You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. ~Jack London
Creative constipation. AWOL Muses. Inspirational drought. Any way you say it, writer’s block is bad news and – just like robocallers and debt collectors – it always strikes at the worst time.
Like when you’re under a deadline. Or three.
What causes this phenomenon? This article by David Taylor offers some interesting theories. My favorite is this:
Writers are sometimes not ready to write
Perhaps the hardest thing about writing is not knowing what to write…he key to knowing what to write is knowing the format of the thing you’re writing.
Imagine trying to make a chair without any concept of what one looks like or what its purpose is. Yet everyday I work with writers attempting to do just that: to create a how-to article, novel, short story, essay, business letter, or even screenplay without knowing it has a seat, legs and back designed to support the weight placed on it.
Some say the best way to overcome a fear is to face it head on. In my experience, the same goes for writer’s block. When I get stuck on a story, I use these Three Tricks to Woo My Muse:
- Concentrate on the secondary characters.
Secondary characters are lots of fun to write. Not only do they provide comic relief, but they can also provide insight into the main character’s back story. An upside is that well-crafted secondary characters often inspire sequels/series [see below]
- Sharpen the creative focus.
Writing a chapter too daunting? Try an interlude. Anything from a passage of dialogue, to an action sequence, to a love scene can work. The purpose is to get back in the habit of writing. Often times, once I’ve finished an interlude, I consider its place in the main plot and continue writing from there. Any pieces that don’t fit can be cleaned up during the revision stage.
- Start a new project.
Some stories aren’t ready to be written. Or, perhaps, the story you’re writing isn’t the story you’re meant to write. This was the case with me a year ago. I was ¾ through an urban fantasy when writer’s block struck. Big time.
I simply ran out of plot. But I loved the characters so much that I couldn’t let them go. So I took a minor character – mentioned only briefly in the outset of the story – and decided to write something off the cuff for her. That character was Siren Jones, the unlucky in love harpy from How to Tame a Harpy, which became an American Title V finalist in 2008.
So how do YOU combat writer’s block?
**Find more articles on the craft of writing or the publishing industry HERE. Want to know more about my work? Visit me at www.michellelaurenbooks.com. **
