Tips and tricks to deal with Writer's Block.

[Sajarin]

Deadlines help but they don't produce quality. Especially if you are writing for the first time, your own book. Inspiration, true inspiration is the best cure to writint blocks, you must remember that there is only one story.

[Sciadoe]

I tend to put on some music and try to re-read over what I've already written. Usually when I'm feeling blocked I'm at a point in the story that I've anticipated writing and once I'm there I experience anxiety about it.

[bethdearie]

Whenever I have writer's block, I take a break from writing. I will watch a movie or listen to music until something falls into my head. It can take days even weeks before I can write again, and when I do sometimes I cannot stop.

[hannahoverstrom]

For a final project I had to write of retelling of Shakepeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Of course I waited until the last few weeks and by then I had no clue where to begin. I was able to overcome Writer's Block when I started writing rhyming couplets into stanzas that corresponded to each act. My poem was a success! My teacher even said she would enter it into a writing contest the following year!

[annareads]

Science says take a walk! http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/3 ... blogs&_r=0 Plus it's nice if you've been cooped up and writing all day Take your conscious mind off of it, and your unconscious will mull things over in the meantime. Does wonders!

[ravenclaw]

When I have writer's block I turn on some music or go for a run. They both seem to help quite a bit.

[moderntimes]

I find that the fastest cure for writer's block is an editor's deadline.

Boy, is that a fact! I worked for a newspaper and you aren't "allowed" to have writer's block!

But in truth... I'm now writing a series of modern American private detective novels -- the first 2 were purchased and published, and I recently completed the 3rd, now searching for representation.

And yes, sometimes I get stuck on how to resolve a clue or deal with a plot sequence, a particular conversation or situation in my novel. How do I get unstuck?

I simply take the advice of Monty Python & Holy Grail and "skip ahead, brother..." ha ha. What I actually do is, if I'm stuck on chapter 6, I just start writing on chapter 7 or 9 or 12, write there a while, and then I quickly find I can go back and finish the place where I stopped. After all, I "generally" know where the book is going, so it's easy for me to jump ahead to a new section of the story and pick up the action from that spot. Later I can rewind.

This seems to work okay for me. So others may wish to try it.

[leanndaniel]

The thing that almost always pulls me out of writer's block is reading. When I read a book, it seems I can't keep my fingers off of the keyboard for a while.

[Craig Meggy]

Whisky, neat

[bookomania]

Daydream. If I'm stuck, I essentially ponder the many different possibilities for where the story could go. I don't think critically about it, I just let my mind drift from option to option. This process could take anywhere from a day to a couple weeks. I like it because it isn't stressful and I explore all possibilities equally this way, like a one-person brainstorm session.

I also use this trick (yay!! someone I have something in common with) when i am stuck, i simply try to view the story from another writers point of view. Which plot would they take? How would they want the story to turn out? I have found that this helps a lot, especially when I am not sure which direction I want the story to take.

[Ryan]

Read something similar to what you're writing (if you get stuck midway) or read something new to get a fresh idea. It usually gives me some ideas. Also, art is very great for inspiration because of its visual content, which is great for poetry or suggesting vivid images from which to create a story, situation or character

[moderntimes]

Good advice, ryan!

I've found this helps as well. In addition to being a mystery writer, I also review mystery novels regularly for a webzine. Reading other mysteries, even if they're not within the specific "modern American private eye" subgenre of my own books, any sort of mystery helps joggle my brain.

What is necessary however is to not accidentally steal plot tricks or characters from other writers. Not a good idea.

[TammyO]

Whenever I experience writer's block I change my location and scenery. This seems to give me another perspective and opens up my mind to fresh and new ideas. Sometimes interesting people and places will make a light bulb go off and I'm at it again.

[moderntimes]

Just a couple days ago I found myself "blocked" in the new novel I'm working on. I'd written about 8000 words and it was sequential -- I started with "Chapter 1" and went till about Chapter 7 and then stopped.

What did I do? I simply started writing at another point in the book. I wrote several new chapters dealing with other characters and other "scenes" in the novel that I had floating in the back of my mind.

Now I'm at about 10k words and going strong.

[kezzstar24]

Usually when I write a story, I have a playlist of songs that I've either listened to and found they work with my story or they've inspired parts of the story. So if I start getting blocked up, I go for a walk or a train ride and listen to the playlist - sometimes I even end up adding songs and new directions to the story!

Failing that, a huge drink of water and a visit to the little girls room helps too, as disgusting as it sounds.