I read something the other day which made me laugh. Bad writers never get writers’ block! I think there’s something to that. I suppose if you believe everything you write is great, you’ll never get stumped by making your plot work, or defining your characters just right, or worrying that your story makes sense.
For those of us who do getting blocked, how do we get UN-blocked? I’m sure there are a lot of suggestions and many of you have ideas to offer, and please, feel free to do so. But, until I hear from you, I’m listing a few things that help me.
My blockage doesn’t stem from being unable to write anything. It comes from trying to make what I have written work. Another words, I become unsure of whom the bad guy should be. OR how I want the body to be found. OR the logic of why the victim would be killed in the first place. Or how to start the chapter.
As you can see, it’s the mystery part of my humorous, romance, mysteries giving me the most trouble. The humor comes fairly easy. The romance…well, as long as it’s a little steamy, I can get by with it. Of course, I have to make it funny. That’s just what I do. But the mystery deals me misery.
So, when I’m struggling…which is most of the time, here are a few things I do to get my brain to going again. These are in no particular order.
Watch movies. Especially mystery movies. After all, movies are visual stories and you never know when watching one will send you in a direction you hadn’t thought of.
Write out-of-order. After I’ve fretted over my problem for a while, I sometimes decide to move forward and write a chapter I have planned for later in the book. Most of the time, it will be a funny scene I’ve planned on using, and believe it or not, while I’m writing the chapter, sometimes I get ideas for the problem chapter.
Brainstorm with a writer friend. I would suggest a family member, but from experience, I don’t get the best feedback from my family! Email a fellow writer the problem chapter and have them offer critique. Many times they’ll pick up on something that’s right in front of me, but I’ve had such tunnel vision, I can’t see it.
Pull out the instruction books. Like every writer, I have a ton of “how to” books, so I get them all out and read about the craft of writing. Again, once in a while, a spark will happen and I can move forward.
Read random passages. This is my favorite tip. I especially do this when I’m trying to start a chapter. If I can ever get that perfect first line, regardless if it’s chapter one or thirty-one, then I can go with it. So, I pull out novels I’ve read and flip through, stop at random pages and read the first line. I can’t tell you how many times this has worked for me.
Here’s an example. One of the random lines I read had something to do with a dog’s tail thumping the floor as his owner answered the door. From that, I got…By now, all over town, tongues were wagging. I’m not saying that’s a great line. I’m just saying it was enough to get me going again.
So, that’s my top five ways I cure my writers’ block. What’s yours?
Ann Everett, Best Selling Author
In a suspense novel I was writing, I once got so confused with all the twists and turns that I had no idea who the villain actually was. Had to set it aside for long enough to become unfamiliar with it, then reread it from the beginning before I could sort it out and continue.
I’ve learned that when I get blocked, it usually means I’ve missed something important or got started down the wrong road. Minor characters have a way of trying to steal the limelight sometimes and maneuver to get the story centered on them.
Thanks Gay. You’re right. Sometimes we just have to put some distance between us and the story, clean out the cobwebs, to get everything straight in our heads.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to share your method.
~Ann
Cleaning out the cobwebs definitely helps. Swimming and walking clear my head as does sitting and staring at the sky. I can write entire paragraphs in my head, really terrific ones, and then I have to run and find paper and hope I get it all down. It happens while I’m driving, too and then I wonder how I ever got to my destination without an accident!
As you watch movies, I read novels. Someone else’s characters often give me insight into my own, or their writing inspires a word, phrase, idea, scene, for me. And those books on writing, even just reading a page or two will help. Thanks for your suggestion of Robert Olen Butler’s book, Ann. Although I don’t subscribe to his index card method, his others have helped me.
Just keep writing, Ann. I adore your characters.
Hi Linda,
Thanks for reading and commenting. I’ve just taken up swimming several times a week, but I usually have the grandkids in the pool with me, so not much time for writing in my head!! But you’re right about walking and swimming and any other form of exercise helping to get the juices flowing again. Not only physical, but the old mental juices too!
Why am I not getting your blog notices? I’m pretty sure I subscribed to it, so I’m going to check that out right now.
Thanks again and have a great day.
I’ve tried responding to this twice and get an error. That little thing on bottom checking if I’m human is giving me a problem – and I am human!!
I haven’t blogged in over a month so that’s probably why you haven’t gotten any. Too much time on querying and other writing (new story) but I will get back to it. Thanks for trying. If you go to my website http://www.linda-rosen.com you can sign up somewhere on the home page, I think at the bottom. Let me know if you can’t find it.
And, enjoy the kids in the pool!
I checked it and I am subscribed. So, when you post again, I should get it. I know how it is, there just isn’t enough hours in the day!!
I loved your line about the tongues wagging – it made me really want to know what they were talking about! I agree, that when you are in it for the long haul, you have to keep giving yourself a new angle to come from or you will get bored – or blocked. I usually think it’s a good time to bring in a new character – one that will shake things up a bit!
Janice xx
Hi Janice,
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I’m going to check out your blog and follow it.
Many thanks,
~Ann
Hey, Anne, I must be one of those writers … you know the ones who don’t get writer’s block? I don’t. Like you, I sometimes get stumped, or cornered as I like to say, between the path I believe my story should take and the path the characters create for themselves.
This happens when I get caught up in the synopsis, or too detailed of an outline.
I find the best way to overcome writer’s block is to do so at the beginning of my book, in order to avoid author intrusion.
When a new story idea strikes me,it takes me days and sometimes weeks to outline the characters and each of the 5-page history I make up for them. Everything from their date of birth to the life they lead, their childhood, their likes and dislikes, their astrological signs, their friends, their enemies, their pet peeves…and of course, the picture on line that most resembles them.
Then there is a Character file that I summarize for each of my main characthers and that I keep close to me when I write.
This has saved me countless times from taking a wrong turn and finally boxing myself into a giant sized dead-end, liable to create writer’s block. Nothing is harder to do than recognizing we have taken a wrong turn and having to back out and start again.
I also gather pictures of the surrounding locations in the book.
Hope this helps. It has helped me.
Wonderful advice, Joss. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Just got back from a writer’s conference where I attended some really great sessions. My head is spinning from all I heard! Maybe I will blog about some of it!!
~Ann