What order do you write in?

I know a lot of other writers who have no problem writing stories out of chronological order. And I understand the benefits of doing this. I get stuck a lot of the time, and instead of writing future scenes like I possibly should, I either force myself through the slow parts or I give up.

Obviously, the whole "giving up" thing can lead to problems––mostly the guilt that I abandon so many of  my poor little stories. But on the other hand, I can't seem to force myself to write out of order. I do plan ahead as I write, I just don't want to "skip" anything as I'm actually writing.

Of course, just as there are benefits to writing out of order, I think there are benefits to writing in chronological order as well. My fear is that, if I didn't write in chronological order, I would only write the "interesting" parts of the story––the main events and whatnot––and skip over everything in between. Sure, the in-between stuff can be kind of dull, but I also think it's important for creating tension and building character relationships, etc. I guess I feel like, if I don't force myself through the less interesting parts, I don't know my characters well enough to be sure of how they would respond in the most disastrous situations––if that makes sense. I find that my characters usually turn out differently from what I initially expect, and if I wrote out of order, maybe I would miss out on that.

So, what does everyone else think? Do you write in or out of chronological order? What do you think are the costs and benefits of each?

It has begun. How will you survive?

So, it's the second day of NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is after I've explained it a billion times ... just read the post before this one.

I know a lot of people are hesitant to participate because the challenge is intimidating––but really, there's nothing to lose even if you don't reach the word goal. Trust me, I'm busy as heck. I'm always busy. But I'm still trying to find time in my hectic schedule to work on my novel. So you should try it, too. You might be surprised by how much you get done! And no matter how much or how little you get done, it's better than writing nothing at all.

Anyway, to those of you who have decided to participate, I've decided to put together a list of survival tips, being an experienced Wrimo myself. Hopefully this will help. :)

8 NaNoWriMo Survival Tips (In No Particular Order):

1. Write crap. Seriously. What you write is probably going to suck, and that's okay. Don't delete words. Don't think too hard about what you're writing. Just let go of all your inhibitions and write whatever comes into your mind. It doesn't matter if your prose is cluttered with filler or if you keep repeating yourself. It's all about getting out that first draft. It's about quantity and not quality. If you want quality, you can edit in December (or, you know, whenever). Write rants, internal monologues, dialogue, whatever. Write anything, and don't be too concerned with your plot.

2. Keep the NaNoWriMo website open at all times. Heck, make it your homepage for the month. I at least always have it open in one tab, so that every time I open my web browser, I'm reminded of what I'm supposed to be doing. That way, if I'm about to get on Facebook, I always get a wake-up call.

3. Get on Write or Die. This website is a life saver. It always keeps me focused. Enough said. Linkage: http://writeordie.com/

4. Have writing buddies. Doing NaNo alone is a sad, sad thing. Just explore the NaNo forums for anyone else who wants a writing buddy. If it's someone who writes at about the same pace as you do, that's ideal. Challenge other Wrimos to word wars. Adding a little bit of competition does wonders for motivating you.

5. Get ahead of schedule. Don't just stop at 1,667 words every day. If you get there and you still have ideas, keep going. I like to get at least a little bit ahead every day, because you never know when there's going to be a day when you'll have no time to write at all.

6. But remember to take breaks, too. Don't expect to sit down and write all 1,667 words in one sitting, or your poor brain is going to burn up. I'll usually write for 15-30 minutes and then take a break for a few minutes to think about what I'm going to write next. It's best to write in chunks over the day. That way you have time to think––and thinking is just as important as writing.

7. Exercise your wrists. I know one big problem I have that prevents me from writing is when my wrists start to hurt like crazy. I highly recommend doing exercises like these ones whenever you take a break from writing. You don't want to get carpal tunnel!

8. Find a song that really inspires you. For me, that song is "Blinding" by Florence + the Machine. It fits the mood and the story of my novel perfectly. Whenever I listen to it I feel excited about writing and that helps a lot to motivate me. I recommend finding a song that fits a particular tone/theme/character in your novel that will excite you about writing. Or it doesn't necessarily have to be a song. It could be a poem, quote, whatever. Just come up with a little reminder that will inspire you every day. :)

Hopefully that helps!

