Here’s what I know about myself. If I stall for a few minutes with the writing, then I know I’m afraid of my book. It isn’t that I’ve run out of things to say, or that the book really sucks. It’s fear. That horrible, wriggling thing that destroys the creative process. Usually, it happens some time around page 160 and then again on 220. If you think about it, that’s about when we are hitting a major plot turn in the book.
There are some people who have a block before they ever sit down to write the book. You can stare at the blank pages for hours/days/months.
I get it. I do.
I promise you don’t have to suffer like that any more. Once you acknowledge the fear and can name it, it’s usually much easier to push through. Ask yourself why you are afraid of this next bit? What’s happening with the characters that doesn’t feel right? What is it that really scares you?
Whatever the answers, don’t let that stop you. There are ways to work around the fear. When I’m writing non-fiction and I can’t think of a good lead, sometimes I start the story with a quote I know I want to use. When I’m writing fiction, I have lots of different tricks to share with you.
SMASHING THROUGH WRITER’S BLOCK
- I’m sorry but there’s no such thing. It’s all mental. It’s important to tell yourself and to identify the problem.The most important thing, especially on a first draft is to remember that it is a FIRST DRAFT. It is supposed to be crap. Give yourself permission to write crap and you’ll be amazed by what happens.
- That blank page can be so frightful. I know. It’s the unknown. Write anything. I started a book with the follow: She watches someone die, and then she collapses. That’s how Like A Charm began. Write anything down. It’s a draft. You can go back and change it.
- Move away from your computer. Grab a notebook, pick a scene and write. Or pick a character and write about him or her. Put them in a place and let your mind go.
- Freewrite about anything. Just start putting words on a page. I saw a guy at Starbucks and just write. It doesn’t have anything to do with your book but it will help you.
- You can also do timed writing. For 20 minutes you are going to do as much as you can and just put anything on the page.
- very quickly three minutes I want you to take this phrase and do what you will with it. Don’t think just write.
- I couldn’t believe… you have three minute
- You can do a character study, interview them, get to know them better. Find out what they want to do next.
- Have you written a synopsis for the book. This might be a good time, even for pantsers, yes I’m one, to sit down and plot a little of the book. Just what they want to see happen next.
- Skip ahead and write the next scene where you know what happens.
- Brainstorm, even better brainstorm about what happens next or why you are blocked with a friend.
- My NO. 1 favorite tool to smash through writer’s block, is to write the end first. It’s worked for everyone I’ve told. Once you have a beginning and end, it’s just middle parts to sort.
These are the things that help me. What works for you?
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Oh this is so helpful. I suffer from “writer’s block” because I feel pressure to follow all the rules, to have everything perfect and in its place the first time around–the fear that a shitty first draft is proof that I’m a hack.
My perfectionism rears its head every time, and I find that it’s easy to talk myself out of writing if I plan ahead for a time to write. But I’m printing this out and am going to read it every day.
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Evangeline, You really do have to give yourself permission to write a crappy first draft. And you have to steal moments in your day to write. Any time I have a 15 minute break, I’m at it. But I had to train myself to write in sprints like that.
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I used to get “writer’s block” – and several times it became its own self-fulfilling prophecy. I’d get stuck and tell myself it was WB, and then I wouldn’t bother even trying because I had WB. Once I realized I was doing this, I stopped even thinking about it in those terms. One bad day or week doesn’t mean I can’t write. It just means I need to try harder – and use some of the tips you listed. The piece of advice that really helped clear up the WB was ‘give yourself permission to suck’. You can fix any writing problems, but only if they’re on the page.
Thanks for the awesome post, Candace. =o)
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B.E. You are welcome. Fear can rule our lives if we let it. Being aware of what is going on is half the battle.
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Actually, I tend to relish the blank page. Of course by the time I sit down and stare at it, I’ve spent the previous month or two plotting and replotting until I know my story from start to finish, at least in broad strokes. By that time, I’m excited to sit down and actually get words on the page. I can’t wait to see what all of this planning will turn into (hopefully something good). I have to plan my stories out or I’ll be one of those who just stares at the page and wonders just what the hell I’m doing. I actually just finished putting my plot for book two into synopsis form, which tends to make feel more real and ready to go. I’m getting pumped to dig in. First though, edits must be completed on book one.
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Jim, You’re smart and know what works for you. That is a very good thing.
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All great advice Candace! I find that getting up and going for a drive or a walk on my own lets me get away from the desk and lets the characters come out. When I hit a roadblock it’s usually because things changed on the page and I’m trying to figure out where to go after that
It always turns our just fine.
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Sybir, Getting away is good advice. As long as you don’t run away from your story.
LOL That’s my problem. If I go too long, I always have trouble getting back into it.
