Block Buster
Ideas To Thwart Writer’s Block
The first in an occasional series of #TuesdayTips looking at ways to beat writer’s block.
Ugh! We’ve all been there. The term writer’s block is such a dramatic term, conjuring up images of tortured writers moping around like the world is about to end.
It’s not usually quite that bad – and try explaining it to your non-writer friends who all have ‘real’ jobs, and see how much sympathy you get!
Sometimes it can be little more than the desire to do anything other than write. Other times it can be staring at a blank screen awaiting inspiration, whilst knowing that it isn’t going to come. At its worst it’s the paralysis caused by an upcoming deadline.
(Side note about punctuation here. All writers suffer this, but it feels incredibly personal and even isolating, so I have decided to go with the singular possessive writer’s block, rather than th plural writers’ block).
Either way, we need to bust that block (credit to my partner for the cringeworthy blog title).
Today’s Tip.
Write something different.
It sounds trite and easy, and it is one of those rare occasions where writing out of sequence, like I do, is a bonus, not just a colossal headache of rearrangement at the end of the book! But I think it is something that even those who plot their books to the nth degree can do.
Sometimes the words just won’t come. The scene that you are trying to write just will not flow. It’s not necessarily that you don’t know what you need to write – for some reason, today you just can’t.
For me, switching to a different scene often solves the problem. I had this issue recently with my current work in progress. I had been writing a scene where my team were investigating a particular incident. I knew what needed to happen, the actions that the team would be taking, and who would be involved. I even had some snatches of dialogue that I wanted to use. I could bullet point the scene if needs be. But for whatever reason, I just couldn’t get into the groove.
So instead, I started working on a different part of the book. It was almost like starting a fresh story, and before I knew it, I’d banged out a thousand-odd words.
That’s one less scene to write. My writing day had turned from what could have been a bit of a write-off (no pun intended) to a pretty productive one. A couple of days later, I returned to that original scene. Nothing had changed, but I finished writing it in a couple of hours. No drama, the words flowed as they always do, and when I went over it the next day, the prose was exactly what I wanted.
Stay tuned for more tips, including some exercises that can kickstart your day’s writing and get you into the groove.
Do you have any tips on how to overcome writer’s block?
Feel free to comment here or on social media.
Happy writing,
Paul.
Ugh! We’ve all been there. The term writer’s block is such a dramatic term, conjuring up images of tortured writers moping around like the world is about to end.
It’s not usually quite that bad – and try explaining it to your non-writer friends who all have ‘real’ jobs, and see how much sympathy you get!
Sometimes it can be little more than the desire to do anything other than write. Other times it can be staring at a blank screen awaiting inspiration, whilst knowing that it isn’t going to come. At its worst it’s the paralysis caused by an upcoming deadline.
(Side note about punctuation here. All writers suffer this, but it feels incredibly personal and even isolating, so I have decided to go with the singular possessive writer’s block, rather than th plural writers’ block).
Either way, we need to bust that block (credit to my partner for the cringeworthy blog title).
Today’s Tip.
Write something different.
It sounds trite and easy, and it is one of those rare occasions where writing out of sequence, like I do, is a bonus, not just a colossal headache of rearrangement at the end of the book! But I think it is something that even those who plot their books to the nth degree can do.
Sometimes the words just won’t come. The scene that you are trying to write just will not flow. It’s not necessarily that you don’t know what you need to write – for some reason, today you just can’t.
For me, switching to a different scene often solves the problem. I had this issue recently with my current work in progress. I had been writing a scene where my team were investigating a particular incident. I knew what needed to happen, the actions that the team would be taking, and who would be involved. I even had some snatches of dialogue that I wanted to use. I could bullet point the scene if needs be. But for whatever reason, I just couldn’t get into the groove.
So instead, I started working on a different part of the book. It was almost like starting a fresh story, and before I knew it, I’d banged out a thousand-odd words.
That’s one less scene to write. My writing day had turned from what could have been a bit of a write-off (no pun intended) to a pretty productive one. A couple of days later, I returned to that original scene. Nothing had changed, but I finished writing it in a couple of hours. No drama, the words flowed as they always do, and when I went over it the next day, the prose was exactly what I wanted.
Stay tuned for more tips, including some exercises that can kickstart your day’s writing and get you into the groove.
Do you have any tips on how to overcome writer’s block?
Feel free to comment here or on social media.
Happy writing,
Paul.
