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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/44203
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Many writers eventually come to a point in their writing where they don't know what to write. They have a certain status or state of affairs that the narration has reached and another state that they need to get to in order to continue their story to the end they have envisioned (or just to get the characters out of a predicament), but they don't know how to overcome that gap in their storyline with the characters they have in the situation that they have gotten them into.

In a comment to [a recent what-to-write question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/44199/trials-to-claim-a-throne), @Spectrosaurus opines<sup>1</sup> that "if you don't have a good idea for [how to overcome that gap in your narration], maybe it's not the best idea for you to explore?", and they advise the writer to "come up with something that's more interesting to you personally, so that you won't feel the need to ask others what to write!"

When a writer feels the need to ask others what to write, is that truly a sure sign that they need to change their story to something where they know what to write? Why? Does asking for and accepting story ideas from others somehow predict a lower quality to the finished text?

@Spectrosaurus' advice feels intuitively right to me, but is it actually correct?

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_Notes_

1 @Spectrosaurus has corrected my misunderstanding of their advice in a comment here below.

Original score: 13