Do you ever feel like you are stuck with your story? Like there’s no possible way forward? Then, you may have experienced the so-called Writer’s block. It can have the form of a shortage of ideas or maybe it’s just that you can’t seem to find the energy or the focus to write anything.
It has to be the worst feeling in the world if you have a dream of becoming an author and something is keeping you from it, if something like this keeps you from writing or your story from flowing.
I have to be honest: When I started writing my novel, there were times in which I really didn’t know what was going to happen next. Yes, I had done an outline that soon became useless to me, because I chose to deviate tremendously from it. Yes, my choice of a different path was for my story’s own good, but it left me in the unknown world of half-pantsing.
With no clue whatsoever of how to move forward, I had to come up with my story as I went. This meant, that yes, one or two times, I didn’t know what the hell my character was going to do in the next chapter, or didn’t know how the story was going to continue at all.
But… ta dam, ta dam, I fixed it!! I was able to overcome my temporary blankness and the story got finished.
Have you ever experienced this? or maybe you are going through something similar right now, then this article is for you. I’ll teach you all the best tips you need to kick that writer’s block thing out the door.
Stay with me till the end, and get ready to kiss writer’s block good bye.
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Before we get started… What is writer’s block?
Let’s check what Wikipedia has to say about it:
Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. This loss of ability to write and produce new work is not a result of commitment problems or the lack of writing skills. The condition ranges from difficulty in coming up with original ideas to being unable to produce work for years. Writer’s block is not solely measured by time passing without writing. It is measured by time passing without productivity in the task at hand.
Wikipedia
Okay, apparently, the problem of an author getting blocked has to do with creativity issues. The author is unable to come up with new, fresh ideas that could be useful to continue with their Work in Progress (WIP) or to start a new one.
Does it sound like something that has happened to you?
Well, I’ll show you the way around it. Keep reading until the end.
1. Get new ideas
If what you have is a general problem on how to come up with ideas, in a general way, then read this article first, and then come back to this one.
We’ll be right here waiting for you. Try those methods and see what can work.
2. Study Story Structure
Study structure is a natural enemy of writer’s block. It’s a method that has proved to work in thousands of stories out there. If you don’t have a structure, you have nothing.
I don’t care if you’re a pantser, a free spirit, because you know what? pantsers out there know how to use the elements of the structure, they just don’t plan everything ahead.
There are several structures out there, but the Three-Act Structure is the most common one. You can check how it works right here.
What is it about structure that can help you get out of writer’s block? Well, the structure is a roadmap a full guide, that will tell you what is the next step for your hero. This doesn’t mean that it will do all the work for you. You still have to drive, but the map is there to guide you to your destination safely.
Are you done with the exposition? Well, now it’s time for the inciting incident to happen.
Are you done with the inciting incident? Well, apparently there’s some theme that needs to be stated… some bridges that need to be burned… and so on.
Identify the plot point where you are experiencing writer’s block!!
Yes. Each part of the story has a name (that you can learn if you study story structure). They are also known as plot points or beats.
Identifying the exact point where you’re stuck will make your life so much easier. Because this means that now you can research, read, watch movies, to analyze the way in which other authors deal with this plot point, which takes me to my next piece of advice.
3. Read
Some people refuse to read inside their genre because they don’t want to unintendedly plagiarize. Let me tell you: that’s just dumb.
Just to clarify: NEVER EVER plagiarize anything. That’s even dumber.
What I mean is: Reading can give you so much of everything!! especially for your writing.
Reading a story similar to yours (same genre and category) will widen up your spectrum in terms of what can be done, or how can you deal with certain parts of your story.
Reading, watching movies, consuming stories all around is the only way you can know if you are going in the right direction. Plus, you’ll get to see what other people have done with their stories. You can see what has been done, and what might work for your story.
So if you are blocked, pick a couple of stories in your genre and see how they solved the problem you’ve got ahead.
It’s important that you identify the point of the structure with which you are having problems, that’ll make it easier to see the patterns in other books or movies. Check what they do.
4. Reverse tropes
I hate to be the one to break it down to you. But, every story has already been done. Yes, we add our own salt and pepper, we do our own reinterpretation. But you are not going to be the first one to have used a certain trope before.
For those of you, who are new to the business, a trope is a storyline that is repeated across many stories. If the trope is overused, then it has served its purpose on this life and turned into a cliché.