Now I should get off Blogger and return to writing ... *Waves*

A Letter To My Novel

I've been querying again lately, and it's made me feel a bit ... hopeless. So, to cope with my stress, I wrote a letter to my novel. If you are currently feeling similar feelings of frustration and/or disappointment, I suggest doing this to make yourself feel better. Not only was this fun to do, but it also made me realize why I fell in love with my novel in the first place. And because of this, I feel more willing to stick with it. :) Enjoy.


Dear Walking Shadow,

I remember the first time I became aware of your existence. It was in the middle of English class in 10th grade. I barely knew anything about you then; I only caught a glimpse of you in the corner of my mind's eye. However, your mysterious nature intrigued me. At first I thought you were like all my other ideas; you would wander around in my head for a while, and maybe we'd have a brief relationship, but ultimately we would go our separate ways and forget all about each other. But then I found that I couldn't stay away from you. When I wasn't spending time with you, I was thinking about you. I daydreamed about you in class. I couldn't sleep at night. It felt like you were there with me no matter where I went. You were so new and exciting. My friends loved you. Even my parents approved of you. I was starting to think you were The One.

But then, I began to see your flaws. It was inevitable, as it is with all long-term relationships. You were too boring, too clichéd, too long. Yet, I stuck with you and tried to help you deal with your imperfections.

Alas! Then the literary agents came along. They confirmed all my fears about you and more. Our relationship began to fall apart. For months, I didn't even want to look at you. I had relationships with other stories, but they weren't quite the same. At last, I shyly approached you again.

Although you have changed a lot in the past few months, I still feel us becoming more distant from each other. Some days, I admit, I want to give up on you completely.

And so, I have written this letter as a reminder to myself, that on all those miserable days when I think there is no hope for you, I am being a total idiot. Thousands of authors have suffered relationships like ours and somehow managed to make it through. Plus, even if you're not perfect, you've improved quite a bit. I mean, look at you! You've lost more than 70,000 words. You look good.

No matter what stupid things I've said, I still love you and I always will. I can always help you to get better. I'm still in this if you are.

Love,
Brigid

You know you're a writer when ...

- In your dreams you think, "This would make an awesome story." (Although usually the dream is about something stupid, like talking zebras.)

- You look in bookstores/libraries for the place on the bookshelf where your book would be if it were published. (At my local library it'd be between a book called A Taste for Quiet and a collection of short stories called Gothic!)

- You say to your sister, "I need a stupid boyfriend name and a bunch of gay guy names" and she automatically gives suggestions without questioning.

- You're talking to your writer friend in public and say something like, "I don't know, I might kill him. I just have to think of a good way to do it." And then you realize the people around you don't know you're talking about a fictional person.

- When someone asks you, "So how's that book you're reading?" you give them a long speech analyzing the plot and characters that they really don't want to hear.

- ... But when someone asks you, "How's that book you're writing?" you respond by banging your head against the closest inanimate object––preferably against something large and solid like a wall or a table. Or you burst into tears. Or you do both.

- Whenever you watch movies/TV you're always on the lookout for actors/actresses who look like your characters.

- Your computer is full of documents containing stories, outlines, and character inventories.

- Everything inspires you––people, places, songs, books, movies, photographs, paintings, plants, animals ... Heck, LIFE inspires you!

- You write because you exist.

So, tell me. How else do you know you're a writer? :)

What I learned from Query Shark

In case you've never heard of it, Query Shark is a wonderful blog created by literary agent Janet Reid. The idea is, writers send in their query letters, and some of them get critiqued on the blog. A literary agent critiquing query letters, you say?! Yes. Very useful stuff. It's an extremely helpful and eye-opening blog.

Ms. Reid suggests reading through all the posts––which I did, and learned a lot of things about queries I didn't know. I recommend looking through the blog and reading all the posts if you have the time. But I figured that most people didn't have the time, so I thought I'd give an overview of the notes I took while I read through the blog. Some of these things I already knew, but others I'd never thought of before.

I know I said I'd try to cut down on such lengthy posts, but, this one required a lot of detail. And trust me, I cut it down a LOT. A lot of stuff goes into query-writing.

So, here we go. The rules of writing a good query letter.

- Remember: the query letter should not only tell what the book is about, it should also show how well you write and how your professional you are.

- DON'T put contact information at the top of the query letter, and don't include it in the query letter. Put it at the bottom, after you sign your name. (Include your full name, address, and phone number.)

- Don't put your title at the top of the query letter. It will be included within the query letter.

