Writing Tip - What to do When You're Stuck for a Topic

I've been fishing for a topic on what to write this week and so far, all I've got is wet bait. So, what do I do?

Change fishing holes? Tried it.

Change the bait? Tried it.

Stop fishing? No, I don't think so. How will that accomplish anything?

I'm going to follow the same advice I would give anyone else. Write. Write anyway. Write something.

Which is exactly what I'm doing here. I'm hoping that while I'm writing, something good will come out of it and I'll actually have something important to tell you about what to do when you're stuck for a topic to write about.

I do have a book. Is it a book if it's a cube that is about four inches by four inches? It's bound, so I guess it's a book. It contains 786 ideas to jump-start your imagination. The title is The Writer's Block by Jason Rekulak.

Randomly flipping through it here are some ideas:

• To Outline or Not To Outline
• Sibling Rivalry
• Describe the Worst Date of Your Life
• Superstitious
• Conformity
• Clueless
• Write a Story That Begins with an Explosion

I have other books too, to stimulate the writing part of my brain. Books about creative writing exercises. The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood is a good one.

If I flip through The Pocket Muse I come up with the following ideas:

Who is the tallest person you know?
Fill in the blank: When I first told my family about ________________ they didn't believe me.
Top Five Jobs for Writers based on an informal and deeply flawed poll:

• Security Guard
• Parrot Trainer
• Bounty Hunger
• Greeter at Walmart
• Neurosurgeon

These either net you lots of material or lots of time.

Ten Commandments for a Happy Writing Life:

1. Don't wait for inspiration; establish a writing habit.
2. Take time off.
3. Read voraciously.
4. Shut out the inner critic.
5. Claim a space.
6. Claims some time.
7. Accept rejection.
8. Expect success.
9. Life fully.
10. Wish others well.

Write about the first time you truly understood that all life ends in death.

What is the subject you are avoiding? Write it down.

Write a piece --fiction or nonfiction, poetry or script-- in which three objects exist at the beginning and only one at the end.

So, what do you think? Is there something in there for a topic to write about? Sure there is. And what's more, I just found another book I have titled 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts by Bryan Cohen.

Do you want to know what's in there? Well, let's flip through it and see what we come up with:

• The top 5 costumes you've ever seen on Halloween. Whey there were so memorable to you and why you wish you'd thought of them first.
• Summer fling? Ever had one? If so, write about it; if not, make up your ideal summer relationship.
• If you could choose any place to be your home; to be a place that you felt comfortable in and could enjoy most of your days where would it be? Feel free to choose anywhere in the world, even if it's somewhere you haven't been.
• Who is the most successful person you know? What can you learn from this person that is applicable to your own life? Write about a meeting with this big achiever in which you learn all of his or her secrets.
• Your significant other becomes a millionaire and starts buying stuff for you all the time. How does that make you feel? can you use your lessons to become wealthy yourself?
• You are very intoxicated at a bar and you completely black out. You wake up the next day with an unknown partner in your bed. How do you deal with the situation and what do you tell your friends who were at the bar with you?
• Shakespeare comes over for dinner. What do you make him and what do you and your family/friends talk about with him?
• Talk about a time in which you lost your voice and had to communicate without language. What did you do and how did it change the way people interacted with you?
• While dreaming you think of the most amazing novel you have ever conceived of. As you wake up, you scramble to a notebook and begin writing. What happens next?
• You have found yourself in the cartoon world of a popular movie or television show. How do you interact with the other characters and how does the style of animation affect you?
• What would you consider to be success in American society? What would be failure? What would have to happen for you to be willing to compromise your vision of success?
• Write about a time you had a run in with the law. It may have been something as simple as being pulled over or something ... a bit more serious. Talk about your experience from beginning to end and detail your emotions throughout.

Well, what do you know. I did it. I helped figure out what to do when stuck for a topic to write about. The best thing for me to do is browse my bookshelf and flip through all my writing prompt books. There is always something to write about.

Another tip is to change how you write. Write in a different location. Write with a different writing instrument. If you write on the computer. Try longhand and vise versa. Shake things up a bit and see what happens.

By the way, the above advice comes from Eating an Elephant by Patricia Charpentier. Pretty good advice, I'd say.

Now, I ask you this question: How do you figure out a topic when you can't think of something to write about?

Writing Tips - Writer's Block

Calvin & Hobbs cartoon excerpt

Everyone has it. Staring at a blank page. Finding the motivation and spark that will fill that page with words, sentences, and life. Writer's block can last a moment, a day, or longer. Click if you want a detailed description of Writer's Block.

You must be the one to break it and discard it.

How, do you ask?

Good question. We will explore Writer's Block and discover what may be holding us back and some tips to help alleviate Writer's Block.

Are you ready?


"I think writer's block is simply the dread that you are going to write something horrible." -- Roy Blount, Jr.

Is that what writer's block is to you? Are you afraid you are going to write something horrible?

