I've lost the plot!

[Alcatraz]

I'm currently working on Chapter 3 of my WIP (for those who haven't critiqued Chap 1 & 2, please feel free to have a read and do so in the critique section) and I'm stuck.

I know where I want to go, however I find myself looking at my PC screen, creativly dumb.

I've just finished describing a (what is hopefully) scary memory from one of my main characters childhoods, then nothing.

I need a link in, but don't know how to get over this.

Any suggestions?

John

[Alcatraz]

I hate to beg, but anyone.

I'm still sitting looking at a PC, and I'm getting writing withdrawal. Even the research has lost me over the last couple of days.

Aaaaaaaarrrgggghhh!!

(Not very mature I know, but I've got the evening to myself, and I just want to get on with my wee tale.)

[Marky Lazer]

If you're struggling at chapter three already, you're going to get a hard time finishing this story.

[Alcatraz]

It's not that I'm struggling at Chapter 3, I know exactly where I'm going, but my command of the English language, and how to link where I've been, and where I'm going, is at a loss today.

I've been looking at my handwritten draft, and it doesn't sit right with the changes I've been tinkering with.

What follows is the memory sequence which I discussed on the first post on this thread.

Eleven-year-old Elisabetta Astuto, separated from her parents, lost in a strange, old quarter of the city.

The last of the sunlight dipping behind the tall stone buildings.

Strange shadows being cast across the very old street, from an antiquated, almost broken down street lamp.

A tall, thin man dressed in a long black jacket with a crimson velvet shirt worn underneath, standing just in the shadow of the light. His arms, long, with talon like fingers at the end of each hand. A hat. A black Panama style hat. What was under the hat?

He raises the hat from his head in a gesture of greeting

The face. No it's impossible. Inhuman. Bat like. Sharp teeth showing from drawn back, sneering lips. Chalk white, yet marbled face. Thin blue veins showing on the surface of his face and baldhead. Slightly pointed pixie ears. And the eyes. Blood red eyes.

His left hand index finger rising to his mouth as if to say 'Be quiet,' and his other grotesque right handed talons reaching for an eleven year old Elisabetta Astuto.

Fear. Petrifying, blinding fear.

Darkness. A short, sharp pain to the throat.

A different time. Ancient Rome. The Siege of Candia. Napoleon’s invasion of Italy. Fascist Italy.

Images of other monsters. Confusing names; Stirgoi, Nascosto, Watchers. What do they mean?

Sleepy. Oh so sleepy.

A scream.

Anna. Beautiful cream coloured dress. So pretty. Why is she strangling the ugly monster-man?

Who is the older man with the grey hair and the suit, and why does he have that old-fashioned looking rifle?

The monster-man breaks away from Anna and leaps to the roofs of the near buildings.

A shot from the old rifle cracking against the tiles of the roof on which the monster-man now stood.

Anna kissing the throat of eleven-year-old Elisabetta, and the wounds heal.

Another rush of images. Anna is Stirgoi. The ugly monster-man is Nascosto. Both are Vampires.

The man with the grey hair and sagging suit is neither.

A name...

And then I'm lost. I know that Elisabetta needs to be introduced to my principal main character Gregory, who is on speaking terms with the (usually neutral) Stirgoi.

So a little bit of insperation please.

Thank's

John

[Eolen]

Sounds like a mild case of writer's block. I've had times like this where I know what I want but everything I write seems well...wrong. What I found helps, (as strange as it sounds) is to sit down and read some short sorties. Not yours, try going to fictionpress or something, and just sit down and read a few works. From there your brain will start thinking, start trying to correct mistakes in the story, grammer, spelling, etc, and then you'll be back on track to continue your own work.

[Culhwch]

Just skip the link and start writing the next scene. Or the next chapter. Then come back in a while. An answer may present itself, or indeed you may discover no link was needed at all....

[enchanted_ghost2001]

Originally Posted by Culhwch

Just skip the link and start writing the next scene. Or the next chapter. Then come back in a while. An answer may present itself, or indeed you may discover no link was needed at all....

This always works for me. I recently encountered this problem and in my frustration I went back and looked over my outline which presented a whole bunch of new ideas. I also read books totally off the subject. I was surprised that this really helped because I ended up finding a solution far better than what I started with, allowing me to even drop the problem section and have a better story all the way around. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and wait. I know that sucks but sometimes you just have wait for the right idea to present itself. I hope that helps.

[Justin Thorne]

Have a look at the Snowflake method... really helped me out.

I would post a link, but I keep getting blocked from doing so, even though I have posted way more than 15 posts!

**LATER EDIT**

Just hit 15!

http://www.rsingermanson.com/html/sample_snowflake.html

[Aes]

^

You are my hero for posting that link. My ideas are (in my opinion!) good enough, however my ability to organize them most definitely is not, which causes many of my stories to...stall.

[Oxman]

Alcatraz,
I like what you've done with this in the first 2 chapters. it's good and gripping and, I think, very well written.
As for this third chapter and the difficulty you're having with it, try and break down the situation. After the dream sequence, you say "I know that Elisabetta needs to be introduced to my principal main character Gregory", but when is this? Shortly after the dream sequence? As part of the memories? Is he going to burst into the present situation?
I think a good thing is to plan what has led up to the events of them meeting. For example, when do the two meet? Where do they meet? Where are the characters from, and if they are far from home, why? What has caused them to be where they are? Is Gregory seeking Elisabetta or is their meeting purely coincidental? Explain what a character is doing, up until they bump into the other one.
These questions might jolt you into action and get you linking this dream sequence into the next part. Or, they might make you scratch your head even more in frustration. Still, you don't know until you try!

As for the dream sequence itself, you say that you hope it is scary and I think it almost succeeds. The list format is a bit jarring for me (even though I know the detached kind of effect you want - I've got something similar in my current work and I'm still not convinced it's successful). Also, you give a description of a character, giving the idea he could be a real nasty character, but then go and give him PIXIE EARS! All of a sudden, I was chuckling to myself at this fiend's cute ears regardless of red eyes, white skin and blue veins!

Just some ideas to chuck around. Hope you can get something out of them.

[Alcatraz]

Thanks to all who posted.

I think I know where I'm going now, and how to link it together in a coherent manner.

So much so, that because I'm not teaching tonight, and my wife is going to a house exhibition with my sister-in law, I'm going to get stuck in this evening when I get home from work.

Oxman,

You are so right about the 'pixie ears'. I hadn't realised how stupid it sounded, until a fellow writer friend pointed it out this morning.

The memory sequence, is taken from the memory of an eleven year old Italian girl, and I was trying to describe the memory from her perspective. However being a 36 year old Scottish male, perhaps I failed on that one.

Thank's to all. Your suggestions have helped, and I hope you enjoy Chapter 3 when I post it over on the Critique board.