- Start off with a normal salutation. Not "Greetings!" or "Good evening!" Just plain old "Dear Mr./Ms. [agent's last name]. And NEVER "To Whom it May Concern" or "Dear Sir or Madam"; these just show you don't know who you're querying, and therefore you did not do your research.

- Immediately get into the story. Don't start with an introductory paragraph; don't put the title and word count in the first paragraph. Put this information in the last paragraph. Agents seem to be split about this, but according to Ms. Reid, "A quick drop into cold water is EXACTLY how you want to start a novel (and thus a query.)" She says the very first word in the query should be the main character's name. Describe what he/she wants and what is preventing him/her from getting it.

- Don't start with a log line––aka, a one-sentence summary of the entire plot.

- Don't start your query with a quote or random fact. (i.e. "Did you know that a thousand elephants turn purple every year?" ... Obviously this is just an example, and not actually true.)

- Don't start with a rhetorical question. (i.e. "Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a purple elephant?")

- Don't start with clichés. (i.e. "In a world ...")

- Don't start off by saying what kind of agent you're looking for; if you're querying an agent, it's understood that said agent represents the genre of your book. (i.e. "I'm looking for an agent who represents fantasy.") Yes, it's good to personalize queries, but you should cite specific articles/blogs/interviews/etc., not just mention what genres the agent represents, because that's vague and impersonal.

- Open with the important event, not with backstory. Don't start with a setting. Start with a character and an action/choice he/she must make. Also, don't start with a clause rather than the subject. (i.e. "Prancing through the daisy fields one day, Mary Sue makes an unexpected discovery.")

- Don't quote the book in the query letter.

- Make it clear who the main character is; don't mention too many characters, or it becomes too confusing. Focus on one or two characters; mentioning three or more characters is pushing it. Query Shark says, "Think of characters as headgear. One thing on your head is fine, two might work, and but three is too many. Plus three and you're past calling the Fashion Police, we're calling the guys with nets."

- Don't put the names of characters in ALL CAPS or put their ages in brackets; that's the format for scripts, not for query letters.

- Don't write in first person point of view of your characters. Avoid this and all other gimmicks. To an agent, a gimmicky query signifies crap writing; that is, you have to write a "quirky" query because your book is not good enough to speak for itself.

- No second or first person in the plot summary. Don't use "I". Don't use "we". As the Query Shark herself says, "There is no 'we' in querying, much like there is no crying in baseball."

- Make the main character sound like someone the reader can sympathize with, even if he/she is not a "good" person. If his/her motivations just don't make sense, the agent will lose interest. And if you can't make the motivations make sense, there might be something wrong with more than just your query; there could be something wrong with your book.

- The reader of the query should feel a connection to the main character. You have to do more than tell "what" the main is. (i.e. "Mary Sue is a teenage girl.") You have to show what the main character is like. (And I mean show, don't tell! Don't write, "Mary Sue is a very determined person." It should show, through her actions, that she is determined.) But don't spend too long describing what your main character is like. The letter is primarily focused on plot.

- Show and don't tell, and be specific.

- Only mention characters' choices if they are relevant to the central plot.

- Focus on the plot in the query letter. If you can't describe an actual plot, then there is something wrong with the novel itself.

- Sense of stakes and sense of choice are important. What choice does the protagonist have to make, and what consequences will follow?

- Basic form of the plot summary, provided by Query Shark: - Basic form provided by QS: "What does the protagonist want? What's keeping him/her from getting it? What choice/decision does he/she face? What terrible thing will happen if he chooses ____; what terrible thing will happen if he doesn't." OR "The main character must decide whether to ____. If s/he decides to do (this), the consequences/outcome/peril s/he faces are ____. If s/he decides NOT to do this: the consequences/outcome/peril s/he faces are ____." And don't just fill in the blanks; use it as an outline to get your information in the proper order. Don't give a list of events.

- Entice readers with what happens at the start of the book, not the end. That is to say, don't give an entire plot summary and definitely don't give away the ending.

- Keep it short and sweet, but long enough that the agent feels a bit of a connection with the main character (that is, understands why readers might sympathize with the main character). It should have a clear sense of voice.

- Story comes first. Don't sound as if you're trying hard to make a point or convey a certain message.

- Don't put random words in quotes. Query Shark says, "Quotes imply something is NOT what you say it is. Example: Oh yes, Cruella DeVill is a real 'dog lover'."

- Write in present tense, and don't switch tenses!

