Writer's Block

Original Content | 4/21/2024 | By Laz A. Mataz

[Lazamataz]

How do you get past Writer's Block?

[Lazamataz]

[Lazamataz]

[HombreSecreto]

I’ve done things like go for a drive and clear my head. Take the pressure off.

[Chainmail]

Get plenty of sleep the night before, write an outline of what you want to present (key characters, key elements of the plot, what you want to your audience to get from it and maybe a draft ending) and then plug and chug: let your mind run and the edit later.

[Publius]

I take some time off, leave the manuscript unread on my computer, and then I come back to it with new eyes. Things become clearer after that.

[Navy Patriot]

How do you get past Writer's Block?

I get past by never writing a thing, but you know that.

[HoneysuckleTN]

Add me to the ping list, please and thank you!

[Eccl 10:2]

I keep a little notebook of thoughts and ideas that come to me that I can later elaborate on.

Then I never look at it.

8^(

[FamiliarFace]

I’ve heard one way is to just write down any thought that comes into your head. Even if it’s the same word repetitively. Write 3 pages worth of anything that pops into your head, first thing in the morning especially. You’ll eventually break through.

Note: I don’t consider myself any kind of writer in any form or fashion, but this advice was given to me by a friend who has struggled and is now in the process of having her first musical come to fruition.

[Chainmail]

Oh yeah: and do not drink before and during writing. If you do, your stuff will almost always be crap when you sober up.

I don't care how F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway did it.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

Graham Greene would limit his writing to exactly 500 words per day, usually leaving a day's work in mid-sentence. By limiting output, he claimed that he always had more words in his head than he could produce on paper.

[Jane Long]

Ask Reno ...

She’s an author.

[discostu]

Joe Lansdale says writer’s block is really just self criticism. He says to deal with it remember editing exists for a reason, ignore the nagging voice within, and write. Don’t worry if it might be crap, just write anyway, you can uncrap it later, and often later you’ll find out it’s not crap.

[Jane Long]

Keep a notepad (AND pen/pencil) on your bedside table.

[Ciaphas Cain]

Just now coming off of a week of writer’s block. It made it impossible to do my work and it’s going to cost me. The best I can put it is that the devil himself was assailing my mind. Thankfully it lifted yesterday afternoon and I’m free to write again. Sometimes it takes patience and a lot of prayer.

[CaptainPhilFan]

Go for a walk or just get outside. Do some gardening. Take a bath or shower. Blast music and dance. Go people watching in a store or park.

[RoosterRedux]

I used to write stream-of-consciousness about the subject I was working on when block hit me. Today, I might use one of the voice-to-text AI agents to accomplish the same or more.

Just ramble on with a mic about the pertinent subject and have it automatically transcribed.

I haven't used a voice-to-text transcription agent (AI) yet but I hear some of them are really good. On top of that, you'll have your rants in text format so that you can cut and paste the good parts of your own rants into your writing.

[BraveMan]

I hit the Bong . . .

[fredmann]

You get over writer’s block by writing. “Writer’s Block” is not when you can’t write, it’s when you don’t write.

[Jeff Chandler]

The first draft is always garbage. Writing is rewriting.