Writing Tips and Techniques (Writing Help)

Cures for Writer's Block

Step One: Don't Panic.

It's okay that you don't know where to go next. If you're frustrated, take five. Allow yourself to have a break and come back fresh. Sometimes we work ourselves up about not knowing what to do next, and then we feel ashamed about not having gotten anything done. Chill. It's okay. If you're really stuck on the idea of watching another episode of that show, keep watching it until it doesn't feel good anymore and get it out of your system. You're a writer. You'll naturally want to write. It's okay to write when you want to and not because you should. What you resist persists. If you're distracted, stop shoving down whatever's distracting you and address it. Once you do, distractions have much less of a hold on you.

I don't want to go on too much of a tangent about this, but it helps to pay attention to what does and doesn't feel satisfying to you. If you get into the practice of noticing this, it's easier to control your ability to be in a headspace to write. That might be confusing, so let me give a quick example. 

I used to sit and play video games for, like, an insane amount of time. Like, once when I would younger, I went wild and played Assassins Creed for 9 hours. At some point, I realized that it wasn't satisfying to play longer than 2-3 hours. It's fun at first, and then I hit a point where I'm mentally exhausted, and I keep going just to keep going.

When you keep an eye on that point where scrolling on social media, binging shows, video games, etc stops being fun, then you can get good at identifying points for you to step back and ask yourself if it would feel good to write right now. 

Using Writer's Block to Your Advantage

It took me a while to figure out that I'm only ever "blocked" when there's something I'm unhappy with that I'm trying to make work. So for me, whenever I'm staring at my screen with a furrowed brow or idly spinning in my swivel chair, that's a signal to me that there's something about what I'm writing that I don't like and that I should back it up and reevaluate. It's mostly that I'm bored with where the story's going because I write willy-nilly without plans. 

Others may relate to my trigger, but I doubt this is the definitive reason people get blocked. If you observe yourself and pay attention to what proceeds blockage for you, it could give you some insight into what you need to do to resolve the blockage. 

Knowledge is power. If you know what's wrong, you have control over your blockage and you can take steps toward targeted solutions.

Keeping a Writing Journal

Journalling is my go-to process for getting through any stuckness. It's a very low-pressure way to start generating ideas. 

All you need to do is thought dump until something comes to you. If you don't know where to go next, write "idk where to go next." It's also really helpful to reiterate where you've already been. Acknowledge where you're going, what's already established, what just happened, etc. 

Throw out ideas and review how your characters would react. Characters are really good at carrying stories forward. Once they're formed and they have traits and personalities and preferences and inner turmoil etc, there will be a natural response to any scenario you put them in.

You don't need to have all the details figured out. Just brainstorm, and ideas will come to you.

Planning Ahead

I can't outine no matter how many times I've tried. But I do find that some light planning can be useful when you have some ideas for what comes next.

I like to keep some notes at the bottom of my document. This can be ideas for things you may want to incorporate, summaries of plot ideas, or even a summary of the next chapter so you can fill in the gaps without completely making it up as you go along.

Skip to the Fun Parts!

If you're bored with what you're writing or you're just frustrated, skip ahead and write a fun scene. You can always insert it later. And if you never use it, you had fun and got your inspiration juices flowing. Movies aren't shot in a linear fashion. Who said your book has to be written that way?

Sometimes it helps to write down whatever comes to mind. Don't get caught up in how cringey it might sound. You no longer have a blank page to work with, and you can revise it later. I like to use certain characters like the "at" symbol, asterisks, or dollar signs as a bookmark that I can easily find later with CTRL F. You can even write comments in MS Word and in Google Drive to specify what needs to be changed for when you come back to it later. 

When All Else Fails

Sometimes we just need to go back to square one. Reread everything you have so far. By the time you're finished, you'll probably have some ideas. You're also likely to have found a couple of errors by the time you're done.

Chapter updated 2022