5 Things to do When You Have Writer’s Block

We’ve all been there. Hunched over the computer, a cold cup of coffee staining the lacquer on your Ikea desk, staring at the blinking cursor on a blank page. The all too familiar writer’s block has crept in and stolen the words from your fingers. How do you get rid of this mental blockade and get to writing the story you need to tell? Here are five things to do to help you get rid of writer’s block.

Make a Character Tree

You know, like a family tree. Start with the character or characters you know are going to be in your story. Grab a piece of paper and write a pivotal character’s name in a box at the top of the page, then draw a line to the next character they are connected to. Decide on another character that is linked to the second character on the tree. Continue this until you run out of links in that one tree branch (you might need a big piece of paper). Pick another character and write that character’s name on the top of the page and go through the same process. This character can be the antagonist or another key player in the story.

Towards the ends of each tree branch the characters should become more and more distant from the main story. For example, If the branch started with Anakin Skywalker then linked him to Obi Wan Kenobi, the last character linked to him on the branch would be Sebulba. A character that is of importance to Anakin’s story but not hugely impactful on the main story. Once you have branches for each pivotal character in your story you can use this tree as a reference when you are stuck. Look at the character branches to create scenes between linked characters that can move your story or provide tension for the character(s) to overcome.

Take Your Main Character Out to Dinner

Once you’ve nailed down your main character, spend some quality time getting to know them. Often, when writer’s block sneaks in, you have run out of conflicts or scenarios that will advance your characters through the plot of your story. Wherever you are stuck in your story, pick the character you’re dealing with and get them all dressed up and pick them up at 7pm for dinner at their favorite restaurant. Then ask your character all the questions you would ask someone on a first date.

“Where are you from?” You’d say.

“Oh, I’m from here. ” they reply.

“Wow, I can’t say that I know anyone from here,” you’d retort.

“Well, now you do.” They smile, “Where are you from?”

“Well, I’m from Virginia but I moved here a year ago,” you say. “What’s your favorite color?”

“My favorite color is green, the kind like the bulbs on Christmas lights. It’s dark, but has a certain brightness to it.”

So on, and so on. You continue this dinner date with your character until you feel like you are sure you know them so well you know what they would do in any given situation. Now, if your story takes you to somewhere where that character is being tested, the stakes are high and the chips are down, you know you could write them through hell and high water. Spend some time getting to know your characters and it will be so much easier to write them into your stories or write characters into scenarios that take you out of your writer’s block.

Take an Outrageous Turn

If you are stuck in the middle of a story and writer’s block kicks in — or you’re still staring at the blank page — take your story somewhere absolutely ridiculous. Say you are writing a story about a young girl who is learning to play the piano and becomes a prodigy. You are stuck at her recital and you are looking to increase the tension in the story and raise the stakes before she reaches the climax. Open a new document and copy and paste what you have so far. Imagine your story taking a left turn into traffic, and really go for broke with the drama. Here’s an example of taking your story down an avalanche of crazy conflict:

Kimmy sat down to the piano and placed her hands at the ready, every finger poised to strike the hammer of each calculated note. She started to play, but to everyone’s surprise, her fingers fell off one by one. She couldn’t get her hands to play the right notes. She winced at each gasp and groan from the audience as she feverishly banged her nubby hands on the piano keys. Kimmy finished playing and the room fell silent. She stood from her seat, walked to the middle of the recital stage, and took a bow. The audience remained silent, not a sound or even so much as a shift of weight in a chair. Kimmy walked off into the wings and the next player slowly made his way to the piano, sweeping away Kimmy’s fingers and launching into a concerto. Kimmy ran out of the theatre and fell into a manhole.

This is the most outlandish turn of events, and not the direction you saw the story going in (though it makes for great fantasy). How can you alter this fantastical tale into something useable? Instead of her fingers falling off, Kimmy could instead make a glaring mistake in her recital. Since the story has set Kimmy up to be this great talented prodigy, it would be detrimental for her to make a blunder at a recital. Take the spin off story and turn it into a point of tension or a major event that can advance your character’s story and get you out of writers block.

Read Your Genre

I’m not kidding. The best writers read. I want to write great horror, so I read Stephen King and Neil Gaiman and the like. Be cognizant of the authors who dominate your genre, and the contemporary up-and-coming authors as well. Keep yourself on the pulse of your genre and you will pick up many tricks and ideas to use in your own work. Of course, I’m not saying go read a bunch of books and copy the ideas.

A key component to overcoming writer’s block is to get more ideas, and reading in your genre will help to spark those when you’re stuck. When a professional needs to learn something, or needs to know how to do something, they go and shadow or observe other professionals who are doing those things. Writing is no different. We are all apprentices of those who come before us. There is only one way to observe a writer, and it is by reading their work.

Read Books about Writing

If you are stuck somewhere in the writing process, read a book about how to write. Chances are you already have the story in your head, but you may be lacking the motivation or direction on how to get it down on paper. There are a million books on how to write, how do you choose which ones you should read that will help you out of your writer’s block?

Pick a Genre Specific Book

Pick a book or books that are tailored to your specific genre or written by a prominent author in the same genre.

My favorite book about being a writer and writing as a profession is On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft by Stephen King. Obviously, he is a genre specific author, but the book is a wonderful account of King’s journey to professional authorship and how he moves through the writing process.

Research the Best Writing Books

There are TONS of books out there on writing, so you will have to do a little digging to figure out what professional authors in your genre are reading or have read to help their writing process along. There are a lot of resources and sites you can check for lists of books on writing.

For general writing help and inspiration, I suggest every writer reads Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It is an honest, real book on being a writer and writing as a profession. I blew right through this book, not only because it’s a short read, but also because it reads like a creative memoir.

Okay, these are my top five things to do when you are feeling that writer’s block. If you need any help or suggestions, or you would like me to find and recommend genre specific books to help get you out of a rut, shoot me an email at atinkerwrites@gmail.com.