 3 short stories. One of those short stories is actually a prologue to the novel which I started writing when I got stuck at a certain point in said novel.

In writing that short story I understood the novel's secondary character better and solved some story related issues in the novel.

What is the outcome of the situation with Noda and Maurice? Is it your intent that they make up and she stops the killing-for-pay?

If so, one human reaction I could see determining the scene is if Maurice is terrified of her - really fearful that she would kill him, she sees it and it breaks something inside her - cue weeping, kissing, heavy... well, you know the drill

Well... My basic Idea of this scene is that: Maurice shows up, Noda goes out to see him, Maurice somewhat expects her to leave with him, Noda tells him what all she's done and that she's not going to fall back into "puppy love" with him again, Some other stuff (Where I'm stuck), then I was debating that Maurice asks Noda to marry him..., Finally ending with Linda sending out Dracoe to get Noda since she knows her niece has been out....

Originally Posted by Gamer_2k4

Is it any wonder that you're having difficulty making the jump to "happily ever after"?

The point of this story is that there is no happy ending. When this story ends the bad guys win and everything for the "good guys" is crumbling apart... This is the last book of a trilogy. The first book was about Noda's parents before her and her twin sister were born. The second book is a "happier" book. It shows the start to all the lies that led to the finally book when everything falls apart.

So this scene is a crux point - the results of what happens redefines their relationship.

Her protestations about not falling back in love are just that - she still carries a torch, if only for her previous non-martial life.

If Linda is going to come after her, this may be the place to start that off, the shared danger will pull them together and it gives the protagonist a chance to redeem herself, at least in the eyes of Maurice.

Not knowing the previous stories and how the characters have grown from the start, it's hard to be more specific. She might be a right cow and he wants her home to keep the hearth clean... but I'm guessing they are both heroic types with whiter-than-white morals, apart from her slip into the dark side, lured in by the evil Linda.

So, redeem them.

Some sort of crisis that makes her look like she is still this killing machine, followed by her realisation of what she has become, her breakdown, his acceptance, their shared peril and growth towards the confetti and rubber chicken.

Simples

It sounds complicated but I am getting the impression that Maurice is not very discerning. If he can put up with Noda's violence then there really should be justification for this. Also a series that ends with the good guys demise sounds very bizarre. Are you trying to break the mould?

How about this? Noda has previous orders to kill Maurice if given an opportunity. After she tells him she can't soultouch, he insists that she's wrong. She decides it doesn't matter since he'll be dead in moments anyway, and makes the attempt in order to prove him wrong. When it works, she sees that he really does love her.

Originally Posted by Robdemanc

It sounds complicated but I am getting the impression that Maurice is not very discerning. If he can put up with Noda's violence then there really should be justification for this. Also a series that ends with the good guys demise sounds very bizarre. Are you trying to break the mould?

I just like it when everything is done and everyone has done what they could do but the bad guys plans still fall together...