4 Steps To Handling Writer's Block

[SEVERUSMAX]

1. Relax. Take a breather. (This one is actually RedhairedandFriendly's sage advice to me, but I had to mention it.)
2. Improvise, change, alter as needed. Do a little trial and error.
3. Connected to the former (based on something BlackSnake once mentioned), write not-so-great stuff and use a process of elimination to find the best ideas.
4. Ask yourself what you would do in such a situation. That always helps.

Any other suggestions?

 

[FallingToFly]

Find a good writing prompt.

I'm one of those people who can write a story about anything. (Come on, Lesbian Werewolves in Space? That's a three page epic already, and I'm up to my eyebrows in snarls and matted fur.) If you can give me a writing prompt, I can usually throw five hundred to a thousand words off in about an hour. Even if I get stuck, I usually have a blurb that can be cannibalized into something I was stuck on previously.

When all else fails, walk away from the computer and take a notebook with you. Go to a coffee shop and eavesdrop on a conversation nearby- write down a couple of sentences, try to work up a scenario. Go outside and write a down to the last drop of dew description of a blade of grass. Do cartwheels and get the blood to the brain, then jot down how silly you feel, and why, and what you were thinking, or what someone else might have thought seeing you.

Of course, you can always just kick things and swear and growl at people. That works too.

 

[SexSweetheart]

1. Relax. Take a breather. (This one is actually RedhairedandFriendly's sage advice to me, but I had to mention it.)
2. Improvise, change, alter as needed. Do a little trial and error.
3. Connected to the former (based on something BlackSnake once mentioned), write not-so-great stuff and use a process of elimination to find the best ideas.
4. Ask yourself what you would do in such a situation. That always helps.

Any other suggestions?

Sit back and relax while watching tv or a movie.

Some times, I move onto another story or a different part of the story. Sometimes I have an idea and jot the idea down and move on. In the editing staging those little notes expand. I can start with a story that is five of my pages long before editing. After editing it can be 20 pages because of the expansion of ideas.

Or if all else fails, read a story or book, there may be an idea in there that trigger a story.

 

[tanyachrs]

If you've ever done NaNoWriMo then you know the answer is: No thinking!!! Only writing!!!

If you force yourself to put down whatever fool thought comes out of your brain eventually you relax into it.

That said, outside of NaNoWriMo I'm terrible at making myself write.

 

[Ravlicious]

Playing "What if?" is also a great way to break out of writer's block. Just take out a blank sheet of paper or open your notebook and look at what you're trying to do. If you're stuck in the middle of a piece, write "What if..." this happened? Just write, don't think. After you've gone for awhile, see if you like it. Maybe you don't like it all, but there are some elements that spark your imagination. Go with it, and you won't be blocked. Or, if you haven't started a project yet, and that's where the block comes in, just take anything at all and play "What if?" What if someone tries to force into my house? What if I fell asleep watching TV and didn't wake up for so-and-so many years? What if I decided to get new carpeting, but the carpet installers weren't altogether normal? Or anything else. Get used to playing "What if?" and you won't be blocked.

 

[Liar]

Open a dictionary, pick a random word and try like hell to get it, of the idea it represents, into the next sentence.

Usually works for me to get over a temporary brain freeze. I usually edit it out later tho.

 

[Aurora Black]

If you're not easily distracted by background noise, make a playlist of songs that are somehow related to the theme of your story.

For example, at the moment I'm working on a new project that starts off bleak and sad, so the music that's playing is orchestral with violins.

 

[AchtungNight]

Research your subject. Come up with crazy what-if scenarios and play them out in your mind. Look for conflicts, dichotomies, issues worth exploring. Let your emotions spontaneously explode. Then rationalize it calmly, edit, and publish the story you produce. It's always worked for me.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I go do yard work or walk the dogs. Your brain will keep working on the problems even when you're not consciously thinking about it, so I like doing something physical that takes just enough of my attention to keep me from obsessing about the story.

It's OK not to write. I think we forget that sometimes.

Shanglan

 

[rgraham666]

Keep reminding yourself that you are actually good at it.

 

[Guest]

I don't know how many times I've done this, but if I am having problems on something half written, I will take the last four pages I've written and delete it. Then I start fresh and usually that takes care of any block I have.

 

[AchtungNight]

I don't know how many times I've done this, but if I am having problems on something half written, I will take the last four pages I've written and delete it. Then I start fresh and usually that takes care of any block I have.

Sometimes I've done that with entire stories.

