Writer’s block. No matter where you are in your writing career, chances are you’ve encountered a roadblock that brings your progress to a screeching halt. Sometimes the answer is simple. You’re tired or you need something to eat. Other times it’s because there’s something not working in the plot. But sometimes, the reason you struggle to write is more elusive. And that’s when it can shift from a minor inconvenience to a writer’s worst nightmare.
Understanding Writer’s Block
Compounding the anxiety that this obstacle brings is that many writers simply don’t believe writer’s block exists. If you google it, you’ll get opinions that range from take a deep breath to face your fear to stop imagining things. Not incredibly helpful.
Instead, it might take some time to examine what exactly writer’s block might be. It might be stress induced, or fear based, or even your imagination running wild. But until you can put a name to it, that beast will continue to rear its ugly head at the most inconvenient moments. Luckily, there are some resources that can help you not just name the reason for your block, but tame it.
Books to Beat Writer's Block
The War of Art
Author Steven Pressfield defines writer’s block in one word: resistance. This resistance comes in many forms and its sole purpose is to stop your creative flow. But he doesn’t just describe what this resistance looks like or what form it can take, Pressfield gives you tips and tactics on how you can overcome resistance whenever it rises. Written in short chapters, some as short as a single sentence, The War of Art is a handy tool in the battle for embracing a creative life.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Rick Rubin is a legend in the music business. Many of the artists he works with describe his genius as his ability to help them tap into their inner creative well. If you need to overcome the block preventing you from creating your art, The Creative Act can help you reexamine how you look at creativity from a variety of angles. According to Rubin, anything can be art. Creativity isn’t about your output, it’s about your relationship to the world. When you look at it as simply a part of your life, art changes from something you struggle with to an inevitability.
On Writing
If anyone knows the ups and downs of writing, it’s Stephen King. Though he is a prolific writer, he’s had highs and lows in his career. On Writing is part memoir, part craft novel, but the lessons on how to nurture your craft while persevering are priceless for any writer. It’s a glimpse behind the curtain, in equal measure inspiring and entertaining. At the core, you’ll get a frank discussion on how to overcome any obstacle you might face—including writer’s block.
Helpful Apps and Tools
Sometimes the biggest obstacle standing between you and a finished manuscript is a problem with the story. Maybe a character stopped cooperating, or your plot just doesn’t work the way you want it to. The longer you let these problems continue, the more they fester, leading to a block that can derail your progress and lead to more frustration. If you’re struggling to see solutions from new and interesting angles, there are some creative resources you can turn to.
Fabula Storytelling Cards
From start to finish, Fabula wants to help you tell better stories. Each deck comes with 40 cards broken down into 11 asset cards, 15 hero’s journey cards, 3 character cards, and 11 editing cards. These all combine to tell almost every kind of story you can imagine. You can use these to help plot your story or to jumpstart your brainstorming sessions when you get stuck. They even have analysis of popular movies and television shows to help you see the cards in action.
The Story Engine Cards
The Story Engine began as a Kickstarter for storytellers. The company wanted to help writers tap into their creative well, find fun ways to build exciting new Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, and help writer’s tell better stories. The original deck comes with 180 cards that combine to create more than 30 billion different prompt ideas. You can use these to build a new story or help spark ideas in a fun and creative way in your current manuscript. They even offer expansion decks focused on specific genres like horror, science fiction, mystery, backstory, and more. The possibilities are endless, making this a perfect addition to your writer’s toolkit.
The Most Dangerous Writing App
Sometimes, you just need a little bit of pressure to turn your worrying brain off and kick your creative brain into overdrive. That’s where The Most Dangerous Writing App comes in. You set a timer and go. The catch? If you stop writing, all your progress will be lost. That’s right, you can’t stop, you can’t save, all you have to do is write.
For the excessive overthinker, you can turn on hard mode, which makes it so you can’t even see what you’re typing until you reach your goal. Extreme? Maybe. But it’s free, so why not give it a shot?
Other Tips and Tricks
Often, the trick to beating writer’s block is to find a way for your brain to switch gears. When you’re stressed, it’s hard to think. And when it’s hard to think, it’s even harder to problem-solve. This can easily snowball into a block that hinders your writing for days, weeks, or even months at a time. These tricks are used by productivity experts in various fields, but they’ll all work to help overcome and even avoid writer’s block in various stages.
Take a Walk
Going for a short walk has been shown to boost creativity by as much as 60 percent. Some of the reason this works is that exercise lowers the stress hormone cortisol and releases happy brain chemicals like endorphins and dopamine. But the other reason is that it activates what’s known as the default mode network. This is the area of your brain that become active when you’re resting. Even though you’re not exactly resting while you’re walking, the areas of the brain responsible for critical thinking and decision making shut off, allowing the default mode network to work its magic.
You’ll discover that as you relax, ideas and thoughts that were churning in your subconscious will bubble to the surface. Walking for as few as ten minutes will help shift gears in your brain and when you sit back down, you’ll be recharged and energized, as well as more creative.
Keep Writing
In the same way that The Most Dangerous Writing App forces you to stop thinking and keep writing, making yourself sit and write can often help you work through your block. If a scene isn’t working, try writing from a different perspective. Change the tense, or write your character in an entirely new world or situation. You probably won’t ever use what you wrote, but the exercise can help you look at your character, world, or plot from a different point of view, and sometimes that’s all it takes.
Another trick can be simply write a list of possible ways forward and don’t let yourself stop until you reach ten new ideas, or fifteen, or twenty. Creativity is like a muscle, and it needs to be pushed and flexed. While it can feel frustrating, forcing yourself to do these exercises can spark interesting ideas or help you see the problem in a different light.
Use the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro technique is a productivity hack that experts swear by. You simply set a timer for 25 minutes and work until the timer goes off. If you’re struggling to write, sit in front of your screen for that time. When the timer goes off, you take a break. That means walking away from your computer.
These breaks can be even more effective if you practice deep breathing or get in a short burst of exercise. The beauty of this technique is that you know there is an end. Instead of sitting in frustration, staring at a blank screen for hours, you give yourself permission to walk away after 25 minutes. And often, that’s all it takes. You relieve the pressure, and that can often help get the creative juices flowing.
Give Yourself Permission to Write Badly
One of the biggest things that gets in the way of writing is worrying about the end product. It’s easy to do. But if you’re worried about every word in every sentence, at some point, your writing will grind to a painstaking halt. If you find that the words just aren’t coming, give yourself permission to write badly.
Stop worrying about if a scene will make the final cut. Just write it. Have fun. Tap into the joy of creating something for the joy of creating it—not as a polished product. The most surprising thing about this trick is that when you go back to look at your work after a day or a week or a month, the odds are you won’t be able to spot the sections that you thought were bad.
Just let go and write. You can always edit later.
