Episode Description:
In this week’s episode of What If for Authors, Claire tackles one of the most common and frustrating challenges for writers: getting stuck on your manuscript. Drawing on her experience as a former in-house editor, English teacher, and story consultant, Claire provides a structured approach to understanding why you might be hitting a wall in your work and how to move past it. She offers insight into the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns that might be interfering with your progress and explains how using your Enneagram type can help pinpoint the root cause of the issue. In the second half of the episode, Claire shifts gears to break down specific storytelling elements like your protagonist, antagonist, and theme—three key areas where story issues can lead to feeling stuck. This episode is packed with actionable strategies and introspective questions to help you get unstuck and back to crafting a story you love.
Key Takeaways:
Why You’re Stuck Might Not Be About the Story: Often, the reasons authors get stuck have more to do with their internal patterns and fears rather than plot or character problems. Claire explains how to use your Enneagram type to identify these blocks.
The Role of Fear in Writer’s Block: When your gut tells you to take a certain direction with your story, but that path triggers a core fear, it’s natural to stall out. Claire discusses how fear often disguises itself as “strategy” or “logic” and how to name it and move forward anyway.
The Three Centers Approach: Claire introduces the Head, Heart, and Body centers as a way to explore why you’re stuck. She offers specific questions to ask each center, making it easier to identify the root of your resistance.
The Power of Your Protagonist, Antagonist, and Theme: When you’re stuck for story-related reasons, these three elements are often the culprits. Claire explains how to realign these story pillars to strengthen your manuscript.
Working Through Story Blocks with Your Enneagram Type: By identifying your protagonist’s Enneagram type and matching it to your theme and antagonist, you can clarify their motivations and internal conflict, making it easier to drive the plot forward.
Why You Should Listen: If you’ve ever hit a wall with your manuscript and didn’t know how to move forward, this episode will provide you with the tools to diagnose what’s holding you back and the strategies to get unstuck. Claire’s unique approach, using the Enneagram alongside storytelling techniques, offers insights that you won’t find in typical writing advice. This episode is perfect for both beginner and experienced writers who want to deepen their understanding of character, theme, and narrative structure—all while gaining some clarity about themselves in the process.
Join the Conversation: Are you currently stuck on your book? Share your experiences and questions with Claire by emailing her at contact@ffs.media. If you want personalized help working through your story, consider booking a Story Alignment session with Claire by visiting ffs.media/schedule.
Access the transcript here.
Happy Writing!
TRANSCRIPT:
Claire: [00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of What If for Authors. I'm so glad you're here. My name's Claire Taylor and I'm an Enneagram certified coach for authors as well as a humor and mystery writer. You can check out my latest book, Sustain Your Author Career, by going to ffs.media/sustain. I'm excited about today's episode because I get to wear more of my storyteller hat for it.
So you obviously know that I do this Enneagram thing to help authors keep going in their careers. What you might not know is that I used to be an editor. Yeah, I edited in house for a romance publisher for a while. That was my 9 to 5, or 8 to 5. I also studied this whole storytelling thing in college, so I got an English degree with a focus in creative writing.
And then I taught English and literature to 8th, 9th, and 10th graders for a while. Anyway, storytelling is what originally got me down the rabbit hole of the Enneagram. I found it really useful [00:01:00] for better getting to know and crafting my characters. So we're going to get to use a little bit of that today and I'm very excited about it.
Of course, we're also going to look at the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns that might be coming into play with today's topic. So hopefully this episode doesn't get too long. I feel like I've been going way long lately with my episodes. Anyway, one of the services that I offer for authors is called The Story Alignment.
How that works is they fill out a questionnaire about their book that can kind of give me a head start on what might be happening with it and where the problems might be coming up. Then we chat for an hour about the book and usually solve those problems as well as, you know, finding some new and interesting ways to really level up the book, give it some more oomph.
I've been doing these story alignments for years now, so I'll give you some tips to take away from what I see as the most common problems that authors run into. Oh wait, I guess I should tell you what the topic is [00:02:00] today. Today's episode is asking the question, what if I'm stuck on my book?
