A Guide to Crushing Writer's Block

I’ve heard people say that writer’s block is a myth, which ultimately remains up to perception. But when you’re staring at that blank page and nothing will spew out, then it’s hard to argue the ugly monster’s presence. This guide is designed to help you smash through that writer’s block (whether it exists or not) and get writing again.

Read, Read, Read!

In all my time as a writer, I’ve discovered that the best method to break writer’s block is to read. Think of the book you’re reading as a slow moving train, and think of your own writing as you running along side that train. You can get where you want to go by using your own two legs, but it’s a heck of a lot easier when you can jump on and off the train every now and again. It represents existing momentum that will jumpstart your own work and ensure that you hit the ground running every time.

As for what you should read, that depends on what you’re writing (which I will address more below). But as a general rule, you should read something that is similar to what you are writing. If you’re writing a poem, then read poetry. If you’re writing a script, then read plays. If you’re writing an epic fantasy, then read epic fantasies, etc. While you are perfectly welcome to read things outside of the genre you are writing, it just helps to be in the right mindset for what you are trying to write. Hit the ground running, remember?

If you find that you’re on a deadline or that you just aren’t in the mood to read, then make time for it and force yourself to read. Because if you’re writing something, without any interest in reading, then why would anyone find interest in reading what you wrote?

Diagnosis: Ongoing Story

Depending on what you’re writing, the cure for your writer’s block may be different. For example if you’re writing a book or an ongoing story, then you will need to ask yourself different questions than if you were writing a new story. Why did the story suddenly hit a road block? Why was it interesting before but now it isn’t? Where did the story go wrong? Often times I’ve found that an ongoing story loses steam when a bad decision is made somewhere in the past. Maybe my character decided to stay home rather than go out for hotdogs. In your mind you may not have thought anything interesting was going to happen at the hotdog stand, but if you find that the decision you made has led the story nowhere, then consider backtracking the story (even if it means you have to dump large sections of text) to find the interesting thread and follow it again.

The next thing you need to ask yourself in an ongoing story is: what do I really want to be writing? Often times, as writers, we will spend countless pages of exposition just trying to get our main character to that cool battle sequence, or that dramatic argument with his girlfriend, but we find that we never get there because the stuff before it was boring and we lost interest. In this chase, just write the sequence you want to. It doesn’t matter if the build up wasn’t perfect, or if there is no back story. A lot of narratives start us in the action, and even if yours doesn’t you can write the good part first, and let the earlier stuff come later. Stories are rarely written chronologically. As writer’s we jump all over the place trying to make things work, so don’t be afraid to do it. Writing what interests you most is crucial to keeping the story alive.

Diagnosis: New Story

We’ve all been there, we want to write a new story, one for the ages, but so far all we’ve managed to write is the title or one good line that died before the sentence ever ended. Finding a new story is considerably harder than continuing an old one. Not only do you need to figure out plot and setting, but you need to think of all new characters on top of it.

Ultimately, finding new ideas isn’t the hard part, it’s finding an idea that is still interesting after the first several pages. There are a couple of ways you can avoid this early story slump. The first is to have characters waiting in the wings. I wrote an article about writing interesting fictional characters, which you can reference if you like, but any character template will do. Create a number of characters that haven’t necessarily been assigned to a story yet. Give them colorful backgrounds, interesting families, and memorable quirks. You need these characters because when that glimmer of an idea pops into your head, you don’t want to have to stop to think of all new characters. Nothing kills a story faster than that.

The same can be said of setting. While it isn’t as crucial to have before hand as characters are, it does help if you have some place in mind. The easiest way to do this is to base it off of a real place. That way you know how to describe it and picture it in your head. However if you’re dealing with a world that is made up, then it wouldn’t hurt to have locations mapped out in advance. Nothing too detailed, but say for example that I wanted a town next to a lake. It’s something I’m familiar with, but I’m going to give it a different name and landscape. So already I have a place that I know, but with a few minor adjustments it is totally new and ready to be inhabited with plot and characters.

In my experience, writing a new story works best when I have elements already lying around, not being used. In fact, don’t be afraid to butcher older stories in the interest of newer stories. Maybe you wrote a story a few years ago and it never really went anywhere. Now you have a new story, with more potential that has some similarities to your old one. Rather than trying to outshine the old one, why not incorporate it? Maybe the old story becomes background information for the characters in the new story. Maybe characters and locations from the old story are re-used in the new one. Discarded stories are extremely valuable for this reason, so don’t ever throw away a notebook or delete a file just because the story within was bad.

Eliminate All Distractions

Often times writer’s block occurs because you are drawn away from the story too many times in quick succession and you can’t find the thread you were following when you were interrupted. Eventually you give up trying to find it and the story suffers because of it. The best advice here is to eliminate all possible distractions. Try going to a quiet room without as many noises. Turn off any music or television that might catch your interest as you’re reading. And if you traditionally write with a computer, try writing on paper instead. The internet is one of the biggest distractions for anyone, and disconnecting yourself from the computer can do wonders for your story. Sure, in a notebook, you don’t have spell check and your dictionary is a book again, but since you’re going to type it up later anyway, feel free to make as many mistakes as you want. (You can always write a note in the margin to go back and check it later.) The idea, however, is to give your writing the attention it needs. And if you have to temporarily cut yourself off from the outside world, then so be it.

A change of setting can also work. Maybe you can’t find creative ideas in your office or bedroom anymore, so take your notebook outside. Sit under a tree and write. Stay after school and write or go to the local library. Changing the setting that you’re in can not only eliminate distractions you might have at home, but it can open your mind to new story possibilities that you wouldn’t have seen anywhere else.

Nothing is working

So you were totally prepared; you had characters, setting and a great idea, yet no matter how many different paths you follow in the story, it just doesn’t come together. If you’ve gone to this much trouble and it still isn’t working, you might have to consider abandoning the story. A good author will know when something is dead and he has to move on. But before we pronounce your story DOA, let’s explore some options:

The first thing you can try is blunt force trauma. You may hate what you’re writing, but force yourself to keep putting words on a page, even if you have to resort to copying words out of a magazine or book. Keep your fingers moving and hope that you will push past the rough patch. Despite the painful nature of this method, it does work. I have personally found that if I push past the point where I want to stop writing, I end up writing the best additions to my story. But the general idea is that you’re at a speed bump, rather than a wall, and if you keep pushing, you’ll eventually get over the obstacle and pick up the pace on the other side.

The second thing you can try is to submerge yourself in your story. But I don’t mean writing. I mentioned above that reading similar stories is the best method, but you can also watch movies that inspire you. Listen to music that could apply to your character’s story, and draw your characters (if you don’t have any artistic talents you can do an imaginary cast list of which celebrities you would choose to play your characters). The entire point of this exercise is to bring your story into another medium and reinvigorate your interest in it. Hopefully by the end you will be pumped up and ready to explore your world again.

If all else fails and you find that the story cannot be saved, then move on to a different writing project. But, remember; always save what you did with the failed story. You never know when it might re-emerge or re-invigorate a new story.

Some Additional Tips:

• Read more!
• Sometimes when you've been writing one story for a very long time, you just get sick of it. It's a normal thing to happen. Try taking a break from the story for a while then come back with a fresh perspective.
  
• This is a guide; everyone’s method for dealing with writer’s block is different.