Get over that dread by allowing yourself to write anything. Horrible or not. Write what spews forth, whether it is garbage or gold. Just write.

Your writing muscle will lose mass if you do not exercise it every day. It doesn't matter what you write, only that you write.

Flex that writing muscle.

Listen to Monica Wood, from The Pocket Muse, she says, "Nobody has to see that first draft but you. You can eat it when you're done. You can make it into origami animals and decorate a table. You can dunk it in hot water, stir it up, mash it back into pulp. You can build a fire, line a birdcage, stuff a pillow. You can't do any of this, however, until you write the thing."

"All glory comes from daring to begin." -- Eugene F. Ware

Are you afraid of something? Is that why you can't start writing? Fear is normal. We all have it.

Do you have the fear of rejection?

It's a common fear. Probably the most common fear of all writers. Listen to what Jurgen Wolff from Your Writing Coach has to say, "Here's the hard truth about rejection: You can't avoid it. There isn't a single successful writer who hasn't had work rejected at one point or another. Most of them had many, many rejections before they had their first success."

Rejection Successes:

J.K. Rowling took a year to find a publisher for the first Harry Potter book. Only one publisher offered to take a chance on it. The publisher told her, "You'll never make any money out of children's books, Jo."

Melody Beattie' non-fiction book Co-dependent No More was turned down by 20 publishers. It went on to sell five million copies.

Joanne Harris wrote three books that failed to find a publisher. Her fourth book, the novel Chocolat, became an international bestseller and spawned an equally successful movie.

John Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill was rejected by 15 agents and 26 publishers before Wynwood Press agreed to publish it at a mere 5,000 copies. The book wasn't a success until after Grisham's next three, which were hugely successful.

Wilbur Smith's first novel found no publisher, and he decided that writing wasn't for him. Eighteen months later, his agent convinced him to try again. That book sold, and since then his novels have sold 84 million copies.

The list goes on and on about those that have tried, tried again, persevered and against all odds became a huge success.

Is your fear that you won't be good enough?

This is a fear that can stop writers before they start.

Remind yourself, "that your writing doesn't have to be great literature to have value to your readers." This quote is from The Writing Coach by Jurgen Wolff.

Write your books to bring pleasure to yourself and to others. Write for your Ideal Reader. If you don't understand who your Ideal Reader is, reference On Writing by Stephen King.

Do you fear success?

Don't laugh. That's a legitimate fear, and more common that you'd think among writers. It might be because we fear change. Change can be good or bad. We all know that. It's how you deal with it, that makes it great or horrible. There is only one fact: the only constant is change.

Are you afraid you're too old to write a book?

Sure, everyone wants to see a sexy photo of an author on the back cover of a book, but hey, not all authors find their prime writing until they are more mature. For example, Annie Proulx, Penelope Fitzgerald, and Mary Wesley all started late and became a success.

If you're afraid you will "sound" old in your novels, don't even consider that. Your characters will help you find the right voice for your novel. Let your characters do what they do best: create your story and move your plot along.

What you need is courage. Courage to step up to your desk, sit down, put hands to keyboard and start writing.

Rollo May, from The Courage to Create said this, "If you do not express your original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself. Also you will have betrayed our community in failing to make your contribution to the whole."

Did you know there are other helpful sites for writers? I could spend days listing all of them, but here's one that was brought to my attention. First Site Guide

According to Nina Borovic, First Site Guide they have a plethora of resources available for writers. I suggest you hop on over to their site as soon as you can and settle in for some informative reading.

They have many resources for writers. I'd suggest using them as a starting point. Then, the Internet search world is your oyster!

Do you have a different fear?

What is holding you back from writing?

Can you put a voice to your fear? Maybe it's just the actual "act" of starting your writing? Maybe you need to read writing from other authors and possibly be inspired?

Inspiration. It can go along way.  Do you need inspiration? If so, read a magazine or newspaper, watch TV, go outside into the public and listen in on conversations, draw from your dreams, apply "what if" questions to common situations.

Don't know about "what if" prompts? Let's discuss them next week, shall we?

Until then,

Friday Five Minute Exercise - Bathtub Scene

Friday Five Minute Exercise - Bathtub Scene

1. Set your clocks/timers for Five (5) Minutes.

2. Write about creating a scene where the character is taking a bath. "From "The Pocket Muse" by Monica Wood, she says, "In 'Making Shapely Fiction', the witty and wonderful Jerome Stern cautions against writing the 'bathtub story'. A bathtub story opens with the protagonist taking a bath (or occupying a similar confined space). During this bath, the protagonist things of, ruminates upon, wonders about, and analyzes the past, present, and future but he never gets out of the bathtub.". Try to write a bathtub scene that contradicts all of the above. Make your scene riveting, exciting, and action oriented.

3. Ready?

4. Go.

5. Finished? Review and be amazed.

I hope you had fun. Come back next Friday for a new writing prompt.

Was this exercise helpful?

Did you succeed with this writing exercise? Was it helpful? Were you able to add action and excitement? 

Why or Why Not?