How can I combat writer’s block?
I want to begin writing a story soon, but I always have trouble being creative in making my plot and keeping it organized. What strategies can I use to create my plot and make it interesting to the reader? And how can I get through writer’s block?
- Alice
Tags: Writer S Block
June 25th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Develop self confindence through positive affirmations.
Take breaks but be persistent.
June 25th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
in my experience, walking and thinking about the subject helps alot. it also helps to listen to music you find enjoyable. also researching the subject you are writing about jogs alot of ideas. good luck!
June 26th, 2009 at 2:10 am
Take a break from thinking about it for awhile and clear your mind doing something else. That’s what I do. There are some times during the week when ideas just come to me and others when I can’t create anything. You’ll come up with something, just let it come to you naturally.
June 27th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Writer’s block usually comes from too much self criticism. One of the best ways to combat writer’s block is to free style write. What you do is think of the general plot that you want to write about and then just write whatever comes to your mind. Set a time limit for this. The important thing to remember is not to over analyze your thoughts or think that the material won’t work. Just write everything down.
Later on you can go back and utilize some of the ideas that you wrote down.
It is a start. I wish you the best of luck and don’t get discouraged.
June 28th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Screw the plot, and screw the idea of keeping it organized. Make stuff up–add in a character. Pick the name out of the phone book. Make this person wild. Let this person create mayhem, if only for a few paragraphs. You can always edit this out later. I did this a couple times on a stalled novel, it totally screwed up my plot outlines, but it transdimensionalized the book and made it better. And it made it much more fun and fulfilling to write.
You might possibly find that you’ve got a block because you’ve constrained yourself to the point of boredom. If you’re not enthused with your writing enough to overcome the block, the reader will certainly not be enthused, either.
Writing, to me, is very similar to constructing a building. But it also needs to remain a mysterious journey for the author, or the reader will find the finished piece sterile and drab.
You might find this approach of “controlled abandon” (not “abandon control”) will help you tap back into your creative powers and “get the juices flowing” again.
Best of luck to you.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:44 am
Jhglittergirl and Boomer Wisdom have it exactly right. (Thumbs up to you both!) Look at what you said in your question:
“i want to begin writing a story soon, but I always have trouble being creative in making my plot and keeping it organized.”
Your problem reveals itself right there. You’re trying to keep things organized way too early in the process. In the beginning, you need to brainstorm, free write, let it all hang out. Shut off the inner critic and just let it flow. The inner critic is helpful later, because it can help you refine your raw material. But if you give it reign too early in the process, it’s going to kill your creativity and you’ll end up with writer’s block. In other words, don’t be controlling! Let the story give life to itself.
Here’s my obligatory book recommendation for you. Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write. She talks a lot about this kind of stuff.
Good luck!
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:46 am
get a peice of paper and just write. Write about anything. About dinner last night, about the TV show you saw, even about a pair of pants you saw at the mall. Then, just keep writing for 5 to 10 minutes. After, reread it and incorporate it into a story.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:14 am
I read Harry Potter. It goes in order chronolgically. It has vivid detail, and it uses simple sentance structure. Sometimes a writer has block because you can’t think of how to simply state things.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I keep a pad of paper and a pen with me at all times, so when I get an idea, I can just jot it down. I am also writing a story, and I asked my mentor (high school english teacher) what I should do, and she suggested I start in the middle. Your story doesn’t need to be organized perfectly to be good. As long as it has some sort of flow, it will organize itself.
Much luck
July 9th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Writer’s Block/ Writer’s Anxiety
Hack your way out of writer’s block
I recently had occasion to do some…errr…research on writer’s block. Yeah, research. That’s what I was doing. Like a scientist.
All the very best of luck to you.
Kevin, Liverpool, England.