This is such a massively huge topic that it almost seems silly to try and approach it in a single episode. Lots of people have written lots of things about getting stuck in your book. So I'm going to try to stick to the stuff that you probably haven't heard in other places. And of course, a lot of that is going to be Enneagram related problem solving.
So, let's start with the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns first, and then we'll finish off with the fun story related stuff. Most of the time when people are hopelessly stuck on a book, it's not because they can't figure out the plot or there's something wrong with the story itself.
That might be the case, but if you've written a few books and you kind of have the hang of how to tell a story, taking a step back from the manuscript for a little while or zooming out to a 10, 000 foot view of it can start to unstick things pretty [00:03:00] quick. There's a lot more to Addressing the actual story issues, which I'll talk about later.
But basically, a lot of the time when authors are stuck, it's because some sort of long standing pattern, usually stemming out of our core fear, is starting to flare up.
If what we know in our gut, in our intuition, needs to be in the book, starts to poke at our core fear at all, we can really easily come to a grinding halt. So this could look like an Enneagram Nine, the peacemaker, whose gut is telling them to write this particular character, but maybe that author is worried about creating controversy by writing that character that way.
So that controversy really pokes at the Nine's vulnerability around conflict, and so the Nine is just kind of torn in that moment. Sometimes the book just wants what the book wants, and if completing that order scares us. Yeah, we're gonna find that our attention is going basically [00:04:00] everywhere but the page.
We may also be burning a lot of extra energy trying to find an alternate route around what our gut is telling us to write.
If you want to try to find that alternate route, work around, find some way that you're not as controversial or whatnot, you're welcome to. And I mean that. There really is no pure form of your story that you have to get out at the end of the day. You're in control, right? You are the driver here. And it may even work out better in certain ways if you do it the way that your fear is telling you to do it, rather than your gut.
If those two things are in conflict with one another. I'm not saying one way is better or worse, I'm just saying that if what your creative inspiration is telling you to do and telling you to write is something that's too uncomfortable for you to imagine publishing, or that hits on one of your triggers, it's very common to get stuck here.
And unless you put to words why this is happening, and really [00:05:00] flesh it out for yourself, it's almost impossible to move forward. That's because our fear disguises itself as a lot of different things, including Wisdom, sometimes it'll, it'll disguise itself as common sense, or it'll disguise itself as strategy.
So you might think it's just a strategically poor idea to write that character like that, or it's a bad idea to have the book end that way, or, I shouldn't add that twist. People won't like it. And so we think we're caught between what we want to write and good strategy, but the whole time that strategy, quote unquote, has been fear disguising itself.
When you name fear as fear, you put yourself back in the driver's seat.
You can know that you're afraid of something and still do it anyway. That's what courage is. And sometimes that's what it takes to move forward in your manuscript, a little bit of courage. Because at the end of the day, you never know [00:06:00] how it's going to be received by readers. The only way to know is to go find out.
We do that by writing the book and publishing it, not by staring at the page and hoping that an obvious certainty will appear to us about which direction to go. Some certainty that will guarantee us safety from any possible pain when we finally publish the book. It's also possible that we're struggling to write the book because our life situation is such that we are just not prepared to write the damn book.
We may be emotionally occupied with something else or we may not be at the point where we can make the tough decisions to let certain things go so that we have the time and space to sit down with our book and give it the energy it needs. It can be super frustrating when the reason we're stuck on the book is not a plot problem or a character problem.
If we let our frustration continue to simmer, that can leave us feeling sour about the whole author career in [00:07:00] general. So the very best thing we can do for ourselves if we've repeatedly sat down to write and have struggled to get through the words is to start to emotionally regulate ourselves.
We don't want to create a negative connection between our writing and ourselves. And sometimes we'll do this without really meaning to, where we'll try to shit talk ourselves. We'll sit and it's hard and we go, you know, don't be a wuss or just push through it or whatever we're going to do to try and bully ourselves through it.
