Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Trapped

“Yeah. But when I didn’t come home from school, my parents called the cops. Only it wasn’t the cops that showed up. It was a couple of guys dressed just like the ones we saw at the bar. They stopped us right before we crossed state lines, grabbed me and threw me into the back of a black van.”

“What about Gracie?” 

His expression grew shuttered. “That’s just the thing. They didn’t say anything to her and she didn’t seem surprised that I was basically being kidnapped right before her eyes. She told me she was sorry and that she loved me and didn’t ‘give a damn about directives’.”

“Okay. That’s weird.” Lacey leaned back.

“No,” Viv countered. “No- Adam and Kenny talked about ‘directives’ too. They made it sound like some kind of orders given by the higher-ups.”

Beau let out a long breath. “So, you think she was one of them?”

She bit her lip. “That’s what it sounds like. I’m sorry.” 

He cast his eyes down sadly.

“So, how did you escape?” Carson interrupted, clearly unmoved.

Beau blinked. “Well, I…uh. Um.” He shrugged and scratched his head.“Actually, I have no idea how I escaped.” He turned towards the author writing this ridiculous scene. “Yo! Katie! A little help here?”

All characters look my way expectantly. Then four pairs of eyes struggle not to roll as I put my hands up, yet again. “Sorry! I don’t know how he escaped either. But I promise to give it some thought, okay?” 

Alas, three days have passed and my characters are currently still stuck in that stupid hotel room, waiting on my enlightening explanation of how Beau managed to escape from the back of the black ops van and find his way to them. Even though he had no weapons, no allies, and must have had to rely on his wit and intelligence to escape the situation.

Unfortunately, the mastermind behind Beau’s escape isn’t feeling very witty or intelligent at the moment. Actually, the term ‘brain dead’ comes to mind when I attempt a brainstorming session. All I seem to want to do lately is pop peanut m&m’s, watch back episodes of ‘Game of Thrones’ and read books that have already been written (so much easier, right?). 

But my characters are getting restless, as they rightly should. *sigh*

How do you break out of a writing funk?  Of course, if you’d rather tell me how you’d break out of a black ops situation, please, feel free to share:)

24 comments:

shelly said...

Okay. Beau had a handheld Star Trek thingie and asked Scotti to beam him up. Not long afer, his body went into tiny particles. Something like that.

Good luck,
Shelly

Anne Gallagher said...

Well, I either do yard work or clean out the kitchen cabinets to break a funk. When I get really desperate I ask my crit partner what to do.

Beau could always have had an "accidental" escape. One of my favorites to use is the old elbow in the eye trick. When two people are fighting, wrestling, BAM someone gets smacked in the eye with an elbow. Usually it puts that person on the ground, blinded for a second. Voila, Beau could escape. How's that?

Diandra said...

Maybe the scene that got him there was wrong?

Angela Brown said...

If you leave it to me, Beau will have gotten out of the situation using a weapon he could summon from the tribal tattoo that encircled his wrist. That's part of the reason he was kidnapped, because of WHAT he is and the fact they want to make a weapon out of him.

And of course this may have absolutely nothing to do with what has happened in your novel so far.

If you're feeling in a funk, a good thing to do is check out a few of your fave haunts for writing prompts. Doing something short and sweet can really get the writing juices pumped and help you figure the way Beau got out of his Trapped situation.

Miranda Hardy said...

I've been in similar situations. I've talked it out with fellow writers. Sometimes brainstorming sessions help tremendously.

Old Kitty said...

I was going to say "transporter of the beam me up type"!

Take care
x

Gina Ciocca said...

I hate when I get in a writing funk. I find myself doing anything to avoid writing, even things I hate, like ironing, because it's still better than staring at that damn blinking cursor.

Sometimes it helps to write out of order. Move onto a different scene and it will get the juices flowing again. Or sometimes just walking away for a couple days will do a world of good. Good luck to you! (And Beau!)

Creepy Query Girl said...

Thanks! Unfortunately this is a contemporary consipracy book, so as much as I'd love to use tractor beams and magic weapons are a no-go too:( I don't think I can go wrong with an accidently elbow in the eye though. LOL!

Matthew MacNish said...

I like Anne's suggestion too.

Jane Charles said...

I hate begin stuck like this. I have been for about a month because I can't to decide if a character is going to die.

Why don't you just wreck the van? Ops guys injured and/or stunned. You can use the elbow in the eye trick for good measure, and then he is outta there. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Ooh, I like the wrecked van idea. Or Beau could attempt to wrestle the steering wheel away from the driver, causing the van to wreck and him to stumble away into the night, his head bloody but unbowed ... wait. Wrong story.

The last time I got stuck in a story outline, my brain immediately went to "And then a blue police box materialized in front of them!" Which led to me turning my historical adventure into a sci-fi historical adventure, and was hysterical. Unfortunately, that sort of twist only works once in a great while.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

The first thing that comes to mind is : Beau is lying.
The second thing is : He was allowed to escape.
The third thing: One of his captors was secretly on his side.

If it were me, this is where my story would veer in an unexpected direction.

Email me the situation if you want to brainstorm!

Karen Baldwin said...

I write no matter how stupid or ridiculous it is...just to get past the crud in my brain.

Meredith said...

I have no idea how to get out of a black-ops situation. Say you're going to throw up and make them let you out of the van? I don't think that would work. Good luck getting out of the writing funk!

mshatch said...

I don't know how he did it either but that little excerpt sure made me want to find out!

Could he have had outside unknown help that reveals itself later?

An accident?

Great dialogue, btw.

Connie Keller said...

If brainstorming isn't working, try moving onto the next scene. Maybe you can't figure out what happened because there's something you don't know about this character or another character that would give you the answer. If you move on, the answer might come to you. (Maybe I'm completely wrong, but this is what works for me.)

Creepy Query Girl said...

Oh, I like the wrecked van idea! and it did cross my mind for him to feign puking or having to pee or something. Unfortunately, there's a lot of other 'mousetrap' instances in the plot line already so I'd rather have this be a legit escape. Hey! Maybe they get stopped by the actual cops and there's a shoot out! Hmn... so glad I posted about this today!:) you guys are awesome.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I had to chuckle at that. I had a scene at the end of my first book that I had to rewrite and re-think so many times - how DID the main character escape?
It will come to you!

Bethany Elizabeth said...

Well, I don't know how much I can help with the escape, but I can definitely say that your scene is already awesome! :) Escaping... hmm... gosh, I really don't know. I wish I could help, but I'm stumped. :(

Bethany Elizabeth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

This has been a problem for me throughout the year. I find that I have to get away and attend a movie or musical performance to "clear away the cobwebs".

Tamara Narayan said...

Dianne's comment was my fave--the idea that he's lying. Either he's been converted to the dark side or one of the "bad" guys was actually a good guy double agent.

D.G. Hudson said...

Late comment, Katie, but what I do is write the scenes from a different POV, trying out alternate situations. It helps identify gaps and dead ends.

This little exercise helps me focus on what the scene is supposed to achieve.

I have to get around visiting more often.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Katie! Sounds like a lot of great ideas have been shared. I just walk away for awhile or shuffle it away for another day. Guess I'm not much help. : )

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