Sensible Shoes is taking the night off. I don't know the details, but I'm sure it couldn't hurt to send positive thoughts to her and Sensible Sister. (Remember, positive thoughts should contain no adverbs, no passive verbs, and no synonyms for "said.")
Tonight I wanted to talk about the bane of every writer's existence, writer's block.
The blank page stares at you, daring you to mess with it. It was all flowing beautifully inside your head, but somehow the words aren’t getting to the paper. Your characters have gone on strike and left your plot stranded without a route from Point A to Point B. You suspect your characters are at a party somewhere, talking about you and laughing.
Everyone’s got their methods for dealing with writer’s block. Here are some that various authors have advised:
Just keep the pen moving. Set yourself a quota (whether in words, pages or time), and don’t stop until you’ve met it, even if you’re reduced to writing about how you can’t think of anything to write. Don’t worry about quality, just keep writing and figure you’ll edit later. Assume you’ll be throwing out some pages.
Take a break. Yes, I realize this directly contradicts the previous bit of advice. Go take a walk, do a workout, go window shopping. I tend to get ideas while I’m in the shower, probably because there’s no way to write them down and my cats refuse to take notes for me.
Approach it from a different angle. Draw a sketch of your characters, or design their house. Pick out songs for a soundtrack of your story. (I’ve had some luck with that one, and then I can put on the songs while I write.) I’ve done tarot readings for my characters and jarred some interesting ideas loose that way.
Read poetry. It makes you look at language in a different way.
Work on a different writing project. Preferably something in a different genre. Resort to writing exercises if necessary.
Do research. If overdone, this can become a way of avoiding writing altogether. But take a little time out to read up on something relevant to your story: the time period, the main character’s hobby, untraceable poisons, etc. You may run across something that belongs in your story.
The morning pages. Julia Cameron (of The Artists’ Way fame) swears by this one. Every morning, make a habit of writing three pages in your journal, on any topic that pops into your head. Don’t worry about whether it relates to your “real” writing; this is just mental limbering up. To hear Cameron tell it, the morning pages will not only get you writing more, they'll increase your self-knowledge, overhaul your career, cause you to experience colors and sounds differently, and improve your love life. Hasn't happened to me - but I am writing more.
And my own personal method:
Make lists. You can’t figure out what happens next? Make a list of ten possibilities, or better yet, twenty. The first few will be obvious, and most will be unworkable, but somewhere on the list will be a viable idea. Make a list of possible reasons why your character left her lover, or why your villain turned out to be such a rotten person. Make a list of the things your character wants most, pick out the top two, and consider what would happen if the character had to chose between them. Write your main character’s bucket list. It beats sitting around listlessly.
Question:
What’s your best method for dealing with writer’s block? (Besides concentrating on that giant royalty check that’ll come any day, of course.)
Exercise:
Make a list of your hero’s flaws and your villain’s virtues. Shoot for at least 10 each, but you don’t have to show your work.
Then, write a scene where your protagonist confronts the villain. Have the scene show at least one of your hero’s flaws, and at least one of the villain’s virtues. Use your own story or one of these scenarios:
Belinda learns that her rival Adelaide is plotting to marry Belinda’s beloved Lord Postlethwaite-Praxleigh (pronounced Puppy) in order to get her hands on his jeweled sash.
A callow youth and stout companion are about to return in triumph with the Jewel of Togwogmagog, only to have an unexpected rival waiting with a nasty surprise.
Incorruptible detective Scotty Blaine delivers a warning to the local mob boss.
Goodwife Thankful Goodheart is feeding her hens and minding her own business when she sees that awful Agnes Addlepate giving her the evil eye.
A stranger has come to the Wiltchester Dragon Farm, wanting to buy a baby dragon, but ace dragon breeder Jocasta Entwhistle doesn’t trust him one bit.
Private investigator Celia Spunk gets out of her car on a dark street, only to be confronted by the Chainsmoke Killer.
International superspy James Buns has been captured by an eccentric megalomaniac, who plans to use an elaborate invention to kill the hero and his unfortunately-named girlfriend.