Tips for Breaking down Writer's Block

We've all been there at one point or another in our writing career. We stare at the blank page, we pace, we (argh!) do housework or chores!!

So, what does writer's block mean, anyway?

Well, for some authors it could mean that it's time to give the writing a rest and let the muse take a break.

For other authors, it means you're pretty darn stuck on something and you can't figure it out. Maybe the plot is going nowhere, you can't get your characters to talk to each other or to you, or maybe they've up and left the story.

Maybe you're just waiting for inspiration to strike. Well, keep waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Writing is hard work. Really hard work, and if you think it's going to come easy to you, like a magic voice whispering the words to the next best seller in your ear, wake up. You're dreaming.  According to James V. Smith, Jr who wrote The Writer's Little Helper, "Creativity doesn't strike sparks in you like a bolt from the ionosphere. You can't expect much from wandering around idyllic settings waiting for an inspiration."

Every author is going to encounter some sort of challenge while they're writing. That's a given.

Joseph Heller said, "Every writer I know has trouble writing."

Well, Mr. Heller, you got that right. Listen to Mr. Smith who says it succinctly, "..writing does not occur by thinking about it. Writing only happens when you do it, so plant your butt in a chair and get busy."

So, how do we get past the block and get back to writing? What a great question. You, in the back, you get an extra credit for your effort.

You can go out on Amazon.com and buy all the books you can find about Writer's Block. That should take up an afternoon and use up about $100.00 on your credit card. But, it's not getting you any closer to getting over your Writer's Block.

You want answers now. Right now.  Well, here you are, tips for breaking down Writer's Block:

Copy Something. Yep, that's what I said. Find some passages that you like to read, and sit down and start typing them out on your screen or writing them on a piece of paper. Do you notice anything? Did you think the author could have structured that sentence more clearly? Could they have used another word to describe what the character was doing? Now, write it as if you were the author. Let your imagination go and change whatever you want.  Maybe you'll read along as you write and say, "Hey, the author had a great idea here, putting these thoughts into words." Maybe you'll learn something you didn't know and it'll spark something in your writing.

Write in a Journal. Put all the bits of dialogue, prose, narrative, and whatnot in your journal. Jot down conversations you overhear. Great pieces of inspiration that come to you in the middle of the night. Use your journal to take notes on a new activity or task you're learning. You never know when a character might need to know how to do something similar. Then, when you ever come to a point where you experience some kind of writer's block, you have a mine of ideas to forage through. I know, I ended that sentence with a preposition. So sue me. But, read this closely: Every idea you write down is going to spark another idea and then another. Develop that idea. Play with it. Work with it. That's how you get back to writing.

Talk About What You're Writing. Tell everyone you know you're writing a story. Tell people the subject and theme. People will want to talk to you about your story or something similar they read or heard about when they were listening to the radio or watching television. A quote or even a lead is something to go with and get back to writing.

Exercise Your Body and Your Brain. Your brain needs oxygen. Give it some. Get that body moving. If you're sitting in your desk chair, get up, do some toe touches or go for walk. Get that cardio up. Now it's time to work that brain. Do some writing exercises. Google "writing exercises" and I'm sure you'll be inundated with pages. If you're still droopy and tired, maybe you need a nap?

Organize or Re-organize Your Research Material. If you're desk looks anything like mine, you'll thank me for this tip. Some writers can be a little "too" organized, and how do you ever find anything anyway? But, that's another story. Let's do a bit or re-organization so we can actually find what we're looking for or start organizing so we can find things a little faster. Organize is whatever logical way seems right to you. Only you need to know your system, right?

Make Lists. Oh, wow. You thought you were done with lists, right? Not. Some writers are pantsers and some are outliners. (Pantsers are those writers who don't use an outline, they just start writing. The story is all in their head.) But, I digress just a bit. Think about what you want to include in your story. Use key words and write down - in list format - all the elements you want to cover in your story. Maybe you have some questions. Add them to the list.

Picture Your Reader. Do you even know who your reader is? What they like to read, and why? If you don't have a reader for your story, who is going to want to read your story? So, figure out whom you are trying to reach. Describe your reader. Imagine your reader is in your office. Ask your reader questions. What do they do for fun? for work? What would make this story important to him/her? What is your reader's education background? Are you using words too big for them to understand or too small and your reader feels as if you are talking down to him/her?

Ask Yourself One Question. Why are you writing? Do you have goals? What emotion are you trying to get out of your reader? Do you have a purpose for your story? If so, what is it?

Here it is, my last quote to inspire you:

"I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her."
 -- Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Now, get writing. If you have other tips for breaking through writer's block, please add them to the comments below. I'd love to know what you do to get back to writing.

References:
The Writer's Block by Jason Rekulak
The Writer's Little Helper by James V. Smith, Jr.
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Gary Provost


Copyright: 72soul / 123RF Stock Photo

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,