What to do with a stuck writer. Especially when the wordsmith is you. What does a writer do to move the story forward when we feel like we have writers block?
1) Just write.
Write poorly and fix it later.
2) Write about anything you want to write about and put it in your manuscript.
Describe something and watch what happens. Just write.
3) Play the What if…? game.
Ask what if questions. What if the character goes spelunking? What if they lose what they most love, get what they most want, run for supreme court judge, get trapped in a moon launch, are despised by paparazzi, stalked by a younger sibling, allergic to seafood, have a romantic crush on a bull rider, have one leg two inches shorter than the other, get a mysterious text, are mistaken for someone else, wrongly accused, go blind, invent a mean people warning device, get the wrong vaccination, run away from the dog, disguise themselves to spy on someone, discover their parent has a secret identity, design the White House Christmas card, become the presidential kid’s shopping nanny, find Santa has run away from the North Pole and joined the ice follies?
4) Read an advice column.
But when you read the advice column, don’t read the answer. Use the problem in your work in progress.
5) Write a title.
Like Bill Myers, make up a wild title and write to the title. My Life As a Smashed Burrito with Extra Hot Sauce.
6) Weave in your own life.
Write into your manuscript something that happened in your own life. The cat that slept in your fiddle case, the goose you stole from the zoo, the best Christmas gift you received. Your most embarrassing moment.
7) Incorporate a current issue.
From new technology, ridiculous trend, and reality shows to gun control, medical care, surrogate mothers for movie stars. Add in a trending hot button.
8) Add tunes.
Play music and write to the feelings the music evokes.
9) Shift characters.
Turn a female character into a male or visa versa. Put the character in a new setting such as on a dog sled, in Amish country, at the south pole, on a movie back lot, in a factory that makes plastic doggie poopie.
10) Research.
Find a weird fact and add the fact to the story. Like what’s the capital of North Dakota, how often does a goose poop (every 8 minutes – trust me on this one), or what’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
11) Obsess.
Give a character an obsession.
12) Pen a prolog.
Write a prolog to your story. For Jerry Jenkins, that developed into several prequels for the Left Behind series.
13) End with an epilog.
Similar to penning a prolog, skip to the end and write the epilog.
14) List intriguing lines.
Dash off a list of compelling lines and see what you can weave in.
· “Have you ever killed anyone?” (Dean Koontz)
· “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” (Charles Dickens)
· “The Marleys were dead to begin with.” (Charles Dickens)
· “Today I decided to eat whatever I wanted.” (Elizabeth Berg)
· “I woke up the product of a single parent relationship and went to bed a princess worth eight million dollars.” (Princess Diaries)
15) Occupation.
Add a unique occupation. A modern sheep shearer. A sequin maker. A ferrier who moonlights as a tattoo artist. (I am not even making this up.)
16) Questions.
Ask your character questions. Conduct an interview with your character and be surprised at what appears.
17) Recall.
Remember your most painful experience. How did that event look, smell, taste, sound, feel? Write a scene that plunges your character into those strong emotions.
18) Two bad choices.
DiAnn Mills corners her character into choosing between two wrongs.
19) Be desperate.
Don’t worry about getting it right. Just get it written. Put black on your white paper.
20) Less serious.
Have fun. Be outrageous.
While there is no such critter as writer’s block any more than there is donut-maker’s block, nurse’s block, or mechanic’s block, writers occasionally get stuck or write themselves into a corner. That’s the time to write anyway. Write poorly, but write anyway. During the editing process, the words will be polished, and readers will never know you had a rough patch.
For You
Changing the point of view in your chapter or story often provides the right shift to get the writing moving. Tune in to Your Best Writing Life Podcast when Linda Goldfarb and PeggySue Wells talk the importance of Point of VIew.
The set of Quick Guides to Writing Well are concise and packed with helpful writing tips. FInd them HERE.
