I don't know about you but I get writer's block every now and then. I seem to have a bad case of it right now. Sometimes I can sit down and write until my eyes start to droop but other's - well, I've found out that I can stare at a blank screen for hours....
Some authors tell me they reread their last few pages and inspiration hits them, others tell me there's no cure. I happen to think it's something in the middle. I had a dream a few months ago that ended my last bout of writer's block. Maybe because subconsciously it had been on my mind. All I know is that it worked.
Come on dreams!
What do you do for writer's block? What advise can you add to our small but important member list?
I'm not sure what works for different writers or those who write in a genre different from my own. I write crime novels and most of my blocks come when I'm trying to figure out what the detectives are going to do about a piece of evidence they find or something a witness reveals during an interview. I find it helpful to use one of two methods.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I do is look through the basic outline I created before I started writing the novel. Sometimes I see something that will happen later in the outline and I can use the evidence or the interview to uncover a new lead - another piece of evidence or a suspect description which temporarily works me around where I'm stuck.
The other thing I find myself doing is having Detective Kennedy make one of his wise-cracks about either the suspect, the witness, or one of the other detectives with which he works. For some reason, that little side track in my train of thought gets me back to the serious side of the story. Once the block is broken this way, I leave the wise-crack in if it seems to belong there. If not, I'll delete the comment and leave in the rest.
SRMyers, I know this may sound crazy but the last two novels I wrote - I didn't need an outline in the beginning but I found myself creating one after I wrote to make sure my plotline and characters worked.
ReplyDeleteThe novel I'm working on now seems to require one. It's a different way of writing for me but it seems to be working. I can still let my characters lead me to the next chapter but it has helped. Thanks for your insights and your comments.