Writer’s block hits all of us at some point. The most frustrating aspect of having writer’s block is that other writers often tell you that the cure for writer’s block is to “just write” – which feels painfully out of touch with your frustration. But that really is the best solution (even though it’s not worded in a way that seems very helpful in the moment).
Your writing brain and your creativity are like a muscle that needs to be kept in shape – don’t leave them lounging on a mental couch, eating junk food. Like any muscle, the more you use them regularly, the stronger they get. If you can’t find a way to write during your scheduled writing time, try doing something else creative– like make up songs, or draw doodles, or work on arts & crafts, etc.
First… Get Past the Frustration
Even with regular “workout sessions” for your creativity, writer’s block still hits all of us sometimes.
Take the pressure off of yourself. Remind yourself that your first draft will never be your final draft. Don’t worry if things don’t seem perfect right away. Just get your ideas in text form, and edit things later to make them perfect. Even the famous authors you admire will always write multiple drafts before getting their work published.
Another thing to keep in mind: instead of obsessing over a word or a small part of the text when you write, let yourself zip past any bumps in the writing road. Use notes inside your text (or comments in your word processor program) to mark where you want to come back and fix any problems or wording issues. Personally, I put text notes inside three square brackets, so I can always find them later using the Search function. For example: [[[FIX THIS DIALOGUE]]] and [[[INSERT MORE DESCRIPTION HERE]]].
In some programs, such as MS Word, you can also insert comments in a document that will not show up in printouts.
Don’t expect perfection with every word. Just get your ideas on the page. Remind yourself: You can always rewrite and edit it later.
“You need not expect to get your book right the first time. Go to work and revamp or rewrite it.”
Mark Twain
Train Your Brain
For many of us, the hardest part of writing is the self-discipline needed to make progress and finish what you start. Don’t wait for creativity to happen. Make it happen by making a routine of writing regularly.
Choose a time of day where you have enough energy AND the fewest distractions. If you’re the parent of a young child, getting up extra early in the morning can be the best time, because you have few distractions, but you’ve also had some sleep– probably not a lot of sleep (I’m a Mom myself, so I know this struggle), but it should be at least a few hours. If you regularly commute to work on a train, you might find your train ride is a good time to write.
Figure out a time and a place that works best for you, and try to stick to it.
Eventually, you will “Pavlov” (train your brain) to see that spot and time of day as where and when you write; you’ll find it easy and comfortable to write, and possibly even make it less likely to get writer’s block.
In the meanwhile, study the Masters of the Craft. Read the kind(s) of things you want to write (books/short stories/articles/poems) in whatever genre you hope to write in (Mystery/Romance/Science Fiction/Memoirs/etc.). Every time you read their work, try to analyze how they tell their stories, describe things, build a scene/fantasy world, create/develop characters you care about, build their plot, etc. What POV do they use? Where do they first introduce major characters, and how? What common character types and common plot points do you see in that genre?
And while you’re doing that, just sit down every day for a short time… and WRITE.
You’ll eventually find that the more you read, the easier it is to write.
Try starting up again with short stories. Ray Bradbury was an incredibly prolific writer who suggested new writers NOT start with a novel, but focus on writing one short story a week for 52 weeks. His logic was that you can’t write 52 bad stories in a row, so there has to be some good ones in there, somewhere. He also said that writing short stories helps a writer to hone their craft and skills. At the end of a week while writing a book, you won’t know if anything you wrote is good or not; but when writing a short story, you know much sooner.
And yes, even Ray Bradbury started out writing stories that no one would pay for. He revisited some of those in his later years and rewrote them, then sold those revised versions. Not every story will sell at first, and that’s okay. You’re going to fall down a few times when learning to ride a bike. Not every song you play on a piano will sound beautiful when you first learn to play a piano. And not everything you write (especially when you first start to write) is going to make money. That’s okay.
A blank screen/piece of paper is the enemy of every writer. Defeat it by filling the screen with anything. Type the alphabet, a speech someone once gave, a letter you need to write to someone – anything. When you inevitably find yourself frustrated by writer’s block, type out a page from another book, or just type the alphabet a few times – anything, just so your screen won’t be so empty and intimidating.
That’s what folks mean when they tell you to “just write.”
Diagnose Yourself
There are two kinds of writer’s block: The “Can’t Start” and the “Stuck in the Middle” blocks. The steps you can take to defeat writer’s block can depend on which one of them you’re dealing with.
If you have a case of “Can’t Start,” you probably need ideas. Here are some tricks for getting your creativity flowing again:
- READ. Read the kinds of stories you want to write. Read lots of them. Then read more. Ray Bradbury recommended reading one short story, one non-fiction essay (on any topic), and one classic (not modern) poem, every night for 1,000 nights, as a way to study the craft of writing.
- Start keeping an idea notebook, either on paper or in a phone app. Carry it with you everywhere – even into the bathroom. Any time you get any idea (for a story, a character, a place, a name, etc.), jot it in the notepad. The next time you need ideas, flip through your notepad and see what you can find.
- You can also look through old photos, yearbooks, and memorabilia to trigger memories of foolish & funny things you did when you were younger, the people you knew and their stories, and interesting events from your past. Talking to older relatives about their memories also can help with ideas – as well as to give you treasures from them that you can cherish after they’re gone.
