One of the pitfalls of writing without a plan, and going where the story leads you, is that sometimes you write yourself into a corner.
Nothing feels worse, fifty-thousand words into a novel, to find that a decision that seemed like a brilliant plot twist twenty-thousand words earlier, has rendered the fantastic idea you've been building towards unworkable.
The gut-churning feeling that your awesome story might need to be completely re-tooled or even scrapped, and the feeling that finally, this will be the book where your wing-and-a-prayer method might finally let you down, can lead to sleepless nights and a crippling attack of imposter syndrome.
Yet it happens to the best of us, and although it may feel like the end-of-the-world, it usually isn't.
Sure there are plenty of horror stories of people scrapping their work in progress. Of writers filled with professional shame as they email their agent or publisher to break the news that the manuscript they'd confidently promised three months ago will not be delivered on time. Of publishers having to push back publication dates.

But what you don't hear about is those writers that overcome the hurdle. Who have a sudden flash of inspiration that fixes everything and leads to the best book of their career. We tend not to talk about it. Perhaps we should? Perhaps we shouldn't be embarrassed to brag about it?

In fact, I would go as far to say that writing yourself into a corner can be a good thing!
Yes, you read that correctly! Because we writers are fighters. When our backs are against the wall, we come out swinging. Solving that insurmountable problem forces us to be more creative.

So how can we solve the unsolvable, and salvage months of work? Here are a couple of suggestions. Think of them more as a basic principle, rather than a concrete suggestion.

Shoot Someone.
There is a quote, widely attributed to Raymond Chandler, "When stumped, have a man come through a door with a gun."
There are questions over whether this was advice, or just a description of how he used to work when writing pulp fiction.
But, it can solve a problem. If you are heading down an alley with a dead-end, then shake things up. Add a big twist, like a man with a gun. Coincidences are frowned upon in crime fiction - yet sometimes they do happen. So why not acknowledge that your investigator has been chasing a spurious lead and give them another victim or a clue that makes them realise they were on the wrong track? A need to reset and start again. Do it right and your error becomes a twist that your readers never saw coming, because you had no idea it was going to happen either!
Change The Culprit.
Even pantsers who start with little in the way of a plan often know who did it. But with no clear route  plotted, it's all too easy to end up in that corner, with thousands of words that no longer lead anywhere. It's rather like setting out on a road trip knowing roughly which direction your final destination is in, but missing the correct exit on the motorway and having to either double-back or take a tortuous route cross-country on poorly-lit, narrow backroads.
So ask yourself, how wedded are you to that culprit? Again, done correctly, your misstep becomes a fantastic twist that takes everyone by surprise.
Bring In A New Character.
Sometimes the problem is a result of having eliminated too many suspects too early on. In which case changing the culprit (as above) can change the game. Alternately, perhaps invent a new character. Introduce them early in the story as a potential suspect and shift some of the spade work you've done eliminating another character onto their shoulders.
For example, imagine you have two brothers, both suspects (but ultimately innocent), one of whom you want to be in the running until the last couple of chapters. You've been busy setting up the reasons why they will ultimately be eliminated, and suddenly, with a hundred pages to go, neither of them are viable suspects anymore, meaning that the real culprit is now too obvious! You could go back and remove all that deduction. Or they could have a third brother. Then two brothers are eliminated, but the third one is still a plausible suspect.
The caveat. One of the informal rules in crime writing is that the culprit should be introduced early in the book. To give your readers a fighting chance, this new character must at least be mentioned in the first few chapters. Suddenly introduce them after the half-way point, and the chances are your readers will feel cheated.
It Was All A Dream.
Just kidding, that's a really bad idea.

How do you write yourself back out of that corner?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul

Sometimes, overcoming writer's block is about getting started. It's about building a head of steam, so that you are ready to take a run at the day's goals. I've written previously about writing prompts. Beloved of creative writing classes, they are a great way of warming up.
The rules are straightforward.

