Writer’s Block happens to a lot of us.
by Ruth Harris
You hate your book. You hate your characters. The plot sucks.
You have no talent and don’t know what you’re doing or why you’re doing it. On REALLY bad days, you even hate your computer which just sits there like a bilious toad and never, not once in living history, came up with a single idea. You’re mad at your cat, your dog and whichever politician is yapping away on the TV—none of THEM ever came up with an idea, either!
We’ve all been-there-done-that, including me who’s been writing stories, novels, articles, blurbs, flap copy, and blog posts for almost four decades and still, now and then, wonder WTF I’m doing. Lost, I tell you. Beyond clueless. Out of gas, out of inspiration, out of ideas. Hopeless. You’ve got Writer’s Block!
So what do I do to keep on keeping on? What have I learned about how to bust the block?
1) The Writer’s Block Tool Box
Really simple but sometimes all it takes: If, as usual, I’ve been composing on a computer, I pick up a pad and pencil. Working by hand slows me down and forces me to think more carefully. Often writing a few paragraphs by hand will get me going again.
I haven’t had to resort to a quill yet. Or even a stone tablet and chisel. But I don’t rule them out, because you never know…
2) Geography
If a tool switch doesn’t work, try changing the venue. Leave your desk and go to the kitchen table, a coffee shop, a park.
Sometimes just moving around can make a difference. A short walk, once around the block: the street and sidewalk remain but the block might be gone. A run, a Pilates session, even getting up from your desk and making the bed or emptying the dishwasher can get you out of your funk. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a great idea pops up.
3) The Meh Character
We’re talking about the character who just lies there like a blob, does nothing interesting, says nothing provocative, and drains the energy out of every scene in which s/he appears. Even you, the creator, are bored to death by this loser.
The first thing I think about when confronting the meh character is his/her name. Maybe I’ve given this character a boring name. Sue, John, Jim, and Jen might be examples; names so common, they evoke no images or associations, give me no idea of who they are or were they came from.
Another possibility is that I’ve given the character the same name as someone I’d cross town to avoid because I don’t want to hear one more version of their latest drama with their rotten boyfriend/girlfriend or yet another installment of their decades-long battle with crabgrass.
Obvious solution: change the name. Look at baby-names sites. Plug “random name generator” into a search box and you’ll find a galaxy of suggestions. Pick a name you’ve never heard of so you can start fresh. Try something ethnic that will evoke a whole background and set of experiences.
Or else: Choose a name that has a strong association: Angelina, Brad or Madonna, for example, to get you going again. You can always change the name again later with a search and replace.
4) Writer’s Block Escalation Strategy: The Sex Change
When the name change doesn’t help, go for the nuclear option: change the character’s sex. Leave the character exactly as you’ve written him/her but try a sex change. IME, the literary sex change, although it will probably feel traumatic at first, can work magic and the character who once seemed flat & boring suddenly isn’t. Putting a female character into what was once a male POV can really shake things up. Vice versa works, too.
You can also play with gender orientation: boring straight character/clichéd gay character? Do a switch: Different person, different motives, different experiences, different goals may well be the transformation that turns the meh character into someone you and the reader will care about.
As always, if the trick works, you can always change the character back again.
5) Sympathy For The Devil
Seems easy to write the villain, doesn’t it? They’re bad. Bad, bad, bad. Not to mention horrible, awful, and absolutely vile. They evoke terror, horror, revulsion and you have plenty of ideas for scene after scene of unrelenting evil. So what could go wrong?
The answer? Plenty.
Rotten, miserable human — or supernatural — being. Blood dripping from fangs. Evil oozing from every pore. Dictator, serial murderer, assassin, malicious neighbor, vicious e — problem is, even evil can get boring after a while. Unrelenting vengeance, torture, and/or destruction give the writer nowhere to go after a while and, sooner or later, the writer is stuck and just can’t come up with another can-you-top-this? twist.
What’s needed is nuance — and nuance can come in the form of traumatic experiences ranging from neglectful and/or over-indulgent parents to war, famine, global financial upheaval. Give the reader a glimpse of why the devil is doing whatever s/he’s doing. Let the devil speak for him/herself in terms of motivation, goals, and longings. The point is to create a character, not a check list of horrific flaws.
Hannibal Lecter, one of the most famous of all villains, was intelligent, sensitive and thoughtful. It was juxtaposition of those qualities with his lurid crimes that made him such a fascinating character. Without them, he’d be just another cannibal. Yawn.
6) Plot Problems
I’m a pantser and my best stuff comes out of character but when I face the oh-god-what-happens-next block, I try an outline. Because I’m severely outline-challenged, my outlines usually emerge in the form of a list: scenes that need to happen, plot points, character details and future cliffhangers.
The truth is, even in the form of a list, most of the time the outline just doesn’t work for me. What does help is going back to the beginning and reading slowly. Very slowly. Several times. I will frequently find that I’ve left out something crucial and I’m rewarded with the aha! moment.
You may find the opposite: that you’ve revealed too much and must take something out — a particularly juicy morsel — and save for later.
7) Code Red: The Last Resort
When all my fixes for Writer’s Block have failed, I talk out the problem — usually with my DH. What we’ve found is that often it isn’t what he says — he doesn’t know the ms. nearly as well as I do — but what I say. Turns out I’ve known the solution all along but needed to give it breath and the receptive ears of an interested listener.
by Ruth Harris (@RuthHarrisBooks) in February 25, 2024
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How about you, scriveners? What do you do when you and your WIP are having a spat? Have you ever tried any of these “fixes” for Writer’s Block? What do you do when you’ve got Writer’s Block?
