Writers block

[Coco82]

I'm having terrible writers block. I'm 38,000 words shooting for about 60,000 or so and I'm stuck. My teacher in this class I'm in in college says it's nortmal to come across this at a certain point in you piece. What should I do?

[katiemac]

There's a couple things you can do.

A lot of people suggest to keep writing, even it's crap. I've heard a lot of people suggest to turn off your monitor and write, to resist the urge to edit what's happening on screen.

You can put the WIP aside for a day or two if the block's really bad. Freewrite with a pen and paper (especially if you're used to computer writing) and brainstorm some ideas, questions and directions.

Personally, when I'm stuck, I slap on a CD or a mix of songs that I feel theme-wise represent what I'm trying to write, and then I think about the characters. Most of what goes on in my head then can solve the problem of brainstorming, and I'm off to a fresh start.

I'm sure there will be plenty others along to give you advice. Good luck, keep it up and continue writing!

[Jamesaritchie]

I'm having terrible writers block. I'm 38,000 words shooting for about 60,000 or so and I'm stuck. My teacher in this class I'm in in college says it's nortmal to come across this at a certain point in you piece. What should I do?

This sounds like a case of the infamous 100 page wall. It's said the number of partial novels where the writer is stuck somewhere around page 100 is greater than all the finished novels since man started writing. So it is pretty common.

I'm not sure there is any one solution. My question would be do you know where the novel is going? If you know the ending, try to write it first.

For me, getting stuck means I goofed somewhere very early in the novel, usually in the first ten pages. . .I went left when I should have went right. This means there's no logical "What comes next."

I have to go back, find the wrong turn, and get back on course.

There are all sorts of tricks writers use to get past this wall, and I think you just have to find the one that works for you.

[Anatole Ghio]

Personally, when I'm stuck, I slap on a CD or a mix of songs that I feel theme-wise represent what I'm trying to write, and then I think about the characters. Most of what goes on in my head then can solve the problem of brainstorming, and I'm off to a fresh start.



Apart from the fact that every piece I work on has its own soundtrack or score, if I am feeling stuck or my energy begins to flag, the very first thing I do is change the music. If that doesn't help, I change the environment... for me, this usually means going into the living room and first doing something completely brainless in order to change my mental state, and then going over the story in my head to see what I may have missed to help me tell the story. I always prefer to find something in the story to help me.

Barring that, I then will bring something new into the story itself in order to shake it up and see what happens.

These are the things I do while still in the middle of my writing session. I have other tricks, but those are for when the session gets completely blocked and I have to come back later.

[Fillanzea]

I hit that particular wall all the time.

I try to brainstorm methodically through it, looking at each character:
(1) What are their priorities? What do they want?
(2) What's the logical (or not logical, if the character's not acting too logically) course of action?
(3) What's going to come up against my characters when they try to get what they want?

After all that, I can usually get...maybe two or three pages written. And I have to repeat the process the next day. But two or three hard pages a day will still carry you past the point of "stuck, stuck, stuck!" eventually.

[triceretops]

I just hit the 102 page wall. I keep thinking that I"ve given away too much of the plot at this point, and I"m tempted to go back and thin it out. There are a lot of 50-page novels out there too--used to do it all the time.

Tri

[Ace]

I've just gotten this as well. I found that writing right before I have to do something else helps a lot, since it hands over my procrastination to the other thing. I always write while listening to music (music that I don't need to pay attention to), but if I'm having really bad writer's block, I sometimes feel that turning off the music and concentrating is easier.

[Sharon Mock]

For structural problems, I find that brainstorming often works well. Sit down at the keyboard (or with paper and writing implement), set timer for 1/2 hour or an hour, and take notes on the situation at hand. Usually in the process I end up figuring out what's going on and how to put it down on paper. Sometimes I figure out that something's vastly broken and I have to go back and fix it.

Sometimes the problem isn't with the WIP but with me. I'm starting to get cold feet, or I'm about to hit a part of the book that I really don't want to write. In these cases, continual application of BIC is usually enough to get me through the trouble spot.

Or sometimes I'm just burned out. I haven't been taking proper care of myself, or maybe life insists on getting underfoot. In which case I just give myself permission to take a few days off. (I'm taking this weekend off for just this reason.)

Also, in my rough drafts, when I hit a part I really didn't want to write? As often as not I'd just skip it and move on to the next part. That way I kept making forward progress, and as often as not the scene I didn't write turned out to be not nearly as important as I thought it was.

[black winged fighter]

If I find my word-flood running dry, I'll try to do something other than typing for a little while. Moving around helps me think, so I'll run, or put on some loud music and do some crazy stuff. If I'm having trouble choreographing a scene, I'll physically block it out.

I also write some of my best short stories when I get stuck in my WIP. Writing something new and different style-wise is like rinsing your mind of all WIP-related tension. Doodling out amateur storyboards also helps me focus.

And, of course, breaking the wall is so much easier to do if you should be doing something else (cleaning, studying...*cough - guilty expression - cough*)

[zornhau]

I'm having terrible writers block. I'm 38,000 words shooting for about 60,000 or so and I'm stuck. My teacher in this class I'm in in college says it's nortmal to come across this at a certain point in you piece. What should I do?

Do you know what happens next, and what it's consequences are?