A stall usually has one of a handful of causes that feel alike from the inside, and their repairs run in different directions. Find the kind first, then the repair.
When you find the cause of a stall, log it in Revision Debt and keep drafting as though it were already repaired.
| What it looks like | The kind | First move |
|---|---|---|
| You know the next scene and keep tidying everything around it | Fear | Write it badly, in one session, with the door shut |
| The characters agree with each other and the scene lies flat | Pressure leak | Name where the energy drained, a scene or two back; write on as though it were repaired |
| You know what happens and cannot make yourself write it | Overdetermined | Enter from somewhere unplanned: a later moment, another view, another room. Twenty minutes, then decide |
| The pages feel weightless; the draft has stopped finding things out | Depleted discovery | The planning test, below |
| Every session opens with rereading | Revision debt | New pages only this session; every repair goes in Revision Debt |
| You found the solution, and it means rewriting forty pages | The expensive fix | Log it with a cheaper version, and draft forward as though it were made |
| Flat at the desk and away from it | Depletion | Fifteen minutes or a door note, then stop. File nothing as failure |
| You cannot say what the book is doing | The shape is lost | Read Scenes in order and write one line per chapter, in one sitting |
| Back after a gap, and the book is cold | A gap | Coming back, below |
| Every page reads as an accusation | A verdict | Verdict to task, below |
If two fit, choose the one you would least like it to be. If the book keeps surfacing in the car and before sleep while the file stays closed, it is incubating. Put what surfaces in the Inbox, and let it come.
Each takes fifteen minutes or less. Duplicate a guide into a Door Note or a new page if you want to keep your answers.