- If you can’t find any good ideas there, look at unusual stories in the news or the “weird true tales” kinds of accounts on YouTube, etc. Find unusual people and events in the real world, and use them as ideas for plots, characters, etc. You can also look over very old newspapers for FREE at this site: Chronicling America – FREE Newspaper Archive
- Author Neil Gaiman said that you should go outside and look around you. Look at the people and places. Make up stories about them. (How did that homeless man end up on that bench? Why does that woman at the grocery store have such a very old purse? Where does that bolted & padlocked door go to? And so on.) He also suggested that you take a story you know, then “flip it on its head” and find a new way to tell it. Author Orson Scott Card once wrote: “Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are those who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”
Take a villain or a side character and make them the main character of a story; try telling it from their POV. Take someone you know and put them somewhere they could never actually go – the future, the past, another planet, etc. What would they do? How would they interact with the world around them?
To help yourself become more creative, listen to stand-up comedians or other comedy (whatever kind of humor that never fails to make you laugh out loud). “When people laugh, they can come up with new ideas.”
British Comic Actor John Cleese, quoting The Dalai Lama [Tenzin Gyatso]
“Stuck in Progress”
Sometimes walking away from a project for a bit helps you get past a point where you feel stuck. Remember that you don’t have to work on the same thing you started last week and have yet to finish.
If you want to keep working on your current project, or are coming back to a manuscript you walked away from too long ago… Don’t be intimidated by the cursor blinking on your screen. Nothing stops you in your tracks like a blank screen. Type something, whether that’s a speech, some text from a book page– write anything, as long as you write something.
Some writers find a great way to avoid writer’s block is to always finish their day’s writing by stopping in the middle of a sentence and a scene. They find it helps them to…
…Always have somewhere to start right up again, the next day.😉
If you’re still blocked while in the process of writing, here’s a trick:
- Read over the last page you wrote. Then, delete (yes, delete) the last few sentences you wrote before getting stuck. Manually insert a new page.
- On the new page, type something which has no relationship whatsoever to what you’re working on. Nothing should be there that reminds you of what you were originally planning to write.
- Walk away to get a cup of coffee, some tea, a soda, or a glass of water. Just be sure to physically leave the computer for a bit. Step outside whatever building you’re in and feel actual sunshine, then breathe in deeply some of the fresh air. Go for a walk (even if you don’t have a dog). Listen to relaxing music. Clean the house/apartment. (Personally, I find it very motivational and inspirational to think about all the housework I should be doing. It keeps me glued to my computer chair, typing furiously.)
- Wait until you feel your head is clear, and you are no longer frustrated & focused on the thought of “I can’t”😩 before sitting down at your keyboard again. When you feel like you’ve forgotten what you just deleted, sit down and try writing again, starting on the new page. (No peeking at the old page until you’re able to write without feeling stuck.)
Remember, you can always go back and edit the break between the pages so the two parts work together. It’s okay if they don’t blend into each other smoothly right away. Your goal here is to just get yourself jump-started again and get “un-stuck.”
Review Your Manuscript
Sometimes the best way to get “un-stuck” when writing a book or starting up a new draft of any manuscript is to go back over what you’ve already done and review your work.
Again… Your first draft will never be your final draft. Don’t worry if things don’t seem perfect right away. Just get your ideas in text form, and edit things later to clean them up.
“Give someone a book, they’ll read for a day. Teach someone to write a book, and they’ll spend a lifetime mired in self-doubt.”
Anonymous
Some people make story outlines as a concise, brief list of bullet points, while others write a very long draft of their story to use as their outline. Others are “pantsers” (writing “by the seat of their pants”) and make no outline whatsoever. Whatever method you use, review your work to see if you’re missing anything and/or if anything is out of order.
Sometimes writer’s block is simply that little voice in the back of your head telling you that you need to fix something.
Some people are “plotters & planners,” others are “pantsers.” Many writers don’t finish projects if they start out as “pantsers,” and can find themselves getting stuck more easily. If you can, try plotting out and outlining your stories before writing them.
A very good technique that helped me with fixing writer’s block was “Save the Cat.” It helped me get un-stuck when working on a second draft. At the time, I felt something was wrong with my plot, but I couldn’t define it. (Proving once again that even editors should never be their own editor!) Putting my book through the “Save the Cat! Beat Sheet” helped me to see that some things were in the wrong order, and specific aspects of my characters and story needed a lot more development.
This video gives you an introduction to the basics of the method. There are books and articles online to study it in more detail. It doesn’t work for everyone and every story, but you might want to give it a try.
Still Nothing?
After trying all of this, if you STILL can’t seem to put words to the page, let yourself have some creative time off, BUT keep your time allocated to writing. Use your writing time to work on the business aspects of writing: submit stories and articles to publishers, check up on old submissions, think of new ways to market your writing, check for new markets for your work, study the craft of writing, and so on. Just keep that time dedicated to your writing, in some form or another, so you won’t fall out of that self-disciplined writing time slot.
Before too long, you will find yourself “back on the writing horse” and making great progress.
Articles and Videos of Interest
Below are some links to articles and videos that can help you stop writer’s block, study the writing craft, and learn to get your creative juices flowing regularly. All of these YouTube accounts and blog sites are great for writers to browse through. They offer some very clear explanations of various aspects of the writing craft, from creating characters & plotting out stories to the steps involved in self-publishing, Be sure to check them out.
“Perfecting Your Craft” (Reedsy)
https://blog.reedsy.com/category/perfecting-your-craft/
“How to Outline Your Novel with Save the Cat!” (Savannah Gilbo)
https://www.savannahgilbo.com/blog/plotting-save-the-cat
What to Do When You Need Ideas (Abbie Emmons)
How to Have Perseverance in Writing (K.A. Emmons)
Ray Bradbury’s Top Three Rules of Writing (“Man Carrying Thing”)
An Evening with Ray Bradbury (University of California Television – UCTV)
Thank you!
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Anne Fisher-Ahlert 