Getting Unstuck....

During the meetup last night, one of the questions that came up was about ways to get unstuck when writing. Here's some of what I've got... please feel free to add your own ideas, and to check out the "Reaching 50,000" forum for even more tips, tricks, and strategies. On with my list:

Change things up
The first year I actually managed to win, I think what really helped me is that I had an ensemble cast, and if I got bored/stuck when writing from one character's view, I could shift to a different character's viewpoint. The next year I won, I kept to a single focus character, but I switched between her sort-of journal and a more traditional third-person prose, and occasionally threw in poems written by her aunt when I couldn't think of anything else.This year I'm thinking of having the whole novel being written as a sort of journal by my main character, but she's the sort to record stories and ballads in her journal, as well as possibly pass it around to let other people write in it as well.

Jump to a different point in the story
Sometimes jumping ahead in the story can be helpful - you can always fill in the intervening stuff later, and it's better to have a longer manuscript with a couple holes in it than to have only a handful of pages that never get looked at again. Or you could try jumping backwards.

Try answering a question in one of the character development threads
Sometimes what you need is a completely different perspective, and sometimes answering one of the questions can give it to you. Though I suppose rather than just sending you blithely to search for these in the Games, Diversions, and Other Forms of Procrastination thread (which can be quite a drain on one's time, noticing the shiny titles and getting distracted), I should provide links to the current threads. Fair warning, they'll get locked when they get up to 500 posts, and then you might need to fumble about looking for their reincarnations...
- The Characterization Game: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3264110
- Would Your Character Ever?: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3266211
- What Would Your Character Do If...?: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3289110

Introduce a random element
This is kind of like the previous suggestion, as adding a new element can force your mind to think in new directions and bring about a sudden ephiphany that will help you a lot. How do you get the random element, you ask? There's several possibilities:
- Use the Unstucker on pages 12-13 on the November Spawned handout our wonderful ML discovered and emailed us a link to (for those of you who may have mislaid the email or joined after it got sent out, the link is http://silveragebooks.myby.co.uk/mag/ns/issues/NS2007.pdf and there is also a random character generation worksheet)
- Make your own chart and roll dice on it. Or perhaps we should make it a region activity to make some nifty prompt charts on which to roll when we get stuck. And if you're into roleplaying, some systems also have random generation charts you might be able to use.
- Pick a card, any card. Generate your own set of prompt cards, which can include questions, vague ideas, images, quotes, words, whatever you want. Then shuffle them, and pick one whenever you need a boost. Challenge yourself to include that card in some way. You could also trade cards with a partner, or you could buy some sort of cards. I've got a couple decks of tarot cards that I bought pretty much to use for plots. There's also "Once Upon a Time... The Storytelling Card Game" which has some great fairy tale themed cards (and which is also a really nifty creative game to play, not that I'm trying to sound like advertisting here...)
- Try an online generator. Just don't let yourself get too distracted playing with all the pretty shiny things! http://www.seventhsanctum.com/ has a bunch of fun writing-related generators, in all sorts of categories. I'm sure there's other good sites out there as well.
- Ask someone else to give you something to include in your novel.

Check out a dare thread
The fantasy forum has one as a sticky at the top of the forum, and there's a more general one in the Plot Doctoring forum. Pick a dare, and challenge yourself to include it. Just don't get too wrapped up in reading all the dares!

Describe the problem
Try talking around the problem to yourself. Or post on the forums, LiveJournal, another blog... sometimes just talking through and pinpointing the exact problem is enough to find the solution. Other times, someone else's comment may spark something and put you back on track. If all else fails, you can always cut and paste your description of the problem into the novel - because hey, words are words, right? And it was written in November....

Offer yourself a reward
Decide on some reward for yourself if you finish x number of words. Sometimes if I break the task into smaller and more managable tasks, and dangle a metaphorical carrot (usually it's more like a piece of chocolate, or allowing myself to do something fun I normally wouldn't do) I find myself more motivated to get something down. And sometimes it's enough to get back into the groove, and I keep going after I've reached the specified goal because I'm on a roll.

Repeat after me...
"It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense, it's just a first draft. I can always edit it out later..."
Let yourself be silly. Let yourself jump out of genre, or put plot ninjas in, or do anything that will add to your word count. Maybe you'll end up totally changing your plot, your story, your genre - but it doesn't matter, because NaNo's all about fun, and getting those 50,000 words, whether or not they make sense yet. Because if you get that much down, you're bound to have something worthwhile, and discover something about yourself and your writing. So just keep writing, no matter what you have to put in!

I'm sure there must be more ideas, or elaboration on those I've put forth in this list - so what would you like to add?
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