Some popular tropes are enemies to lovers: A couple that starts not liking each other, but that with time and some alone time-spending they grow feelings for each other; the chosen one: Someone that is predestined to be the savior of their nation, kingdom, village, race, you name it; the family moving into a haunted house: how many of those have you seen already? a few. right? But that doesn’t mean that they are not good, and that can turn the originality on in some way.
Everybody and their sister have done it before and it has worked. So, you’ve got nothing to lose.
Take tropes that have been used before, and turn them around. If it was a girl the chosen one, then now, let it be a boy, a cyborg, a non-binary person, or whatever would be best for your story.
If the final goal was to retrieve a long lost gem, maybe for your story, it could be a locket, a pair of shoes, or whatever.
Add your own personality to things that have been done before. I repeat: it won’t be the first time.
5. Jump Ahead
If things aren’t flowing as smoothly as you expected, try jumping ahead. Maybe the scene you are at the moment isn’t working, but you know how the next one will work out to perfection.
Don’t restrain yourself. Leave the space and just keep going. Go to the next scene that is more clear for you or that maybe you are more excited to write.
Trust me, the scene that got you stuck will come out a lot easier if you come back later knowing exactly where it should head to. This takes me to my next point in this awesome blogpost:
6. Work Backwards
Many writers write the last scenes first. That may sound a little, you know, crazy? Maybe, but we are all lunatics here.
Writing the ending first will give you a tremendous sense of purpose. You’ll know exactly where you are heading at any given point, what roads to take, and which ones are the right choice.
You could do this: Write the ending first, and then go back to the beginning. Or: Write all the scenes backwards: first the Final image, then the climax, then the Dark night of the soul, so on and so on…
7. Beat writer’s block by creating obstacles
Have you ever heard about Murphy’s Law? It says that everything that could go wrong, will go wrong. A little ray of sunshine right? Well, how can we use this for our story’s benefit?
Make something go wrong for your hero, create a problem, give them an obstacle to tackle. That will not only help you forge your hero’s character, give him some purpose, and advance the plot, but also I’m pretty sure, that that’s a good 5000 words right there if we consider the creation of the problem and the whole way until it’s solved.
Now you just need to keep throwing obstacles at your hero, until they get to the final big one.
Make sure the things that you choose to throw in your MC’s way, are relevant to the plot. Consider which is the final objective, and start getting things in the way.
8. Outline
Of course, outlining. Outlining before starting to write will spare you a lot of suffering.
Many people say outlining kills your creativity. Really? Who is creating the outline, the whole story: it’s you, in case you didn’t notice.
Maybe don’t have everything ready to the last detail, but make sure that, at least, you have a general guide of the main points in your story. Make sure your hero has a clear final objective.
9. Braindump
Take a pen and a piece of paper, and turn your inner judgemental editor off… and just start writing. It doesn’t have to be related to the story.
Just take one word and write down everything that comes to your head. If you have trouble beginning just look to your right and write the name of the first object you see, and just let the pencil move on the page.
Yes, what you write, may not make any sense, but you’ll be writing, and sometimes that’s all we need to get the juices flowing (brain juices).
And you don’t know where that train of thought might take you. Maybe you’ll find more than one story right there.
10. Make writing a habit
Write daily, about anything. Make your brain get accustomed to the feeling of getting writing done at a specific time of the day.
I won’t get too deep into this point, because we have another article about this that you can check right here.
10. Take it slowly
I know it’s easy to get frustrated if we are in this situation. Make sure you are not taking yourself to the limit.
If you don’t know how to keep going, take a break, get up, stretch your legs, and take things easy. Then, go back to your computer and try again. make sure you try several methods and don’t panic! Everything is going to be ok. Talk it out with friends or fellow writers (try some writing group on Facebook) and ask them about their opinion on what would be a good way to continue.
They may get you on to something.
Writer’s block: Summing up…
The feeling of being stuck sucks. But make sure to remember that there are things that you can do to get over it. Don’t just stay in there waiting for your muse to come to you. Go out there and chase that muse down!!
Don’t let that feeling defeat you. Come back with your punching gloves and get ready for the next round. Avoid being passive about it.
Try some of this methods and let us know how it goes.
If you have any other tip that can help someone else get over writer’s block, please, let us know in the comments.
