Writing vs Brick walls

I've never had a project block me to the point that I haven't been able to make progress of some kind. Generally, if I'm blocked it's because something is bugging me, usually a plot point, or characters. In the case of my current wip, Tanglewood, I've possibly finally pinned down my mental brick wall to two issues. The first being my inner voice not wanting to kill off a character everyone loves, don't get me wrong... he has to die, and will, but I've finally realized it was my inner voice telling me it was too soon. Not to jump the gun so to speak. The second problem was equally obvious, even though lately I've been way to oblivious to it.

I've been stuck because the characters my mc has just traveled thirty miles with are finally coming into the actual main stage of the story. Why would that have my mental wheels spinning? Because I spent so much time building the characters, and the backing for my world, that I forgot to actually build my town! I know where the town is, and roughly what most of the buildings will be like, but I didn't actually map it out, and get into the little details. For a story like I'm writing, the details matter. The details will help sell it as an actual world, a place with real people and real problems. So I need to build the town, and the community that lives there. How could I have not seen it sooner?

Sometimes I get so focused on trying to tell the story, that I forget to build the things into the story that will actually make the story believable. I think I've done it with other projects, and ultimately it does my writing no justice, and makes my characters flat and less reliable or believable.

So, now here I set getting into world building again, hoping this will appease the mental brick wall that has been in my way for so many weeks.

I hope everyone is having as much luck breaking down their own mental barriers! -Corbyn