That's creating that negative emotional connection with the writing. So the best thing we can do in this case is to practice compassion for ourselves and to start activating curiosity rather than judgment in those moments. Start asking yourself some questions. So here are three questions that I like to ask to get people started.
This is really just to activate that curiosity and turn down the [00:08:00] judgment and criticism a little bit. It's not just ones that have judgment and criticism. It can be all types. So ask yourself, first, what don't I know about this scene or character? Yeah. Two, is the scene somehow uncomfortable for me to engage with emotionally?
And three, what does it feel like in my body when I sit down to write this scene? Do I feel tense, restless, numb? What do I feel in my body?
You may have noticed that these three questions are designed to tap into your three centers of thinking, feeling, and action, or the head, heart, and body centers. Approaching these three centers with curiosity and then actually listening To what they say without judgment about whether or not they quote unquote should be responding that way is sort of a pro tip for self regulation.
I mean, it just works [00:09:00] so well. If it's not working for you, check to see if you're immediately dismissing the answers you get because you don't feel like they make sense or that you should feel something different. So if your heart center is giving you an answer, for instance, that is an emotion you don't feel like you're allowed to feel for whatever reason, then you're going to get stuck again, right?
So you're getting your answer and you're just ignoring it or dismissing it. You're gonna stay stuck. If the answers you get to these three questions baffle you, which they very well might, the next step is to continue to ask questions. So maintain curiosity as long as you can.
You're likely to learn something about yourself that will not only help you get unstuck on the book today, but will either keep you from getting stuck in the future or help you get unstuck faster, because you now know about that part of yourself.
Now, if you already know what your least developed center of [00:10:00] the three is, Then you're already a step ahead. So start by asking that center a lot of questions when you get stuck on your book. It's probably been trying to tell you something, but since that connection is not the most natural for you to reach for, you just aren't seeing it unless you make a conscious effort.
Our least developed center, or whichever one we're the lowest of on the three, of head, heart, and body, That's always going to be the one that we have to reach for, as opposed to our primary center, which is just our default. So if your least developed center is, let's say your heart center, it's not a bad idea to ask it the question, what emotions are making it difficult for me to be present with this manuscript?
Something like that. If your action center is the lowest, another good question to ask is, What information am I waiting to get before I write the rest of the scene? And is that even information I can get before actually writing the scene? You may find that a specific bit of information comes up for [00:11:00] you.
You need to go find X, Y, and Z. Or you need to sort out X, Y, and Z about this character's history. Okay, great. Do that. And then ask yourself the question again. Eventually, you'll start to reach a point where it's clear that the only way to find out the information you still need to write is to start typing, to take that action.
So that's if you have a low action center. Now, you may have some throat clearing to do when you get started on that action, but that's okay. That's what revisions are for. If your thinking center is your least developed center, then you may ask yourself, What all am I trying to hold in my head instead of writing it down?
Or even, and this is pretty meta, What questions do I have about this book that I haven't put into words yet? So write those things down so that they can stop rattling around in your head center.
I've found taking the three centers approach to being stuck on a [00:12:00] manuscript to be the most effective, not only for myself, but for the people I work with. It really gets to the root of the reasons why we aren't engaging with our manuscript the way we would like to. Okay, now that we've addressed all the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns that may be coming into play, Presumably, we can talk about the story related stuff.
Okay. So what if you're stuck on your book and it actually is the story? That's the problem. How do we get a story that's jumped the rails back on track?
So it's interesting when I read over the questionnaires for the story alignments, almost inevitably, the author has dropped something in there with the caveat of, I don't even know why I'm putting this here. It doesn't seem relevant. That little detail from their story is almost always the key to pulling things together.
Your subconscious. Everybody already knows that that bit is important, but it can be hard to figure out why. That's one of the reasons it's really nice to have someone else look at these things with you. [00:13:00] Most of what I do is help people bring the subconscious into the conscious so that they can see how it all works together.
They've already put all the pieces on the table and maybe they're just having a difficult time figuring out how they click into place. So this is really great news for those of you listening. You're probably a lot closer to moving forward with your manuscript than you think.
