Shove writer’s block outta the way…
Posted in Novels on 29. Jun, 2010
I have a few friends who are struggling right now with writers block. They aren’t sure what to write, which angle to write at, which character, what story. It’s hard to come up to a block and not feel stressed out… you struggle so much with where it should go, what should happen next and who should ultimately see their maker 
A lot of people search the internet for inspiration, read books, talk to friends and desperately hope to pull around the wall that blocks the creativity. All good ways but sometimes it just doesn’t work.
Then what?
If you are struggling with a block, may I suggest something? Get a piece of paper… write down the main and supporting characters of your book. Then, randomly pick one and write a totally different shortish story about an event that happened in that characters life outside of your MAIN PLOT and book.
Sound dumb?
I would almost think that Stephanie Meyers book, “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner” was probably one of these exercises.
One that turned out to be another big seller for Stephanie… but she probably wrote it to get around a tough part that was giving her a “what for”…
So yes, I am serious… grab a minor character in your book and write something fun that probably won’t ever come to light about this character… and see where it takes you.
I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
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I feel the same way about writer’s block as does comic book writer Brian K. Vaughn, who says, “‘”Writer’s block’ is just another word for video games. If you want to be a writer, get writing, you lazy bastards.” But then, you know I take a “Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann/Full Metal Jacket” approach to my writing.
That said, I do experience what *feels* like writer’s block sometimes, but I can chalk up 98% of those times to my personal laziness. The other 2%, I’ve found, is usually some small nagging piece of life business that I find I’ve left unresolved. And when I resolve it or just take one step to resolving it, it’s amazing how soon I can get back to writing.