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Writer's Block

Shotgunner75 asked: How do you get over writer's block?

A great question. Writer's block is something that every writer dreads facing, and it can be extremely frustrating. To really understand how I get over my writer's block, I need to tell you a bit about my writing process. When I first start a story, I create to documents. The first document is the manuscript. It contains the overall story plot, relationships, and potential scenes or lines of dialogue I want to add to the story. Essentially the manuscript is a place for me to write down my thoughts. The second document is the finished product, which then gets uploaded to Wattpad for all of you to read.

A lot of times my writer's block comes about because I have several different directions the story could go and I'm not sure which would best suit the overall plot. Sometimes I have a one liner that I really want to add in this specific spot because I feel it really helps to develop the characters. In these cases I write out multiple different rough drafts of to see how well they could flow. I know for a specific part in The Strength of a Soldier, there's a conversation with Winter that took me ages to figure out how to write properly.

It also needs to be understood that I always have a beginning and an ending in mind. What happens in between is usually where I struggle a bit. Sometimes I just write and write and crank out five, ten chapters in one day. Other times it's a bit of a snail's pace. For example, the Frozen Heart story I wrote in two days. The One You Feed however, has given me many cases of writer's block, especially now that I'm writing the two separate endings.

I have several different ways of coping with writer's block. The first thing I usually do is step away from it. I know I'm not going to get anywhere if I just stare at the cursor on my screen, and I don't ever want to try to fight through the block because then the work I produce is substandard. Sometimes you just leave and wait for the well to refill itself. I know after Chapter XI of The One You Feed, I stepped away and began working on The Strength of a Soldier until creativity struck again.

I feel another great way to cope with writer's block, for me at least, is to find sources of inspiration. There are so many great works of fiction out there, books, movies, TV shows, and you might be surprised to find that they often inspire you. My go to show when I get writer's block is Doctor Who. There are so many great speeches and moments in that show, and very often they help me find the inspiration I've been lacking.

Basically, I see writer's block as a brick wall standing in the path of my writing. Now I can do one of two things when I face this wall. I can punch through it, but doing so requires a lot of energy and I might injure myself in the process. Alternatively, I could go around the wall. Simply acknowledge its presence, and start finding a way to go around it. Sometimes I need some help finding which way I should go around (up, down, left, right?) and other times the path just presents itself to me.