• Set yourself a time limit.
• Write without stopping, editing or overthinking.
• Write whatever comes to mind and don't worry if it doesn't make sense.
• It doesn't matter if it has nothing to do with the scene that you are stuck on.

This exercise involves choosing three words, then writing whatever comes to mind - the goal is to write something which incorporates all three words.
Again, the brilliant website Writing Exercises has a tool that can help.
https://writingexercises.co.uk/random-words-exercises.php
This generates eight words. The original tool suggests that you incorporate all eight. I am going to suggest using just the first three, to keep to a short time limit, but it's up to you.
Again, this is a free write exercise, so it's all about the writing, not the content. It doesn't matter if the end result is gibberish, it's about unlocking potential.
Once you've finished your piece, resist the urge to pat yourself on the back and go for a coffee - open your manuscript and start work. Fingers crossed, that creative spark will have set the wheel's in motion.
Do you have any suggestions for overcoming writer's block?
As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or on social media.
Happy writing!
Paul

Today's Guest Blogger is the Michigan-based writer and artist, C.A. Michaels
Writing since 2010, she writes all genres except horror and focuses primarily on epic fantasy.
She is currently writing two series, one focusing on the Demon-Vampire Hunter (and axe tossing champion) Samantha Marie Peterson and the Pathfinders series The Elysian Gods.
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​C.A. Michaels' Writing Tips
First, there is always room for improvement and to read. Reading will help improve yourself.

On the topic of world-building, she says "I usually start with one world and the character. Even if Earth is involved. But I do like all that to be evolved over a series." When choosing names for her characters, she says the names "just come to me". In her fantasy, she has some easy names to say, like Seth and Karri, then there are some like Jutari. 
(c) C.A. Michaels 2022
You can find out more about C.A. Michaels by visiting her website or following her on Twitter @DRCAMichaels or Instagram @Digital_reverence.

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This week's #TuesdayTip is a book review.
Unlike my previous look at Stephen King's much-lauded autobiography/writing manual On Writing, this is not billed as a must-read for writers.
Yet I still feel it belongs here.
For those not sure what it's about, Lee Child is the pen name of James D. Grant, the phenomenally successful best-selling author of the Jack Reacher series of thrillers. The first novel in the series has just been successfully adapted into a terrific series for Amazon, with two more series confirmed.
The much-derided Tom Cruise films (derided because the protagonist Reacher is 6'5" and 250lb, and Cruise very much isn't) were serviceable adaptations, but the most important thing is that a star like Tom Cruise was desperate to star in them.
That's how big this franchise is.
The book is not a list of dos and don'ts. There aren't detailed articles about grammar or structure or the writing craft. However, it is the very candid biography of one of the most successful thriller writers in the world, and woven amongst a fascinating life story, is a telling of how he did it.
Will others use this as a manual to mimic Lee Child? Of course, many already do. But through a combination of timing, luck (good and bad) and his own unique personality, nobody else has come close to creating Jack Reacher or replicating Child's success. And I suspect nobody will.
So why read it?
Buried within this book are Child's thoughts about writing. It doesn't matter if you think his prose is wonderful or recoil with horror at the thought of trying to average 4-5 words per sentence. It's an interesting perspective and a valuable insight.
It's a very good biography. James Grant was brought up in the fifties, in an urban landscape that has largely disappeared or changed beyond recognition. Similarly, he worked at Granada TV during a golden age of television, doing a job that has largely disappeared or changed beyond recognition. In that sense, it is a form of social history.
He started writing at the end of the nineties, before eBooks. He admits that he probably wouldn't have done as well if he started out today. The professional writing landscape today, especially for those starting out, is almost unrecognisable. Again, this charts a fascinating era of history.
His childhood, and his complicated relationship with his parents, has shaped the man he is today and his writing. Dr Heather Martin is a literary expert and she uses this to derive insight from his interviews, his books and his friends. It's not cod psychoanalysis by any stretch, but she paints a complex picture.
He is phenomenally well-read. He had a classical education, and it is clear that his exceptional memory allowed him to absorb and internalise much of that writing. Martin is able to draw parallels between what he has read and what he writes, and it's clear that she regards his writing as worthy of study as any so-called literary fiction. Given the high-praise that he has received from some of the most lauded writers of the modern era, anyone who thinks that Jack Reacher novels are trashy airport reads is mistaken (the secret to Child's success of course, is that he's also managed to corner the airport market, with a staggering number of his books being sold at Heathrow and Gatwick).
The book is very honest. It's clear that Martin finds him a charming and likeable man. I've met him a couple of times, and he is a very pleasant person to spend time with (I am no longer tongue-tied!). However, she isn't afraid to delve deeply. In some ways Lee Child is almost as fictional as his creation Jack Reacher. She takes care to differentiate between James (Jim) Grant, a family man with strong political views and an openly-shared love of his wife of forty-plus years and their daughter, and Lee Child, the mythical writing behemoth. Twenty-five years of being interviewed has meant that story-teller Lee Child has perhaps exaggerated some of the tales of his upbringing. His recollections of events might not be entirely accurate... Martin tracked down school friends, work colleagues, neighbours, and even school teachers. Some of the stories were confirmed, others were openly derided. But it doesn't matter, because at the end of the day, Lee Child is a story-teller.
It brings the story up-to-date. The book was published around the time that Child announced his impending retirement. It details why he decided to do it, the reaction of his publishers, and the decision to hand over the reins to younger brother Andrew Grant, who would now adopt the pseudonym Andrew Child. The paperback version even includes a brief addendum to include his experiences during the pandemic.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it's a damn good read! Ian Rankin describes it thus 'As gripping as one of Lee Child's own bestsellers'. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm not a big reader of biographies, but this was a real page-turner.