I prefer to take an approach of minimally invasive surgery when we're looking at manuscripts, especially ones where the first draft is complete, and the author doesn't like extensive revisions, or maybe they've already completed their revisions, but something just doesn't feel right still. The answer to a stuck manuscript is almost never.
rewrite the whole thing. That would be kind of shitty advice to give, wouldn't it? Because who's actually going to be like, okay, yay, I get to rewrite the whole thing. My definition of good advice is advice that the individual will actually take. And most of the [00:14:00] time, if I were to tell someone, which I wouldn't, but if I were to tell someone you need to rewrite this whole thing, they would probably not take that advice.
It'd probably get them deeper into stuck fill. Anyway, most of the time pieces are all there already. The exception is when people come to me with a bare bones idea and want me to help them brainstorm and flesh it out, which is also something I love doing with authors. But most of the time a lot of the pieces are there. There are three main elements of a story that I like to dig into first and that can usually solve 90 percent of the struggle with the manuscript. And those are the protagonist, the antagonist, and the theme. Let's start with the protagonist. The most common issue that authors run into with their protagonist is that they don't know them on that deep level.
And this is so common that if you realize this is the case for you, don't take it too hard. Okay. But it's also where the Enneagram is really fucking useful. So what type is your protagonist? Once you [00:15:00] get this nailed down, a lot is going to click into place. You're going to realize where you were overlaying your own motivations onto your protagonist where they may not have belonged. It's also the case that sometimes it's fun to take a couple of iconic characters and blend them together to create your protagonist. This can work if you're looking solely at traits, but when we go to the deeper level of core motivations, it's possible that you're trying to mash up two different Enneagram types and the character is just feeling inconsistent as a result.
If you don't know what your protagonist's motivation is, and what they're trying to avoid, it can be really difficult to figure out what to do. What the hell the story is actually about. If you don't know what the story is about, it can be really difficult to know what direction to steer it in. So pin down your protagonist's Enneagram type first, and then see what starts to naturally want to adjust to that in the manuscript.
If you've already pinned down your protagonist's [00:16:00] Enneagram type, then the next place I would look is your story's theme. I like to approach theme as a one word concept. I want the concept to be something that people can feel a whole lot of different ways about. This concept might be courage, or responsibility, or enjoyment, or a number of other things.
Almost infinite number of other things. You can also think about the theme of your story as the underlying nature of your protagonist's conflict. The relationship between the theme and your protagonist is the most intimate in your story. So sometimes we get stuck on our book when the relationship between those two things is either undefined, Or simply not a strong natural fit.
For instance, A theme of justice is going to fit pretty naturally with types one and eight. That doesn't mean you can't make it work with other types, but when you learn about the natural attentional patterns of the one and eight, you see that their [00:17:00] attention is going toward that theme of justice anyway, and they're going to have some strong feelings about it that may get them into some trouble, which is great.
Great news for the conflict of your story. If you want some more ideas about what themes each type tends toward with their attentional patterns. I do have a whole list of those in my book, Reclaim Your Author Career, under the section on theme.
If you've recently nailed down your protagonist's enneagram type, and you either hadn't considered typing them before, or were thinking that they were possibly a different type when you started writing, then there's a good chance that you may find yourself adjusting the theme of your book to be more strongly suited to that particular protagonist's type.
Here are three questions that are really useful to ask when you're looking at that protagonist and theme relationship. 1. If I asked my protagonist what beliefs they held about the theme at the start of the story, what would they say? 2. How might they need to change [00:18:00] these beliefs, or at least refine them, to overcome the challenges of the story?
3. What do I need to throw their way? To force them to adjust these beliefs and for how do those original beliefs? Change or develop by the end of the story in a way that's impactful in the climax
Those are big structural questions But in asking them you're likely to have some sort of epiphany about the nature of the story you're writing You may even see the ending which has so far alluded you pop into vivid view These are powerful questions, but they also can take a little bit of time, so don't let yourself get frustrated if the answer doesn't come right away.
