I don’t believe in writer’s block. Yes, I believe that writers can get stuck, frustrated with, disillusioned by, and tired of their writing projects. I believe this because I’ve experienced all of these things.
However, “writer’s block” to me sounds permanent and insurmountable. And it is most certainly neither of these. So whether you’re experiencing writer’s block, writer’s pause, frustration with your characters, or uninspired by your plot, there is a way out. Here are three tips that I use when I get stuck.
Go for a walk.
Or a run, or a swim, or vacuum your house. In other words, do something besides sitting there staring at the blank page. Physical movement helps—it gets blood flowing, and distracts you. And if you haven’t cleaned in a while, well, then you’re killing two birds with one stone. Double your productivity! But seriously, I do some of my best thinking while I’m doing physical tasks that require very little conscious thought, such as vacuuming or talking a long walk.
Recently I’ve been stuck on my current WIP (work in progress). Not blocked, just not sure how to proceed. I know the ending of the story, and a few key events that I want to have happen—I just didn’t know what the next few scenes needed to be. Going for several longs walks helped me to sort out ideas; sometimes I purposefully brainstormed, other times I just let my mind wander. But it helped, and I now have a clearer picture of where I need to go.
Write a future scene, or one that won’t be in the book.
If you’re stuck like I was, knowing some of the future of the book but just not where to go next, then write a scene out of order. I do this periodically, whether I’m stuck or not, usually if I’m hit with an idea for scene or event.
But it’s also a good exercise to try to keep your mind on your characters and your WIP, while letting your mind get away from that part that’s got you stuck. Whether the scene is a complete scene or not, or ends up in the final draft of the book or not, doesn’t matter. Sometimes, it’s the very act of writing that will loosen things up and get your creative juices going again.
Read a book or watch a movie.
Sometimes I read a favorite scene from a book or watch a favorite movie to get myself inspired, and sometimes just for a plain distraction. This is not to say that you should just spend all of your allotted writing time reading or vegging in front of the TV, but viewing someone else’s creativity can help you with your own.
For me, my go-to things to watch when I get stuck or am feeling particularly uninspired are the Lord of the Rings movies or The Chronicles of Narnia. These are my favorites in both the book and the movie realms, and—especially with Narnia—some of my greatest sources of inspiration ever since childhood.
I don’t take ideas right out of these works, but to me, Tolkien and Lewis were some of the greatest fantasy storytellers ever, and simply witnessing their genius gets me excited. I do have to exercise some discipline, though. I don’t want to spend three nights watching movies I’ve seen before, and feeling very inspired, only to realize that I’m way behind on my writing goals because I’ve been watching movies instead of writing.
Discipline and temperance are key, but don’t be afraid to use someone else’s ideas to break loose that block in your own mind.
Does anyone else have any tried and true techniques for getting past those blocks, getting unstuck, or getting re-inspired? Please share!
All good suggestions . . . I find just turning off the computer and not thinking about the work in progress for several days tends to free up ideas.
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A simple but effective solution. 🙂 Thanks for reading!
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Thank you Grace for this blog entry! I run into this issue with my own stories and even my art kinda frequently and it’s annoying. I really like your methods of getting the creative juices flowing again.
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Hope that one of these ideas can help you out! 🙂
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Not really. I get stuck just thinking of blog post topics sometimes! They always come eventually.
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Well, you do a great job of coming up with blog posts! 🙂
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Writing a future scene is a great idea! I wouldn’t have thought of that one… I usually do the “go for a swim”.
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Yep, the exercise one is my favorite go-to thing for writer’s block. I use the writing a future scene when I’m really wanting to write something but just can’t think what. 🙂
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