- Don't use showy, overcomplicated writing. Write in short, declarative sentences. Start by writing sentences that are 10 words or fewer, then revise into longer sentences only for the sake of clarity. Avoid rambling, jumbled sentences. And try not to use metaphors.

- Write the title in ALL CAPS (not in italics or underlined or anything like that) and try to avoid punctuation in the title besides commas. Don't say your book is "named" anything. It is either "called" or "titled". Also, do some research and make sure your title is not too similar to other popular titles.

- Read a lot of books in the category you're writing in; understand the audience. Make sure you know your genre. For example, YA books have teen protagonists. If your book does not have teen protagonists, don't call it YA––especially if you just want in on the YA market because it's hot right now.

- Genres should be one or two words, no more. Don't say your book is a "paranormal romance thriller", for example––choose either "paranormal romance" or "thriller".

- Don't say your full manuscript is "complete" or "immediately available"; it's expected that if you are querying, your manuscript is complete and available.

- Agents are skeptical from the start with unusual word counts. It varies based on genre. But generally, under 70,000 words is probably too short, and more than 100,000 words is probably too long. Some agents might even auto-reject based on word count alone. So before you start querying, check out your word count. You might not be done editing.

- Don't try to excuse or justify your word count. (i.e. "I know it's long, but ...")

- Writing credit has to be relevant. Publication is writing credit; nothing else is. Writing for your school newspaper and such is not enough. If you don't have any credit, it's fine. But don't struggle to make it sound as if you do. If you have none, don't mention anything, and don't tell the agent that you are inexperienced.

- Don't mention self-published or vanity-published books. Like it or not, agents generally don't respect self-publishing.

- You don't need to be qualified to write a novel; that is, you don't have to go through the same things as your characters in order to write about them.

- Don't tell the reader what your book will make them think or how it will affect them. And don't make your novel sound like a self-help book. That is, don't talk about how much it will "empower" readers.

- Don't compliment your own book. Query Shark says, "Telling me your novel is an altogether soaring tale is like telling me your kid is good-looking. I'm sure you believe it (I hope you do in fact) but I'm not going to believe you until I've seen the kid myself. In other words: show me, don't tell me."

- Don't mention test/beta readers. Sorry, but the agent really doesn't care what they think.

- Don't say how you think/hope readers will respond to your work. Don't say your book will appeal to both male and female readers. You don't actually know these things.

- Don't compare your book to other books; that's someone else's job.

- Don't say your book is part of a series––or if you must, say it's part of a "potential" series. Saying you've written a series makes the agent think you've written several "okay" books; it makes you sound less focused on revising one, good novel.

- Don't write about how your own story makes you feel, or about how attached you've become to your own characters. You think it will show the agent how passionate you are, but instead it makes the agent think you will take rejection too personally and that you are not a serious writer who will be willing to make revisions.

- Never offer exclusivity. And you don't really want exclusivity, either. It's best to query widely.

- Don't "recap" at the end of the query. It's not an essay, so you don't need a "concluding paragraph". Never repeat what you've already said.

- Don't dismiss yourself. Don't say you would be "humbled" if the agent asked to see your novel, etc. Just a plain old, "Thank you for your time and consideration" will do.

- NEVER, NEVER attach materials unless it's in the agent's guidelines to do so. Copy and paste excerpts, synopses, etc. into the body of the email. Attaching anything might make the letter end up in the agent's spam folder. Also, agents just plain don't want to have to open anything.

- Proofread. Don't misspell anything. Have other people proofread your query to make sure there are no stupid mistakes. Or at least read your query out loud to yourself a few times.

- Keep queries short but not too short. Around 250 words is a good length.

- Cut down your word count as much as possible. Start off by taking out all the uses of the word "that" which you don't need. Then change all the instances of "was [verb]-ing" to "[verb]ed" and you'll probably cut out a few thousand words. (Use Ctrl+F, aka "find") Take out adjectives and adverbs.

- Never use emoticons in queries. Ever. :)

- Only use plain text. No italics, no bold, no underlining. No weird fonts. No weird colors.

- Don't send in a huge-ass block of text. There should be double spaces between paragraphs, and there should be about 3-4 paragraphs, with the plot summary being the longest one. Make sure there is a lot of white space. Query Shark says, "White space is CRUCIAL."