Again, if you need help walking through these, you know where to find me. And finally, once you have the relationship between your protagonist and theme sorted out fairly well, then I'd suggest looking at your antagonist. Your antagonist is the best tool for [00:19:00] driving the change of your protagonist's beliefs about the theme.
If your antagonist isn't triggering your protagonist big time, then it's going to be really difficult to drive the story forward toward a conclusion.
It's rarely enough for your antagonist to just put your protagonist in physical danger. You really want to make them an existential threat to your protagonist.
That being said, in romance, the antagonist is usually So this is a great way to kind of understand the romantic partner of your protagonist.
There really is nothing that can put us into an existential crisis, quite like romance. So everything I just said about the antagonist and their job, it still works. Falling in love and starting a relationship triggers the. Childhood needs of autonomy, security, and attention like nothing else. And we know that those are the three triads of the Enneagram. Autonomy, security, and attention. Those are the childhood needs. In other words, [00:20:00] romance antagonizes the shit out of us as human beings.
So you want to pick a partner for your protagonist who forces them to confront their faulty belief at the start of the story. If the two of them are going to end up together. Don't let your protagonist have both things. Don't let them keep that faulty belief and end up with the person they want to be with.
True love demands ego sacrifice. So make your protagonist sacrifice something.
Even if you aren't writing a romance, your antagonist can be shaped with the same considerations. So if you've got your protagonist and your theme sorted out, and now your antagonist doesn't seem to be doing much for driving things forward, here are some questions to ask. 1. What is my antagonist's Enneagram type?
2. What does my antagonist believe to be true about the theme? 3. How does that show up in their actions? And 4. How does their belief about the theme challenge [00:21:00] the protagonist's belief about the theme?
Now if, in reassessing your protagonist, theme, and antagonist, you start to think that the whole manuscript you've written so far needs to be thrown out, my best advice is, Don't panic. It's probably not as big of an undertaking as it feels immediately. So, if you can shift your attention away from whatever is making this feel really urgent, like a deadline, and start to get excited about how the story is going to come together now that you understand it more fully, That excitement will take you a lot farther, a lot faster than, say, terror.
And if there are still nitpicky things that aren't quite working in your manuscript, try to address the larger parts first and see if those other bits don't click into place in the meantime. Your subconscious has been chewing away on these things and if you just give it some space it may come up with something interesting.
And if it doesn't, That's also not an [00:22:00] emergency.
Turn to some support. Sometimes it's just time to call in the cavalry. If you have author friends you can talk it through with, or an editor you have a strong relationship with, or even a spouse who just has a knack for it, or is a good listener, talk through your plot problems with them.
It may be that even just talking through it, saying some of these things aloud, is exactly what you need for those last few pieces to snap into place. And then, of course, you can always schedule an appointment with me.
I know sometimes people get nervous meeting with me for the first time, but do it anyway. I promise you won't regret it. We'll have a good time. So if you're wondering, what if I'm stuck on my book? My answer is that you don't have to be stuck for that long. Getting stuck on a book is just part of being a writer, and if you don't experience it often, that just means it'll be scary when it happens.
But it doesn't necessarily mean [00:23:00] It's a sign of anything, like you've run out of ideas or your career is over or you'll never write again. It doesn't have to mean anything that big. It just is what it is. You're stuck and it's time to get unstuck. So if you get stuck, the first thing I suggest is checking in with your three centers and asking those questions I listed earlier in the episode.
Return to your manuscript, after you've done that, and see if you can't get some of the wheels turning. Most of the time, once we get a little momentum, we can keep going from there. And if it doesn't work, and you're sure it's something to do with the story, walk yourself through a check on your protagonist, your theme, and your antagonist, like I laid out.
There are processes that can help you get through this. The biggest step is turning down the fear, so that you can start those processes. If you can get to that place, you're already well on your way to getting back into your writing and finishing the [00:24:00] story. That's it for this episode of What If for Authors.
I hope you have a wonderful week of writing. Or of not writing if you're taking a break. Whatever. I'm Claire Taylor and I hope you'll join me next week as we deconstruct all the reasons that something that seems really scary does not have to be that scary in the end.