As for the daunting prospect of writing pages of stuff you’ll never use, I think the problem may be in your deep assumption that writing should find a place in the larger work, or why do it. My answer is pretty simple: it’s not writing. That is, writing your way to a deeper understanding of a character–or of a “game changing” moment in that character’s life–is actually form of thinking. And for some folks (I’m one) it WAY more productive a form of thinking, more purpose driven forms, as in: “We need to know why he throws the glass into the fireplace. Let’s make a list possible of possible reasons…” That is a game my creative unconscious has no interest in playing.

But my point: if you change your attitude toward those pages you think you’ll only “file,” you might just develop not only a tolerance for the process, but a yen for it. Remember the mantra: “I’m not writing, I’m thinking.” And when the jewels appear suddenly in what seems like a pointless flow of garbage writing, you’ll see what I mean. And the fact that you wrote 8 random-seeming pages to get them won’t matter. In fact, I’ll be you won’t even feel you have to file them. You got what you wanted. Take it, be thankful, and throw the now-useless husks away.

If you simply can’t move forward–that is, the darkness is so thick and total that it mocks your every attempt–it may be time to try another way into your material. Often you’re missing some key piece of story anatomy, or placing your focus in the wrong places, etc. Underlying these symptoms there’s almost always a dearth of deep character knowledge, a need to coax new material, new possibilities out of your raw, unfiltered unconscious. It’s not easy, but it’s amazing how much just a little success with this process will re-energize you, maybe even give you the torch you need.