- For e-queries, don't use weird subject lines. Include the word "Query" and your book's title in the subject line. Email to different email platforms to make sure the letter doesn't show up in a weird color.


Well, folks, that's about it. Of course, you don't necessarily need to follow all these rules, and sometimes breaking them might work in certain cases. This is just a general guide. I know it's overwhelming, but after drafting your query a few times you'll realize it may not be bad at it seems. I wish you luck!

As always, I appreciate your feedback. So if you thought this was helpful, or you have any comments/questions, let me know! :)

Sooo how do I write a book, anyway??!!

Hi everyone! :]

Not that I have a ton of followers yet. In fact, I only have five right now and – ummm – one of them is me. O_o How I became a follower of myself, I have no idea. But it makes me look pretty pathetic.

Oh, well. Anyway … In order to make this blog useful, I thought I’d share some of my writing advice for all you young and/or aspiring writers out there. And I thought I’d start out by answering one of the most frequently asked questions that people ask me:

HOW DO YOU WRITE A BOOK, ANYWAY?

Well, there is no “right” way to write a book. Every writer will give you a different answer. However, I have never met a writer who said that writing a book is easy – because, well, it’s not.

I can tell you right now: Writing a book takes a lot of time, dedication, and determination. You have to be willing to put your heart and soul into your work, to hold back nothing, and to stick with your story NO MATTER WHAT. Otherwise, don’t bother to try to write a book. Anyone can write a few good first chapters, but it takes a real writer to finish an entire novel.

Now, I’m here to help you – not to call you a failure. If you’ve never written a book, I’m not saying that there’s no hope for you. It’s a matter of learning how to fill in gaps in your story, and – as corny as it sounds – believing in yourself.

So, there are many reasons why you might be having trouble finishing your book. I’m going to pinpoint five of the most common problems, and give my advice on how to get past them. :)

1. YOU BELIEVE IN “WRITER’S BLOCK”.

Okay, I’m going to tell you a little secret: Writer’s Block doesn’t exist.

*GASP!* Brigid, are you crazy???!!! Of course there’s such a thing as Writer’s Block!

I know, I know. This might be a hard idea to get used to … but it’s true. I used to believe in this so-called “Writer’s Block”, too. In fact, I only stopped believing in it pretty recently.

Writer’s Block is simply when you’re stuck on ideas, so you tell yourself that there’s no hope. You think there’s nothing left to write. So … you should give up, right?

WRONG! Yes, there may be points when you get stuck, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop writing. Writer’s Block is an excuse. It’s your way of blaming something for your lack of motivation.

Writing is not a magic ability that comes and goes. If you’re a writer: YOU CAN WRITE. Nothing can take your talent away. If you blame Writer’s Block for your problems, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

The truth is, if you’re stuck, it’s your fault – as harsh as it sounds. But you have to accept that YOU are the one who got yourself stuck. Then you’ll realize that it’s your responsibility to fix your own problems.

Now you ask, “But how do I do that?”

Well, that’s why I’m here. I hope to answer that question with the following advice. :)

But for starters, stop believing in Writer’s Block right now! The first step is telling yourself that you have the power to get through the tricky parts of your book. You can do it!!!!

2. YOU CAN ONLY THINK ABOUT GETTING TO THE END … OR AT LEAST TO THE “GOOD PARTS”.

A lot of first-time writers make the mistake of being impatient. They just want to write a book for the sake of writing a book, not for the experience. So they jump right into the story without planning or outlining. If you do this, there is a greater possibility that you will get stuck.

I strongly advise making an outline – at least a partial one. I'm not saying that you have to make one, but without an outline, your story will probably lack good pace and structure.

Here’s the thing: Writing a book is not a race. It’s not about getting to the finish line. You can't just run, in a straight line, through the whole thing. Writing a good story is more like taking a long journey over a winding path: there are twists and turns, there are landmarks along the way, and yes, there are some parts that can be uneventful.

A lot of writers meet their downfall at those uneventful parts. You might have the most important plot points figured out, but you don't know what happens in between them. These "gaps" are definitely the hardest part of writing a book. I struggle with them too. But they're no excuse to stop writing! There's always something you can do to fill up those tricky spaces.

The best thing to do is to add some character development. Dialogues are always good. Get a few characters talking with each other, and see what happens. You might find out something about your characters that you didn't know before. Plus, it will help to develop interesting character relationships.

Or you can just let your main character think for a page or two. You can learn a lot about a character through what they think about situations and other characters.

