Writer's block. The bane of every aspiring author's existence. Sadly, if you're a writer yourself, you will know that writer's block is simply impossible to avoid and can significantly slow down your writing process. Although annoying and at times, a little frustrating, there are in fact many things that you can do to combat writer's block and in this blog post, I will give you a couple of ideas that will have you well on your way to completing your first novel.
1. Change of scenery
This one has been tried and tested by yours truly. I finished the first draft of my debut novel, Academia dels Maleits: The Sickness, back in November 2020, when covid was still causing a lot of strife (even more than it is at the moment). Living in Spain, it was actually forbidden for most of my writing period to leave the house for any reason that wasn't related to your health, food, or dog walking so I had to get by on grim determination alone. Nowadays, the rules here have relaxed a lot though and I did most of my editing down by the beach and in my favourite cake shop called Milfulls in Badalona.
2. Listen to music
I'm sure that most people have tried this one at some point or another with varying results. Personally, I find it depends greatly on the music you use. In the past, I used to listen to pop songs to inspire me while I write, but as I've grown older, I've found that such songs, or indeed anything with lyrics, is actually detrimental to my progress. Having said that, listening to classical piano music such as the works of Yiruma, paired with the sound of rain or thunder storms, is still a great inspiration for me and something that I advise all of you try.
3. Give yourself rewards
While writing a novel, especially scenes or chapters you find challenging, you can find yourself getting easily distracted. One way to try and combat this is to give yourself little rewards at suitable points. These rewards can be anything - your favourite snack, letting yourself watch an episode of your favourite TV show, or even some retail therapy...anything that you think will encourage you to hammer out that novel.
4. Change medium
Ok, so I'll admit that I was a little sceptical of this one at first and as a result of my scepticism, I was a little reluctant to try it. I couldn't tell you why, but it actually works though! I, on the whole, gave up writing with pen and paper a long time ago. There are many factors that contributed to this - the obvious one is that typing on a laptop is much quicker but I've also experienced some problems with my joints where my fingers dislocate if I write too much too quickly. Even being semi ambidextrous, and therefore having two hands at my disposal, this causes a certain amount of problems. Having said this, I still always keep a pen and notepad handy, as I find that sometimes, changing medium can help me to shift my perspective and sometimes this is all that is needed to get my novel back on track.
5. Find inspiration from other creative sources
When I say this, I'm not telling you to go plagiarise a passage from your favourite novel. That would be more than slightly illegal. What I am saying is that reading especially is what helps people to become better writers. If you read lots of books, especially within the genre you write, you learn quickly which tropes work well and which to avoid. It can also help you to imagine putting your characters in situations you hadn't previously thought of and might help you out if you're experiencing a dry spell, or are simply unsure of where to go next.
6. Freewriting
While this might not necessarily help you out with your novel, it might help you to loosen up enough to go back to your novel afterwards. While freewriting, you can write about anything and you don't have to worry about sticking to conventional grammar...just let the words flow out of you and unclog your creative blockage.
7. Nanowrimo and word sprints
I have put these two together because I first found out about word sprints while doing Nanowrimo. I'm guessing that many of you are question what exactly Nanowrimo is right now, so I will explain. Its full name is National Novel Writing Month and it is an event which happens every November, in which writers from all over the world attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in just one month. I know, it's bonkers, but for many people, myself included, it really works as a motivator. If you want to try it but are unsure if 50,000 words is a realistic goal for you, you can try out Camp Nanowrimo. This is a modified event, occurring in April and July, where you can set your own goal and actually, this is something which is now available on the official website all year round. In November, their twitter account also runs word sprints. During word sprints, you are given a time limit and an idea or word to include in your work and at the end of the time, everyone can join in. If you don't like their prompt, you don't have to use it, but I find it can be really helpful.
8. Listen to your characters
Sometimes, even the best writers can get bogged down in attempting to stick too much to their initial plan. Don't. If your gut is telling you that your initial plan is wrong, listen to it. You may hear many writers talking about characters refusing to do what they're told. No, this is not a sign of madness. They say that every person has an internal monologue - a voice inside your head that talks to you without you even really being aware of it. When writers talk about their characters talking to them and refusing to do what they're supposed to in the novel, this is, in fact, a good thing. It means that your character has become a part of your internal monologue. This only happens when you know your characters really well so if you're experiencing this, congratulations...and take advantage of it. If your character is telling you they won't do something, it's your subconscious' way of telling you that it is out of character for that person in your novel.
9. Set yourself small, manageable goals until the writer's block passes
So you've tried writing the scenes out of order to get to the parts of the story you're excited about and now you only have the 'boring', in-between bits left to write? Sadly, there's no avoiding this and it will happen eventually. What I suggest in this case is to set yourself small, manageable goals until the block passes. I've found that on a good day, I can write 10,000-15,000 words, no problem but that does not mean that I should be able to do that every day. If I could do that, I'd have already published hundreds of novels. As it happens, I'm still querying for my first. When I was going through an extended period of writers block, I set myself the measly target of 100 words per day. Almost every day, I exceeded this, but I still didn't raise my goal because I find that when you're lacking for inspiration, most people's failure comes because they try to push themselves too far. If you set yourself a goal of 100 words a day, you are almost definitely going to end up exceeding that. If you set yourself a goal of 500 words a day, it is likely that not only will you fail to reach it once or twice, but the more times you miss it, the less important that goal becomes to you. Take baby steps.
10. Go backwards in the story
This may seem detrimental to your progress but actually, they say that writer's block often occurs because of a problem further back in your work so, if you've already tried everything else in this list, try going backwards until you find the plot point, or the character action, that doesn't quite fit in anymore.
11. Try a new writing approach
This one is going to need some explaining. There are three main types of writers: plotters, pantsers and plantsers. I started off my writing career very much as a pantser and for a while, it worked. A pantser is someone who writes by the seat of their pants - so basically, they improvise and make it up as they're going along. There are some positives with this - you're more free and unrestricted by a plan and you often end up discovering things about your characters that you otherwise might not have done. It does also come with some risks, however - when you adopt this writing style, plot holes are more likely to occur and it's also likely that you may forget things you've written, whether it be character details or whole portions of the plot. It also means that if you want to leave the project for a while and come back to it, you'll have to reread your work to remind yourself of everything. After deciding my days as a pantser were over, I became a plotter - I meticulously planned every last detail of my novel, including what would happen in each chapter and how many words it should take approximately. While this approach started off very well, it wasn't long before I started to feel restricted by plan and the goals I set for myself. Nowadays, I fit firmly in the plantser category and I find that this works very well for me. I always have an idea of where my novel is going to end up and I plan usually two chapters in advance. This gives me the opportunity to adapt the initial plan which is in my head as my characters develop and gain their own voices and also means that there is still a certain amount of freedom. If you are experiencing writer's block, it's possible that the writing style you have adopted doesn't quite work for you and that's fine. We all learn new things about ourselves every day so shake up a bit - try a different approach to writing and see if this frees up your creative juices.
12. Move onto a different project for a while
If you've tried everything else on this list, this may be your only option, although I wouldn't personally endorse it. I've found that most of the projects I've promised myself I'll go back to, I never do. Having said that, I know it works for some people and it may work for you. Maybe working on a different project for a little while will give you the opportunity to gain a new perspective when you finally return to it and maybe, you'll finally be able to figure out what was wrong with your work before.
I hope that this blog post has been informative and enjoyable for you. I will be posting a new one on the 1st of every month so if there are any topics you want me to write about, please don't hesitate to ask by writing to me at glnangle.author@gmail.com and I'd be happy to oblige.