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I have a ‘stuck’ book at the moment, so I’ll try some of your ideas. Maybe I’ve got the wrong person as protagonist. That’s one thing I’m considering.
Thanks for this list of ideas.
Perfect timing for me, Ruth! I’m into the third book of the series, which I’ve already received a large part of the advance for, so I HAVE to write it, and I’m…meh. Could be February blues. Could be I don’t like the supporting characters as well in this book as I have the last two (I think that’s it.) So I will try your suggestions, which are very much appreciated. Thanks!
Melodie—Yeah. Meh happens. Ditto Feb blues. Maybe try to change the characters so you LOVE them. Or HATE them. See if that helps. (Could also turn them in animals. Cute, adorable, cuddly. Or otherwise. See if that helps. lf it does, then just change them back to people.) Ahhhh! The Power!
PS: Obvious warning: dup your file and save a copy. You know. Just in case.
That last one works well. My wife will make suggestions, which triggers other ideas, and I tend to come up with the answer myself.
Ruth, you had me LOLing here – just last night I complained to a friend that writers in movies always suffer from writer’s block (and are always rich and never seem to write)! 🙂
My block usually has two reasons: not enough plotting beforehand or a plot that’s not working. Going back to my notebook and pen helps. Also, throwing ideas around with a friend.
I like your sex change idea. Might try that just for fun soon!
“always rich and never seem to write.” Just an accurate reflection of reality. Right?
Great suggestions, Ruth,
I don’t find myself blocked much, but those times I’ve run out of steam I’ve done everything on your list. And they work.
V.M.—Just keep trying. IME something will *eventually* work. Usually a frustrating trial-and-error and then try again process. Good luck!
Alex—The super frustrating thing is that IME we *always* know the answer. It’s already in us. We just don’t know it yet & prying it out become the real issue.
CS—Thanks! You mean I have the answer but just don’t know it???? Aaaargh — (but IME all too true.)
Yep, I’ve availed myself of all these strategies at one time or another.
Liz— Haven’t we all? Time-tested, author-tested, proven to work. Usually. 😉
I’ve probably suffered through all those at one point in the past…decade, but I think they’ve been mild enough for me not to really pay attention much. The closest I’ve come to genuine writer’s block is when I’m writing a plot line that doesn’t quite make sense and starts to peter out, but after going back a few chapters, I find a very plausible tangent that makes what I’m writing suddenly work, thus getting my third wind.
Currently though, I’m tryiong to write the final chapter of a book (3 of 4) and it’s been paralysis by analysis as I try to decide what characters are moving forward and who aren’t.
Ruth, sometimes I think we’re conjoined twins sharing the same brain. Those tricks work for me, too, although fortunately I don’t have time lately for WB.
But who, pray tell, is your Designated Hitter? (wink)
Debbie—My DH = my darling/damn/delightful husband…;-)
#7 worked for me when I got stuck in the middle of plotting for my last novel. I just couldn’t see my way out. Then my husband and I took an 8-hour road trip, and we spent the entire time talking about the issues I was facing. By the time we got home — Voila! — all solved.
Ruth, I had to do a second read on #4. At first I thought you were suggesting I have a sex change to get through writer’s block. Whatever works to clear the road, I guess. Happy Sunday! *wave to Anne*
Garry—Yep. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hope you have a chic alternate wardrobe on standby! 😉
My most successful method of addressing writers block is to sit in the corner, in the dark, with a voice recorder at the ready for saving the great ideas that pop up, and talk to myself about the story and characters. I keep the window closed while I do this or the neighbors might think I’m crazy.
Switching from a computer to writing by hand to escape writer’s block sounds like a good idea. I’ve worked on a computer or on my phone for so long my handwriting has deteriorated somewhat—and I was always proud of my penmanship.
G. B.—Maybe you can leave some of the iffy ones in suspended animation? Ahhhh….our secret power. Shhh!
Kay—Yay!!! Wonder why….getting away from your desk? the mild distraction of being in a car? change of scenery? free association as you chat w your husband?
Lester—Thanks for your interesting take! Who knows? Maybe the neighbors will think you’re communicating with a higher power and bow down in awe…
Rich—Try and see if handwriting helps. It does for me. Maybe the neural connections get switched in a productive way. And maybe even your once-stellar penmanship will return and revive!
One of my novels languished for decades, half-done, not so much because of writer’s block but more because I didn’t know the premise of the story and I didn’t know the ending. When I returned to the story (having written and published a whole ‘nuther one in the meantime), I dove deep into stream-of-consciousness noodling on scrap paper, about 20 minutes a day, for a few weeks, to find that necessary ending. (“What if she does this here? No, that would mean that he has to do that beforehand, and he can’t because of the situation with his brother. OK, what about this idea?”) One day the ending appeared at the end of my pencil, blinking innocently at me. It had been there all along, but I hadn’t dug deep enough to let it out into the open. Now that I had the ending, I could write the rest of the story aiming toward that.
The stream-of-consciousness noodling, without censorship or editing, is a most useful tool to get the juices flowing again.
A timely post, Ruth.
I’ve been fighting with a certain manuscript for close to a year. I try to put it aside but those pesky characters keep tapping my shoulder or thumping my head trying to get my attention. So, I pound out another 2 or 3k words, then get brain freeze.
Due to a neurological issue handwriting is out. I can hardly sign my name.
I don’t have a laptop so changing venues might be a chore.
I thought about the sex change thing, but couldn’t make the subplot work.
Sad to say, I don’t have a DH to talk it through, though I might start recording stuff on my phone and maybe talk things through with myself.
So, I think for me it’s back to the outline. Maybe insert some scenes that could transition well or fill in some blanks.
Thanks as always. *Waves to Anne.”
Great tips, Ruth! Thank you. 🙂