Prisimpad: A Guide to Wattpad, Writing, and Whatever

ON WRITING: That Block Hurts

Let's say you're blocked on one specific part, yet you can see another part clearly. You're reluctant to write that part because it's too far into the future...write it! Who cares if it's Chapter 10 when you're only on chapter 5? You can connect the dots. If that is what is inspiring you, then write it. You'll be surprised at how many times writing a scene in the future will help you in the present.

Carry a notebook or something with you at all times. Now I know that's not practical, that's why I don't follow it. I do, however, utilize the notepad in my cell phone. I get my best inspiration when I'm at my primary job. The problem is, it's the worst time for me to be inspired. I'm supposed to be, you know, working. So how can I write stuff in a notebook? Well, I can't. When I have that nagging idea I will sneak off to the bathroom and write it down in essentially a cliff notes version on my phone. Then when I get home I'll hopefully have time to type it up properly. If not, I at least have it written down for when I do have time. If I thought about it, I would say at least half of Ewah was written that way. A good chunk of Draygon Frost was also written while I was at work.

I'm sure a lot of these are all things you already thought about, and have tried, when you've gotten writers block. But like I said, there's no simple fix. There isn't a magic pill you can take for writers block. All I can do is tell you some methods I've done at least once in my writing life. Either you've tried it before or you haven't. I honestly wish I could give you a simple fix, there just isn't one. What works for me might not work for you and vice vera.

Here's a couple more suggestions...

Try writing a one shot/flash fic that involves that story. Take one of the characters and write any random story you can think of.  You never have to use any of what you write, but do it. Have that character going to the zoo, have them getting stuck in an exploding spaceship, it really doesn't matter if it's related to your story or not. Ideally it will be because it'll be something that will flesh out your character, but if it gets the writing mojo working then go with it.

Evaluate your entire plot. Yes, I'm a believer in just getting the first draft down and dealing with the holes later, but if your writers block is that strong, evaluate if it's an issue with your plot having a major hole or just plum being bad. There is something to be said about a thin plot that no amount of rewriting can fix. It's why I killed my 2012 Nano project, The Reapers Daughter. The plot was too thin. I loved the characters but it just wasn't going anywhere. Don't be afraid to scrap the plot and start over. It might seem sad, but sometimes it's for the best.

Analyze what's making you struggle. This kind of goes in line with the above paragraph, but I also think it's important to stress it twice. Are you blocked because you don't like a character? Too many characters? Feel the story is dragging out too much? If you can figure out a specific underlying cause to the block, you can fix it. If you have a multi-POV book and you can't figure out how to write a multi-POV book, then maybe focus on just one character at a time. If you have a character that is just useless to the plot, maybe figure out how to make him/her useful or write them out of the book. There is always a solution to a problem causing the block, even if it means starting the book over. So figure out what the problem is and make some solutions.

Reread what you wrote. At least reread the last chapter, but the entire thing will be ideal. Before I start a new chapter, I will almost always reread the last one, especially if I've been away from the story for a while. You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been. While you're reading you can make notes of things you want to change in a rewrite, but ultimately you'll be amazed at how it might jog things in your mind. If I stop a writing session in mid chapter, I'll also reread what I wrote to refresh my mind. It really does help.

Throw out your goal. If you're one of those writers that sets yourself a daily word goal, then toss it out the window. That doesn't mean you can't re-implement it at a later date, but for that moment in time chuck it out the window. Ignore the goal and write without that pressure over your head. This is especially crucial during an event like NaNoWriMo, we get too caught up in the 50K word goal and forget we're still supposed to be having fun.

Try a writing prompt. A writers prompt is an image or text of some kind that inspires a person to write. Someone could show a picture of a dark tunnel and you have to come up with two paragraphs of a story using that tunnel.

In some ways, I suppose I could argue that I use writing prompts regularly. Whenever I want to describe something that I'm stuck on, I resort to google images for ideas. Those, in essence, are my prompts. If you're stuck on something, try that for a little while. Have someone or something else give you something to write about. You can find a way to work it into your story or just write for the sake of writing. But it should get you writing. It doesn't have to be detailed, it can be as simple as "The sky is blue" if that's enough to inspire you. Create a world where the sky suddenly turns from blue to black, why did it turn black? Did it kill everyone? Etc.

Do a word war. You can find a word war thread in the IYW club. This is where two or more people set a time and a word goal. Then they compete to see who can reach that goal. It can be something like 500 words in 10 minutes, 1000 words in an hour, etc.

While I don't know if this would be considered a writers block issue, for the past couple of books I've had what I like to call writer ADD. It's where I sit down, write a sentence, then suddenly get up. Sometimes I have a reason for getting up, other times I just get up like I'm going to go do something before realizing I got up for no reason. It's been a long while since I've sat down and wrote non-stop for the entire writing session time I'm giving myself. This is okay. Don't get mad at yourself if you do something similar. You don't have to write an entire chapter in one sitting. You don't.

Unless you're publishing and you have a deadline looming, then there's no reason you can't write in short bursts. Write that sentence, get up and do something else, write another sentence, do something else. Eventually the chapter and/or story will be done.

The words will come. Trust in that above all.