 

[SexSweetheart]

I don't know how many times I've done this, but if I am having problems on something half written, I will take the last four pages I've written and delete it. Then I start fresh and usually that takes care of any block I have.

http://bestsmileys.com/ballons/2.gif Never did this. I have put it aside or by pass it until later.

 

[Jailhouse]

1. Relax. Take a breather. (This one is actually RedhairedandFriendly's sage advice to me, but I had to mention it.)
2. Improvise, change, alter as needed. Do a little trial and error.
3. Connected to the former (based on something BlackSnake once mentioned), write not-so-great stuff and use a process of elimination to find the best ideas.
4. Ask yourself what you would do in such a situation. That always helps.

Any other suggestions?

Write in a new place. I suggest a cafe or a park. Get away from the desk. Get away from the places that your brain has learned to associate with being blocked.

Write about other things besides what you usually write. If you focus on poems, try some prose. If you focus on fiction, try writing a letter to a friend. Hell, try a few pages of haikus. Just break the mold.

Try reading. Overdose on it. Read and read and read. That'll fuel you for new ideas, new directions, new perspectives.

Exercise a different art form. Write a song. Paint something. Sketch something. Sculpt something.

Coming from a different perspective: Spend a week getting a) a good night's sleep every single night, b) eating well, c) exercising. People don't give this nearly enough credit, but... few things can rejuvenate the mind more than these three simple practices.

 

[SexSweetheart]

Write in a new place. I suggest a cafe or a park. Get away from the desk. Get away from the places that your brain has learned to associate with being blocked.

Write about other things besides what you usually write. If you focus on poems, try some prose. If you focus on fiction, try writing a letter to a friend. Hell, try a few pages of haikus. Just break the mold.

Try reading. Overdose on it. Read and read and read. That'll fuel you for new ideas, new directions, new perspectives.

Exercise a different art form. Write a song. Paint something. Sketch something. Sculpt something.

Coming from a different perspective: Spend a week getting a) a good night's sleep every single night, b) eating well, c) exercising. People don't give this nearly enough credit, but... few things can rejuvenate the mind more than these three simple practices.

http://bestsmileys.com/ballons/2.gifYou have good ideas here. I have written in other places. I sit waiting in doctors with my pad, pen or my story in process.

For a while I had the worst block because of losing my job and other things. I drew for a time and read and just watched movies.

 

[SexSweetheart]

chat with someone about your ideas. They may not have the answer but you may be surprised that just chatting the answer will come to you. http://bestsmileys.com/drinking/22.gif

 

[SexSweetheart]

http://bestsmileys.com/hugging/2.gif

Nobody's playing here - bummer
http://bestsmileys.com/crying/2.gif http://bestsmileys.com/crying/3.gif http://bestsmileys.com/crying/10.gif http://bestsmileys.com/crying/13.gif

 

[MagicaPractica]

Listen to other people's thoughts on the creative process. One of my favorites is turning on the commentary of a really good movie. Some of the best bits in movies are improvised. Get yourself laughing and you will relax and start thinking "what if?"

 

[SexSweetheart]

Listen to other people's thoughts on the creative process. One of my favorites is turning on the commentary of a really good movie. Some of the best bits in movies are improvised. Get yourself laughing and you will relax and start thinking "what if?"

Agree, I have taken some of the background information and used it several stories. http://manuchanteur59.free.fr/rose_rouge.gif

 

[scriptordelecto]

Sometimes if I'm blocked, I have my husband giive me a 'sparker'. He gives me a sentence or a concept and I write as much as I can about it. Most of the time it doesn't go into the story, but it goes a long way toward unclogging the head.

 

[Seattle Zack]

Don't stop, don't do anything different, just force yourself to write. It will come, just start writing. Anyway, that's the advice Lawrence Block gives.

It sucks, I know it as well as anyone. Force yourself to write. I've suffered through it (and I know I will again). Even if it sucks, you'll find your second or third paragraph isn't that bad ... then you're rewriting it to set up the big scene to come, and before you know it, you're writing again.

--Zack

P.S. Jesus, SSH, that font and sig line are really annoying. Should I turn them off and wait 'til you're gone, or hope you get a clue?

 

[SexSweetheart]

Happy Halloween

http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/engel/teufel057.gif

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Writers block? What's that?

All I do is listen to the perverted characters running around in my head and the write the stories for me.

 

[SexSweetheart]

Writers block? What's that?

All I do is listen to the perverted characters running around in my head and the write the stories for me.

Happy Halloween

writer block is when you have an idea in your head but can't get out of your fingertips. Or can't think of writing anything. http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/engel/teufel057.gif