Writing comes from two places: inspiration or requirement. Inspired writing is when the Muse seizes your pen or computer and has her way with it until every last spark of thought on the subject has been extinguished. Writing from requirement is coming up with the dry, annoying bits that link inspired thought to inspired thought.
So while inspiration may provide you with pages and pages of description about where a certain character is, how she got there, and how she feels about it; the Muse generally has very little to say about what your character ate for breakfast, how she got from her home out to her car, or what her commute was like. This is unfortunate, because it is these details which often give a story its flow. If you fail to accurately describe the mundane mechanics inside the story then it can feel choppy, and throw the reader off of the page. If you accurately describe the mechanics, but do so in a way that breaks the overall mood or tone of the story, then that too will jar the reader.
Sloppy transitions are easy to spot, and generally look like this:
• “The next few days went by in a blur.”
• “Over the next few days he was so busy at work that he rarely had a chance to think about her.”
• “She put down her coffee, got in the car, and left.”
These sentences highlight the different issues with transitions.
• In the first sentence, the problem is that the writer is not describing what happened to the protagonist; the writer is describing what happened to the days, breaking the connection that the reader has to the character. Even if the sentence were changed to “He felt the next few days went by in a blur” the writer is still only describing the character’s feelings about the days, and not about the people or events that are the actual center of the story.
• In the second sentence, the author is giving the reader more information. The problem is that it’s emotionally ambivalent. It sounds as if the character is choosing the times and places he is thinking of “her” which is not very much like how actual feelings work. It also does not connote in whether he wants to be thinking of her or not. So if the preceding passage is one that is very descriptive about the character’s strong feelings, throwing in an emotionally ambivalent sentence will unsettle the reader.
• The problem in the third sentence is the flow of the character’s actions. Where is the cup of coffee in proximity to the car? Does she put it down on the floor of her house? The roof of her car? Did she turn the car on before she left? Clearly the author is trying to connote that the character is in a rush, but in doing so, crucial details are left out.
Obviously, many of these questions do not need to be explicitly answered, but a sloppy transition where the character is doing one thing and then abruptly does another can jolt the reader.
The question then, is what is the best way to write the parts that need to be written when you are feeling uninspired?
One method that many find helpful is to find the time of day when you feel most creative. For some, this might be first thing in the morning right after your cup of coffee kicks in. For others, this might be jotting down a few thoughts in the hazy time before falling asleep. What’s important, is finding the time of day that is best for you, and making a commitment to writing at the same time every day.
The next step is setting a limit. For some, a time limit works best, where you have to write down as much about the subject within 15 minutes or so. For others, a word limit works best. As a general guideline, 300 words equals one page of text, 600 words equals two.
The third step is committing yourself to a topic, paragraph, or even sentence that you are having trouble writing. For example, you might have a beautifully written passage about how a character feels when he meets his true love for the first time, but then not know how to have the next few days pass until he sees her again. Commit yourself to finding your character’s truth about this transition, and spend your dedicated time writing down thoughts, feelings, moods or ideas about how it will happen.
Finally, give yourself permission to write sloppy, non-sensical text, incomplete thoughts, sentences, or even words.

Eventually, the right words will come and take their place within your story. What’s important then, is to make a time and an atmosphere that will welcome them when they arrive.

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