DO NOT kill off characters just because you have no ideas. Personally, I believe that you should kill off characters sparingly and only when it is absolutely essential to the plot and to the message you are trying to convey. If you're killing off characters left and right for no particular reason, the deaths probably won't seem as powerful to the reader.

Outlines are a good idea, because they allow you to plot out your story in advance and to avoid plot holes/contradictions. It doesn't have to be too detailed, but I would suggest having a rough idea of the beginning, some parts of the middle, and the end. That way, while you're writing, you'll have an idea of where your story is headed. Like I said, writing a book is like taking a journey. And if you don't want to get lost, you should have a map, right? :)

3. YOU TOOK A WRONG TURN SOMEWHERE.

Continuing with the "journey" metaphor – there are times in your story when you might wander off the path by accident. If you find yourself stuck, it could be because you took a wrong turn. Maybe you made something happen that eliminated a lot of possibilities. Or maybe you've lost track of something important like a) what the plot of the book is about or b) what your main characters' objectives are. All parts of the book should be connected somehow. If you started off writing about one thing, and now you're writing something entirely different, you probably did something wrong.

Well, here's what you have to do: go back. Rewrite or eliminate irrelevant parts. Make sure that your book has a focus: there should be a clear plot and your characters should have distinct objectives. Otherwise, you need to start rewriting. Or maybe your outline needs some revising. Make character outlines too, so that you know what each character really wants.

4. YOU KEEP PUTTING YOURSELF DOWN.

Sometimes you might get stuck because of a lack of self-confidence. This is one problem that I often struggle with. I've been there before. I'll be sitting in front of my laptop, staring at the words on the screen, and I'll have this panic attack. "OH. MY. GOD. This .... SUCKS." And then I'll fall into this state of mind where I am absolutely convinced that my writing is terrible and that my story isn't going to go anywhere and that I fail at life ... You get the idea. And I know a lot of authors have this self-confidence issue. They'll say things like, "Oh yeah, I write, but none of it is any good" or "Nooo! You can't read my writing! It's terrible!"

All right, so every writer has flaws. No author in the entire world could write a perfect book. It's impossible. So, don't let your flaws drag you down. What you have to do is accept them, and keep writing. Just get it all out; write it down, get it on paper. It might be full of grammar/spelling issues and gaping plot holes, but hey – that's what editing is for, my friend. :) Once you have a rough draft, you can go back and work on anything that needs fixing.

And I strongly recommend that you let someone else read your work; in fact, let lots of people read it. Other people will see mistakes that you may have missed. Ask your friends, family, people over the internet, whatever. Beg for feedback. It might be awkward, and some of it may be hard to hear. But if you really care about the quality of your book, that's a sacrifice you have to make. After all, if you plan on getting published, millions of strangers could be reading your book someday. People will judge your work; that's the way it is.

So keep writing, without thinking too hard about how "good" your book is. And don't hide your work, even if you're not exactly proud of it; if you want to improve, you have to be willing to take feedback.

5. YOU'RE CENSORING YOURSELF AND/OR YOU'RE AFRAID OF WHAT PEOPLE WILL THINK.

This is another common one ... one that writers don't always admit to, but it is an issue. Sometimes you can't write, just because you're afraid of what your friends or family will think of you, if they ever happen to read your book.

Happens to me ALL the time. I'll be writing something really morbid, or some really awkward make-out scene, or some gag-worthy scene where characters are confessing their love for each other, or the characters will be swearing like sailors ... and all I'll be able to think is, "Oh. No. My friends will want to read this. My younger siblings will want to read this. My parents will want to read this. My grandparents will want to read this."

I wish I had some great solution to this problem, but really – there isn't one. The truth is, if you write a book, people in your life are going to want to read it. That's a good thing. It's because they care about you, and they're interested in your work. So your book has … adult moments, or just some *awkward turtle* parts. Oh, well. You gotta do what you gotta do in order to keep the story going. Maybe you'll shock your grandma. Maybe your friends will be weirded out. Maybe your mom will make fun of you for eternity after you accidentally tell her about that implied sex scene you wrote (errrm not that I speak from experience O_o). But in the end, YOU know what's best for your story. Don't let the fear of what others will think get in your way.

So, those are what I consider some of the most common problems when it comes to getting stuck. If you have any other problems, let me know. Leave comments! I'll be happy to help. ^_^