2016 #ROW80 Round 4: Check-In #20 | 10 Minute Novelist: Update #42
For the last couple of weeks, I have been trying to write a short story. I think I started like three times already, and that’s without counting the other two to three ideas I put aside.
Everything had worked fine with all the stories. The problem is getting interested enough in one of them to see it through. I think I still trying to find my style, and that’s what’s stopping me from moving forward.
I have the names, ideas, etc. for each one, but after a couple of hours of thinking about them, I lose interest. I think my problem has to do with the story’s plot. I can make my characters good and interesting, but I get bored just because they are lacking action. I spent so much time getting to know my boys, that I forget to show the reader their struggles.
So one of my 2017 resolutions is to work on my stories complexity and to try to write more challenging ones.
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Lila Leigh Hunter 
Plotting is definitely my weak point. I have problems answering “And then what?” in an interesting manner. Good luck!
You sound just like me! Lately I’ve been starting short stories, writing a couple pages, and then getting stuck. And I know it’s plot-related, too. The characters and the world fascinate me. I can see everything so vividly. I smell the scent of incense wafting as a witch casts a spell; I hear the rain hammering away at the roof; I see autumn leaves swirling in the wind. But I’m stuck when it comes to plot. If you find a cure for this malady, please let me know. I’d love to finish a couple of the stories I’ve started!
I’d suggest a book on open-ended plotting. I’ve picked one each year. So far, I’ve used Rock Your Plot (my foundation); The Snowflake Method (mostly not for me, but I kept an element or two that do work); and The Writer’s Coloring Book (LOVE the way it gets me putting the pieces together artistically, layer by layer, in color, with a focus on psychology).
These have given me great tools to use. I don’t always use it for the first draft of a story, but I do use them for the revisions.
There are a lot of other books out there. Some friends recommend Save the Cat!, but I haven’t personally read that one yet.
Best of luck!