Yesterday I came across "Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet", a tool of which I was wholly unaware. In a little more than 24 hours, I had figured out the majority of the plot for a story that I have been ineffectually (but merrily) working on for several years. I've also established the most appropriate genres in the same short span of time. And finally, after so long, my hero has fully revealed his motivations and the incredible impact he will have on the people of his story-world. While the process was exciting, I find myself disheartened by the visage of the story’s end. It feels as if I have seen the death of my beloved characters, even though I can now clearly see my way to a second and third story that will focus on this first story’s supporting cast. My central characters of story one won’t disappear into the cosmos. They will continue to appear in the follow-ups, simply altering their position on the story board. They are crucial to the series as a whole. But their story, the one that they star in, has congealed itself into a fixed point. It is unnerving, it is unexpected, and now I have to find a way to move past it. I need to find a way to relinquish my loving-but-stifling grip on these characters so I can write the story. The “Jaws of Life” may be required.

No characters are as precious to me as these... I have never gotten truly stuck in a story because my newer characters have come to me either as beginning-to-end fully formed characters or as fluid concepts.

I'd appreciate any suggestions of tools I can use to move past my writer's block (i.e. something to wedge in between me and my story so I can pry it loose) or just some empathy and understanding (in other words, join me while I wallow in grief; share your own stories of similar situations).