Edit like an Editor: A Wattpad Featured Guide ✔

Part vii. How to Avoid Writer's Block

Everyone's heard of it before.

Writer's block.

I get chills just thinking about it. We've all fallen victim to it before. But why?

Writer's block can happen for a number of reasons:

• Idea block: You don't know what's going to happen next.

• Idea hurdle: You know where you want your story to go and you know what you want to happen to your characters, but you don't know how to get there.

• Self-doubt: You know what is supposed to happen next, but as you begin to write, the idea seems far-fetched or out of character.

• Boredom: The next scene just isn't that interesting to you, but you know you still have to write it to get the plot where it needs to go.

• Everything's wrong: You have one of those days when everything you write just seems wrong.

• Performance anxiety: If you read a particularly well-written novel while writing your own, you suddenly see all the flaws in your own work, or you're letting the opinions of your readers get to you.

• Terror of the blank page: An irrational fear that incapacitates you.

It helps to know that writer's block can take anyone as their victim, amateur or professional; it does not care. So how do you not become prey to writer's block?

Brainstorming:

Brainstorming can sometimes be overlooked when it is one of the most basic and necessary skills crucial to a writer's success. It's especially important when starting a new story and invaluable when it comes to maintaining the ambition and focus necessary to complete it.

Don't try to halt or discipline your brainstorming, no matter how inconvenient it is, brainstorming is what turns an ordinary story into an extraordinary one. Brainstorm day and night, whatever you're doing, wherever you are, whenever you can. Jot down notes as they come.

There's now reliable waterproof cell phone cases, so there's no excuse you can't jot down your shower epiphany.

So long as you brainstorm constantly and productively during both the outlining and writing processes, you will always be fully prepared to begin writing⏤without agonizing over the starting sentence or paragraph.

I will be reviewing the brainstorming process more in the Flow, Pace & Timeline Section.

Gather Your Brainstorming Tools:

First, focus your mind on what you're going to write and about—and why you feel the need to tell this story. When you make your intentions clear, your brain is prepared for the sort of brainstorming that results in plot, characters, theme, structure, setting, and whatever else you need to contemplate to get this story on paper.

There are a number of software programs you could use to brainstorm (and plenty of writers like them), but there's scientific evidence that the old-fashioned way—writing with pen and paper—taps into slow thinking, which is beneficial at this stage.

Create the Time and Space for Brainstorming:

Once you're ready to fire up your brain, begin wherever you have the most heat, the element that has been driving you to write this particular story, that keeps it in the forefront of your mind, whether it's a compelling situation, a particularly fascinating character, a dramatic and overarching theme, or the climactic and memorable ending.

Give yourself at least a two-hour block of uninterrupted time to do nothing more than focus on writing. Keep asking yourself what the story is about and what needs to happen.