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I hear people say there’s no such thing as writer’s block, but truth is that a block is something standing in the way. Maybe one person’s block is fear, but that’s still a block. And I’m still a writer.
But mine actually isn’t fear. I write with a magical ball of yarn unwinding ahead of me and when I’m missing key pieces in my subconscious understanding of the story, the yarn stops rolling. Block. My solution isn’t reccommended for most people but it keeps me productive. If I can’t develop the missing pieces within a few days in a way that satisfies me, I shelve that project and let it percolate in my subconscious while I work on another project formerly shelved.
Something always flows, even if it isn’t the story I’m “blocked” on.
Eventually, the ideas will come again to that story and I’m off and running again. I’m not afraid I won’t have an amazing idea; I simply wait until I do. It can be frustrating when I don’t, but that’s just life. And it is a block to good writing. And I am a writer.
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Megs, Everyone has their way of work, and you’ve found what does it for you. I would respectively argue the “missing key pieces” is actually fear. Our subconscious is absolutely a better writer than we are, but it still is afraid. We just may not know it at the time.
I do agree that moving to something else, even for a short time can free up that creativity. I’m lucky that I have to constantly switch back and forth between my non fiction and fiction worlds. If I’m having problems with one, I can move to the other.
Like I said, we all have our way of working things out.
My only caution with switching to a new project, is that I know hundreds, really hundreds, in my writing workshop who have four or five projects they’ve never finished. 
The idea behind my Fast Draft class is to push through even when those words won’t come, because then something really magical happens and your subconscious does write the story for you.
Thank you for sharing.
And for the record, I’m not saying you are wrong. I’m just saying to other writers out there to be cautious about switching to a new project. And I appreciate that you prefaced your comment with the idea that it might not be best for everyone. 
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I always, always try to caution people NOT to even try my method unless they know how to control it. It can spiral out of control very, VERY easily.
But I must also respectfully say, no it’s not fear. I have experienced the kind of fear that paralyzes me and the kind of fear that can be easily overcome by simply starting. Simply not having fleshed out enough connections or having discovered a satisfactory answer to a question yet isn’t fear.
I have one story that I can’t pry into as deeply as I want because I don’t know why a character stopped painting. The answer to that question is going to be integral to the plot so until I come up with something that resonates with me in addition to making sense with both the character and the story, I’m focusing on other storylines in the book. But that isn’t fear. That’s lack of knowledge.
You could argue I’m afraid to walk forward in the dark, not knowing where my story is going, but I’m not. I’ll write forward as far as I can, letting answers magically appear, until something actually stumps me. Then I spend a while trying to find the answer that will unstump. Sometimes, the answers come after a lot of soul-searching, thinking, etc. Sometimes, I have to step away until something in my subconscious clicks because the conscious mind ain’t cutting it. That is my writer’s block and it really is an insurmountable block sometimes.
But it isn’t fear.
I agree with you that the real power is in naming your block. Then you can start to work your way through to the solution. But that doesn’t lessen that it IS an obstruction requiring a solution.
And since I’ve named mine, that’s why I go ahead and finally use my last resort method of temporarily shelving a project (which to all new writers, I say, DON’T DO IT UNLESS YOU’VE SPENT WEEKS AND WEEKS TRYING EVERY SINGLE OTHER THING YOU CAN).
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Forgot to mention (smacks forehead): Number 8 works best for me: Skip ahead and write the next scene where you know what happens.
I had one story that would not let me keep writing ’cause I kept screwing up the tone (don’t ask me how I managed that because I haven’t the foggiest), and I finally just went and wrote the last scene of the chapter because I knew it was one of the five that defined the story and boom! I was back in the right voice and writing away. I like it when that happens.
But for me the most important way to beat writer’s block (and why I say that the above is also a last resort) is to just KEEP WRITING. Yes, I’ll dump some out, but unless I truly hate, hate, hate it for about 5000 words and counting (at which point, I know I’m doing something wrong), I’ll get stuff I can keep and turn into gold.
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Megs, Thanks for saying that. YOU ARE SO RIGHT. The most important thing is to keep writing.
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Thanks Candy! Great post. I’ve gotten further on my current project because:
1. I joined your class and it helped motivate me and keep me writing especially your class back in November. I wrote more in those two weeks than I have ever written on any project
2. I used plot cards to come up with a whole bunch of scenes before I started writing. Then I sat down and wrote them out. Some didn’t flow easily and I just moved on to the next one. Funny thing was is that as I started writing more scenes would pop in to my head and I kept filling out more scene cards.
3. The last scene was one of the first ones I wrote. It helped me a lot thinking about how to get to where I was going.
4. Now I’m looking back to see where the gaps were and I’m filling those in as well, and as I do more scenes are popping in to my head
I’ve never finished a first draft, so just finishing this will be an accomplishment in itself