When You’re Plagued with Writer’s Block

Have you been staring at that blank page for what seems to be hours and days? Have you deleted the same sentence one-hundred times? Have you been tapping rhythms with your fingers while counting the number of pens you have laying on your desk? It sounds like you’ve been plagued with writer’s block.

Don’t worry, this is a common epidemic that attacks writers at the most inopportune times. It never fails, when there’s a tight deadline that must be met, bam, writer’s block creeps in! How about all those times when you know you have a great story to tell and you can’t wait to sit down and start writing, but then, ta-da, welcome writer’s block once again!

This isn’t a long-lasting epidemic and it isn’t something you should be too concerned with as there are some simple treatments that can fix the problem; the first thing you should do is walk away from it for a few minutes. Sometimes it’s just a matter of re-focusing to get back on track, but if that doesn’t help, try some of the following things to get your creative juices flowing again.

Read a Book

How many times have you read a book and while you were reading it you grabbed some ideas from it? It could’ve been something as simple as the bird that was described walking through a rain puddle or maybe the bow in the little girl’s hair. You might have liked the storyline and realized that you could do the same thing, but instead of the people having millions of dollars, maybe you have an idea about a family in poverty. Whatever your thoughts, if it’s a good book you will be sure to take something away from it. Now, of course, you don’t want to copy from it because that would be illegal, and you need to make the story come alive from your own point of view anyway, but at least it should have your mind working again.

Watch a Movie

This is another excellent way to get your creative juices flowing. Unlike a book, with the movie you will have actual visuals, so you can try and create some descriptions when you get stuck or allow your heart to fill when you see the way the girl looks at the guy. The key here is observation, of course, you don’t want to get so caught up with the visuals that you neglect the storyline because that’s important too. This is an excellent way to create an imaginary town, especially if you’ve never been too far away from home. Maybe you might like the old country store and you want to recreate it in your own story. No matter what you observe, there should be something in the movie that will get you back at your story in no time.

People Watching

When you want to create a character but you’re not sure where to start, head out to the mall, grab some lunch, and sit down in the food court. This is another test of observation on your part. If you need to create a teenager, pay close attention to the teens walking through the mall. Observe how they are dressed and their behavior. If it’s a family you need to create you will find plenty of them at the mall too, and if you’re not quite sure what kind of character you want to create, wait there awhile, you will find the perfect one. Notice the clothing, the way the people talk, how they walk, and what kinds of personalities they have. If that doesn’t help you, walk through some of the stores and see what kind of characters you can discover. Now please don’t pull out your phone and start taking pictures, that can get you in trouble, but you can carry a notebook and jot down some notes. Before you get home, you should already have your character created in your head.

Run Away to Your Thinking Place

Everyone has a place where they do their best thinking, so if you have one too, go there and let your mind relax. Maybe you have a special place at the beach, it could be your front porch, or even in the shower, no matter where it is, listen to your thoughts while you’re there. Take your notebook with you and be prepared to take notes from your thoughts; it doesn’t matter if you’re thinking about the gum wrapper you see on the ground, write it down, you might want to write about the trash people have thrown onto the streets. If you do your best thinking in the shower you can purchase a waterproof notepad to keep in there and write down your thoughts because they will probably vanish before your feet hit the bathroom floor.

Ask for Ideas

This one might be hard for some because we don’t always like to talk about what we’re working on, but you would be surprised at the help you can get from children or other close family members. A simple thought might be all you need to get rid of that writer’s block plague. Tell them what you’re looking for and they will probably be more than willing to throw out some ideas. You don’t have to tell them what you’re writing if you don’t want to, just ask them for a boy’s name or the name of a street for example. You can always ask your school-aged children to describe what it’s like in their classroom all day or ask them to describe what their gym teacher looks like. Kids are the most honest creatures on earth all you need to do is listen and you can learn a lot, so consider them a great resource for ideas.