Sometimes the story I’m writing gets stuck. I stop writing, unsure where to go with my characters next.
How do I get the plot moving again?
The answer is to move. The way I often find that forward momentum is by moving myself.
I get up. I take my coffee cup to the sink and wash it out. I take a turn around the room. All the while, I think about my story. How can I get it going again? I keep asking myself that question as I raise my hands, pick things up, walk about, go up the stairs, make my bed. See if my body can instruct my mind, leading me to an answer.
That answer often comes while I’m shifting locations. If I don’t think of the answer itself, I get ideas which could lead me to the answer.
Even while I recall the countless times this has happened, I find myself doubting my memory. It couldn’t have been that simple. Was that all it took? Getting up and moving about was all I needed to do to get my story going again?
It’s happened, though, again and again. Now that I consider it, there’s a symmetry to letting the body go and allowing the imagination to follow. I’ve spent a lot of time detatching myself from my body and living in my imagination, but the two are linked. If I didn’t have a body, I wouldn’t have an imagination.
I still marvel that something so simple works, though.
How about you, dear reader? Has this ever happened to you? Has changing locations or just moving about ever helped you when your stories have gotten stuck?