Young Writers Society

I was just wondering if anyone has any tips for beating writers block?
I currently don't have writers block(actually I have the opposite, which I like to call "writers flood") but just incase I ever get it(or anyone else on here) I thought it would be nice to have a place to look for different ways to beat it.
Anything you have is appreciated!

I used to do this when I was stuck. I'd ask a particular character what was up, and they'd tell me.

I usually figure out why I'm not excited about the next part I'm writing. Once I figure the answer to that, I usually either realize my plot was derailed a few scenes back, or that it's not going in the right direction now and it just feels wrong. (If it's not exciting to write, how can it be exciting to read?)

Ah, the age old advice - "Prevention is the best cure."

The reason writing *every* day is so important is because you bust the little blocks away before they get too big. The worst thing you can do when you get stuck is to run away from it because the blocks get bigger and bigger until you have a whole pile of mud and sluice and all kinds of googendrats clogging up your creativity portal, and then it takes a dynamite of inspiration to get rid of it or many a day digging.

Also, let your muse get out to play. Sometimes you get an idea so amazing that you follow it and follow it and follow it and your muse gets left behind like an unused pokemon that used to be great until you realise it's twenty three levels behind. Even though you might be enthralled with your idea, you still need to let the other ideas out to play and keep looking for more inspiration, otherwise the big shiny light that is your idea will blind you while the mud and sluice and googendrats creeps back in.

Thank you all so much, those are all great suggestions. I can't wait to see what everyone else has to say!

Another tip: stop writing what you're writing and start something new. Don't give up on what you're working on currently, just give it time. Usually when I do that, the thing I start to write resolves the problem that I'm having with the first piece. It distracts you so you can think it through subconciously.

I have found that when I get writer's block, it is best to sit back, read what you have, know where you're goin' with the story and skip ahead. There's nothing wrong with jumping ahead to bridge the two sections. It also helps to be able to sort your feelings. On my book in progress, Death Falls, I have to turn away from it, sometimes for months at a time because the emotional attachment makes writing out specific parts a lot harder. And some writers actually go to a new piece and then mix it with their old piece.

I'd recommend reading Around the Writer's Block(by Rosanne Bane).

I wouldn't call myself a pro-writer yet, I only just started, but I had some blocks already. I either thought the piece I wrote was awful, or I didn't have a solution to reach what I envisioned.

Each time I had such a block I simply flipped the page and started on a new chapter somewhere further in the story or about a different character. Eventually I ended up with loose pieces of a puzzle that needed to fit into each other. And with some adjustments they did, the blocks often disappeared as if it never existed. Now it's a fluent story.

The key, or at least the key that works for me, is to find inspiration. In other books, in life, or sometimes even what I see on tv. Something that makes you say "Oh, I never thought about that".

I'm a spontaneous writer (me + planning = LOL) so the type of writer's block I most often experience is the "I have NO CLUE what comes next!!!" sort.

I've found that the best way to break that particular type of block is to take a look at the story thus far and make notes on 1) what's happened so far and 2) why they happened the way they did. Since outlining or otherwise concretely planning ahead tends to kill any motivation I have to finish a story, I focus mainly on just what I have written.

Summarizing the events leading up to my current point in the story and the motivations behind all the events helps me to see connections earlier in the story that I didn't consciously see before, as well as possible directions to take the story in.

For example, one of my characters abducted a princess, however the princess's father isn't attempting to rescue her. The princess's cousin, who is another viewpoint character, is furious about this, but beyond that, I had no idea what to write from his viewpoint. Figuring out why the king wasn't assembling rescue parties and plans helped break the block, in addition to more firmly tying in an earlier background event (a border dispute between the king and the princess-abducting character's grandfather) into the story.

Basically, the border dispute devolved into a full-out war, and the kingdom does not have the resources to fight a war on two fronts -- one front is more than enough. Additionally, the king trusts his daughter's political acumen which, combined with her status, should ensure her safety until the current crisis can be dealt with. Additionally to that, there are political forces on the move, one of which is the main antagonist, who have an interest in delaying any direct confrontation between the king and the princess-napping character until the latter is in a more secure position of power.

Knowing why things happened the way they did (or didn't) helps to make possible future actions easier to see, which helps break the "I have NO CLUE what happens next!!!" block. And then it's just a matter of writing one of the possibilities out, factoring what everyone else is trying to accomplish, of course. ;P

TL;DR: It helps to know where you came from to know where you're going in a story.