Crushing Writer’s Block
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Ah, writer’s block. Our old nemesis. I get this question a lot: how do you keep writing? What do you do when you’re stuck? Well, there are a couple of steps to that answer. The first is recognize that everyone’s process is different. What works for me might not work for you and vice versa. That being said, I do think there are some things that go for everyone. The first being…
Get Your Butt in the Chair! ~ Look, I know some people work out their writer’s block with a nice walk or run, and I support that. I’ve done it myself, but I think that’s a really tricky line to walk. It’s so easy to get distracted, too easy, and then you find yourself not coming back. If, and I say this with great reticence, if you decide to go for a walk or something else that takes you away from your work, then make a plan for coming back and commit to it before you leave your chair. And then, like Nike and Shia LaBeouf say, just do it!
Honestly, there comes a point where that’s all there is: just you sitting down and doing the thing. BICHOK = butt in chair, hands on keyboard.
Pre-Accept Your Mistakes ~ Please understand that what I’m about to say, I say with love. Your first draft is going to be bad. It just is. You are not going to get it right on the first try, so let that shitake go. Any writer will tell you that the first draft looks incredibly different from the final product (which is probably why we guard our first drafts like illicit treasure; we don’t want anyone seeing that hot mess). Anne Lamott even has a whole chapter in her book, Bird by Bird, called Shitty First Drafts because everyone (yes, everyone) writes a terrible first draft, so give yourself permission to just write it without worrying about getting it right. There’s a reason first drafts are called vomit drafts, because that one just needs to get on the page. That’s it. It just needs to exist. And tell your internal editor to shove off. That guy is at your beck and call, not the other way around. You are in charge of this draft, so own it. 💪 As a side note, I highly recommend this book. It’s massively encouraging and will show you how not alone you are.
Write About What You’re Writing ~ Okay, now that your butt is in the chair and you’ve accepted that your first draft is gonna be a mess, what do you do if you’re still stuck? This is the part of the blog entry where we start to explore options. So allow me to take a moment to say this:
You’re probably gonna have to try different things to see what works best for you. Systems are like that, and make no mistake, you are building a system for yourself. Because what is a system if not a series of habits. So don’t be afraid to experiment, but be sure to give each method a proper try before giving up on it. Right, back to the ideas.
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When I said write about what you’re writing, I mean journal about the story. What’s happening? What are your obstacles? Identify why you’re stuck. For instance, maybe a character has run into a situation you don’t know how to get them out of. So journal about it. Heck, talk to yourself out loud if that works. Little Johnny is stuck in a well. He can’t shout for help because he laryngitis. You gave him laryngitis because it needs to develop into something more serious later for a different set of conflicts, but we need to get Little Johnny out of the well so his older brother, Sam, can have a character-building moment and save him. So what are Little Johnny’s options? Are there stones in the well? Maybe pieces of the well’s wall that have broken off? If so, maybe Little Johnny can pick up a stone and bang it against the wall of the well to make noise. And just write (or talk) yourself through the options. Don’t be afraid to explore a path and actually write out the scene with your various ideas. We’re not carving anything into stone; you can always go back and make changes if an idea ends up not working.
Try Scene-Jumping ~ If writing linearly isn’t working for you, why not jump to the next scene? If you know where you’re going, writing ahead, so to speak, can give you some distance from your stuck-point and maybe working backwards will help Then you can go back and write in whatever connects the two scenes. Or even if you don’t know where you’re going, write a place you think you’re going or a place you think you might end up. Even if what you write ends up not getting used or gets totally changed, you explored an option.
This is a good time to point out that you will have to make cuts. Stephen King addresses killing your darlings in his book On Writing, another book I highly recommend. You’re going to have to cut things you really like. Really, really like in some cases. Case in point, the very first scene from my newest book, Across the Ice, ended up getting cut*. I loved this scene, and being that it was the beginning of that entire book, I was really attached. I had tried it from two different perspectives, though, and it just didn’t serve the larger story enough to justify keeping it.
*Deleted scenes can serve as extra goodies for your readers. Cobalt & Limestone level subscribers to my Patreon just got to see that scene from both perspectives, so never delete anything!
Outline ~ This one is pretty self-explanatory but also a little contentious. Some people are just not outliners. I’m personally not anti-outline, but it just doesn’t really work for me. I did it for Into the Fire, but halfway through, the book took a whole different direction. On the other hand, some people swear by outlining. Or maybe the aforementioned journaling turns into an outline if you don’t stop with the immediate problem. Again, try different things and see what works for you.
Break It Into Pieces ~ But what if you kind of suck at outlining like I do? Well, there’s a hack for that. I’ve had to do this before because I suffer from that aforementioned difficulty. I wish I could remember where I heard this advice so I could give credit (maybe a SCBWI conference?), but I’m honestly not certain. Anyway, you know how there are different plotting systems like the three-act structure, the seven-point story structure, the nine box system? Well, this method takes all those and cannibalizes them. Think of it like working down from the top of a pyramid. You start with one piece, which can also end up being your elevator pitch.
Beauty and the Beast but on Mars.
Now make it three pieces. Inciting incident = Beauty gets stranded in the Mars wilderness and is saved by an alien. Midpoint = She discovers Beast has a whole family he’s been hiding from her, and their traditions dictate she and the beast are now bonded in something like marriage. Conclusion = They open an interstellar diner with the whole family working together.
Now make it five pieces. All you have to do is insert two new pieces: “Beast teaches her how to garden on Mars and she teaches him to cook” goes between pieces 1 and 2 from before, while “Beauty returns to Earth but realizes she loves her alien” goes between pieces 2 and 3 from before.
Then you add again and again until you have a loose framework for the whole story.
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Roll the Dice ~ Literally. Get some dice, assign a path to each number, and roll. Then one of two things will happen. One, you write whatever that path is and learn some stuff about your story. Or two, you’re disappointed by the result and you realize that’s not the direction you want to go, which is helpful in its own way. I know some people do the same thing with tarot cards, but I personally like dice. I feel like it’s easier for dice to be more random.
There are tons more ideas out there, I’m sure. As many as there are types of writers. Again, though, get your butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard. In the end, it comes down to you sticking with it. Do you have any other suggestions for busting writer’s block? Let me know in the comments below 👇.
Thanks for reading!
Next Time’s Entry: Interview with Horror Author Beverley Lee.
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