write oneself into a corner

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write oneself into a corner (third-person singular simple present writes oneself into a corner, present participle writing oneself into a corner, simple past and past participle writed oneself into a corner)

1. (idiomatic, narratology) To reach a narrative point in which the story one is writing gets stuck, leaving no good or satisfactory alternative or resolution. [from 19th c.]
   • 1894 July, Art in Advertising, volume IX, number 5, page 168:

     When Rudyard Kipling wrote the words, “That belongs to another story,” he conferred upon scribbling mankind an inestimabie blessing. How we ever got along without the accommodating little sentence, I don't know, but it has evidently come to stay. You write yourself “into a corner,” and see no way out of it except to tear up the sheet and begin over, when–Presto! “That belongs to another story” pops into your head and your awkward sentence is gracefully capped.

• back oneself into a corner
• paint oneself into a corner