So whilst this is technically a #TuesdayTip, it is also a #RecommendedRead.
What are your thoughts on the phenomenon that is Lee Child/Jack Reacher?
Have you read The Reacher Guy?
As always feel free to comment here or in the comments.
Best wishes,
Paul

For this week's tip, I'm delighted to welcome Keith Dixon.
Keith has written two series of crime novels – one featuring Sam Dyke, a private detective working in the north of England and another featuring Paul Storey, an ex-police marksman now living in Coventry and occasionally getting involved in bad stuff. He's currently embarked on a third series set in a fictional southern England resort.

Keith's Writing Tip

• Guidance to writers of fiction often includes the instruction: “When writing dialogue, avoid call and response.”

 What this means is that you should avoid having a character ask a question and another answer it directly, like this:
 
“Did you finish that report I asked you for?”
“Yes, I typed it up last night,” Joe said.
“What conclusions did you come to?”
“That the victim probably knew his attacker and let him into the house.”

This is all well and good, and gives the reader information they might need. But it’s dull!
​
My tip is to remember that everyone in a scene has their own motivation and goal – another instruction writers are often given – and so answering a direct question with a straightforward answer might not satisfy their need to express themselves fully. So before writing the ‘obvious’ response, the factual reply, take a beat to consider the situation from the other person’s perspective and empathise with them …
 
“Did you finish that report I asked you for?”
“You never told me why it was so urgent. What’s the rush?”
“When I want to tell you why I do things, I’ll consider it … before deciding not to. All right?”
“I think you take me for granted.”
“I’m your boss, I’m allowed.”
“So it seems,” Joe said. “If you’re interested, I think the victim knew his attacker and let him in.”
 
The failure to answer a direct question leads to a brief exploration of the second character’s own feelings about being used by the first. This could have been intimated at through the narrator editorialising, but is more effective and direct when seen in the dialogue.
 
So before you write that next line, pause, and empathise with the character!
(c) Keith Dixon 2022

In a long and unstructured career, Keith has taught English and American Literature, been an advertising copywriter, a business psychologist and an online learning creator. He's currently living in France where he writes crime novels and wonders whether he should give up trying to play the guitar.

You can find out more about Keith and his writing by visiting his website or his Facebook page or by following him on Twitter (@keithyd6) and Instagram (@theidlewriter).