How do you get rid of writers block?
I’m working on writing a book and I didn’t get that far. Help!
- The official Taylor Swift
Tags: Writer's Block, Writing A Book
6 Responses to “How do you get rid of writers block?”
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June 6th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Taking a walk and observing everything around me helps. Or browsing through poetry/quotes on the Web, etc. Maybe an idea will strike at you.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
just try to relax and let your thoughts flow, dont start getting frustrated with yourself because it only makes it worse
June 9th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
You write! I used to practice an exercise, I believe the term for it is called “freewriting.”
I would simply get a blank piece of paper, and a stopwatch, and I would time myself for 60 seconds while I wrote down whatever came to my mind. I didn’t care what it was, whether it was a story idea or simply me talking about how I wish I had a new pen, I would write for 60 seconds.
And then I would take a look, and hope something in there gave me some inspiration.
Alternatively, you could try just telling yourself you’re going to write 1 page a dy, or 500 words a day, or whatever.
If you’ve got a Chapter outline, try switching chapters. Rarely do novelists write their books in order. Some chapters are going to be boring; switch to the fun stuff!
Otherwise, if nothing seems to work, leave it alone for a bit, and work on another hobby. Something that will energize you and get your creative juices flowing.
Good luck!
June 12th, 2009 at 3:49 am
I always listen to classical music to help me.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:48 am
It depends on what you’re writing. Do you know how there can be so many Law and Order TV series, and they never run out of content? Their stories are ripped from the headlines.
Read the newspaper. Real stories are always interesting and will get your thoughts going.
Some of my best ideas come from watching television and trying to guess what’s going to happen next. Quite often, my ideas are better than theirs, and I can go write that situation into my work.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
There are plenty of books and kits out there for would be writers, providing prompts and creative games to get the ideas flowing. I suggest you try one of those if you’re really stuck with your book. If you already have, or just don’t want to buy one, here are some other pieces of advice: This is what I do when I’m experiencing writers block:
1. Take a moment to just write nonstop, whatever you’re thinking. Sometimes a writer’s tendency toward perfectionism stops him/her dead cold in his/her tracks. Give yourself 15 minutes to be totally free of your “inner critic.” Set a timer and start typing – write whatever pops into your head, even if it is total gibberish, a shopping list, words that rhyme – whatever. The idea is to get your creative juices flowing. Some writers do this exercise every day before they begin writing.
2. Go back to a source of inspiration. Read the work of your favorite writer. There is nothing like inspired, well-composed prose to make you want to pick up a pen (or put your fingers on a keyboard). Look through pictures. Go for a walk and watch the people around you. Watch T.V. Surf the web. Find something that inspires YOU.
3. Get some exercise. Go for a brisk walk around the block, do yoga, ride your bike or use your treadmill whenever you feel blocked with your writing. Physical activity increases the blood flow to the brain and releases nervous tension
4.Take a nap, or better yet, go to sleep if you can afford the time. You just might be too tired to do this type of work. If you can’t sleep on it, just take a 30 minute nap. Hopefully, you will feel refreshed after the nap.
5.If you are writing about something that does not arouse your interest, think of a different angle from which to present your topic. Try to relate it to something that is significant to you or to your readers. For example, if you are supposed to write about whales, don’t write about things that can be found in an encyclopedia. Instead, write about nice places to visit where whales can be spotted or how intelligent they are.
6. When you are supposed to write about something you don’t understand much of, additional research will help. Search the Internet or interview knowledgeable people. You might pick up interesting information that can help you write even better.
7.Remember back at school in writing class when your teacher asked you to make an outline? Make one now. It will not only help you overcome your writer’s block, but it will also make your writing complete and more focused.
8. If your still having trouble, take some adivce from my favoirte author, tamora pierce:
Introduce a new character, a strong one with an individual style in speech, dress and behavior–one who will cause the other characters to review their own actions and motives to decide where they stand with regard to the new character. Don’t forget that with me, at least, new characters include animals: most characters will react to an animal intrusion of some kind in an interesting way.
Have something dramatic happen. As Raymond Chandler put it, “Have someone come through the door with a gun in his hand.” (My husband translates this as “Have a troll come through the door with a spear in his hand.”) Machinery or vehicles (cars, wagons, horses, camels) can break down; your characters can be attacked by robbers or pirates; a flood or tornado sweeps through. Stage a war or an elopement or a financial crash. New, hard circumstances force characters to sink or swim, and the way you show how they do either will move things along.
Change the point of view from which you tell the story. If you’re doing it from inside one character’s head, try switching to another character’s point of view. If you’re telling the story from an all-seeing, third person (“he/she thought”) point of view, try narrowing your focus down to one character telling the story in first person, as Huckleberry Finn and Anne Frank tell their stories. If down the road in the world you’ve created someone has written a book or encyclopedia about these events, insert a nonfiction-like segment (that doesn’t give the important stuff away) as a change of pace. Try telling it as a poem, or a play (you can convert it to story form later).
Put this story aside, and start something else: letters, an article, a poem, a play, an art project. Look at the story in a day, or a week, or a couple of months. It may be fresh for you then; it may spark new ideas.
If you have an intelligent friend who’s into the things you’re writing about, talk it out with him/her. My husband often supplies wonderful new ideas so I can get past whatever hangs me up, and my family and friends are used to mysterious phone calls asking about things seemingly out of the blue, like what gems would you wear with a scarlet gown, or how tall are pole beans in late June?
Most important of all, know when it’s time to quit. Sometimes you take an idea as far as it will go, then run out of steam. This is completely normal. Whether you finish something or not, you’ll still have learned as you wrote. The things you learn and ideas you developed, even in a project you don’t finish, can be brought to your next project, and the next, and the next. Sooner or later you’ll have a story which you can carry to a finish.
9.Finally, if you are still stuck, here is a link that was once recommended to me that you may find helpful:
is the best site for breaking writer’s block. There are tons of generators for plots, characters, alien races, gadgets… etc etc. And if nothing there floats your boat, the sidebar has links to other great generator sites.
Good luck!
EDIT:
I’m really sorry, I know it’s long, I was just trying to be thorough because I know how awful writers block can be. The more options I gave you, I figured, the more likely it was that you would find a method that works for you and will break the writers block!