What To Do When You Can't Think of Anything- The Cure to Writer's Block

In keeping with my streak of blogs describing my random thoughts throughout the week (and also because I have some bigger things in the works that may take some time, such as some book reviews and another bit of fiction), I decided to cover something I know many budding authors (as well as a great deal of experienced ones) face- the many-faced, screaming demon known as WRITER'S BLOCK.

For some, this could simply be the act of "writing themselves into a corner"- they write their characters into a situation where any realistic way out is uncertain, or they drop a bomb on the audience like the character being revealed as a possible murderer and don't know where to go with this.

Funny enough, this issue tends to happen to people who don't outline their story or do very much pre-planning in general, people I've taken to calling "pantsers", or more commonly known as writers who use the seat-of-the-pants technique to write their tales. There is typically nothing wrong with this method of writing, and in fact this lends itself very well to breezy adventure stories or stream-of-consciousness acid trips- as an example, nearly every story I've written for @dimensionbucket 's flagship anthology, darkest of dreams was written in 1-2 sittings with only a vague idea of what would happen. I am not the type who does this, either- I did this as a stylistic choice, to lend those stories more of a dreamlike feel to them, with very little filter or barrier on the way they told their story, for better or for worse.

Another way writer's block tends to rear its ugly head is when someone has too MANY ideas buzzing around- so many of them sound good, or fun, or interesting that they simply cannot choose. This issue tends to happen most to pantsers as well, but could also happen to people who are creatively hyperactive- you know the type; always coming up with wild ideas and new ways to express themselves, people who would just as soon write a story as program half a game before deciding to take up interpretative dancing. They'll leave ideas on the creative backburner for ages before returning with fresh eyes and transforming them into something entirely different.

Once again, this is fine, too- whatever creative process you choose, as long as it gets the job done, it really doesn't matter. Everything has its place.

But writer's block is unique in that no matter what method you choose, you will never be able to fully avoid it- there will always be some segment in your work that you simply get stuck on for whatever period of time, and have to work through sentence by sentence. It happens to people in varying severity, but it always happens.

And because of this problem's relevancy, and because it can appeal to so many writers and creatives out there, I decided to take the mantle of attempting to cure this disease upon myself, for those dank delicious dollars.

Oh, and also because it's important and needs to be addressed. That too.

So, before plunging right into how to fix it, we need to briefly explore how it works. Can't cure a disease without listing its symptoms, right?

To do this, I'll briefly summarize the problems I touched upon earlier, as well as add any further problems that may or may not occur:

1. Lack of relevant ideas
2. Too many relevant ideas
3. Lack of fresh perspective
4. Lack of proper creative downtime

Now that we know what causes writer's block, let's figure out how we can avoid or fix these problems when they arise.

• Lack of relevant ideas

So for this one, the solution is pretty simple. If you don't have enough ideas, you need more. Now, where would you get more ideas from? Reading, watching movies, anime, video games, anything you can think of that has some form of creative storytelling whether visual or verbal can offer this much-needed sustenance when trying to find some inspiration for your stories.

Now, this doesn't mean watch any ole thing. You need to find things that somewhat relate to what you're trying to do in your own story. Writing a zombie story? Watch the thing that made zombies popular- the works of George Romero come to mind. Having problems figuring out the logic behind a world infested with zombies? Maybe check out books like the Zombie Survival Guide, which has tons of resources listing what would logically work best to help people survive in the undead apocalypse.

It really makes sense even at a base level- you want to write something, you gotta do your research, you gotta do your homework. Make it yours, but make sure you at least pay attention to those that came before you and those that work alongside you for proper inspiration and instruction.

• Too many relevant ideas

This one boils down to restraint and self-control when you write. Many people love writing because they get to go wild and make up entire worlds and universes, and that's fine! In fact, we need more people like this to beef up our fiction and to inject fresh ideas into the bland soup of modern literature.

But to avoid going TOO crazy, you need to set up some preventative measures in your next project.

Make sure you come up with grounded, realistic characters. Not a deviantArt OC page or a DnD character description sheet or a checklist, but a PERSON. This is going to be quite a bit harder than the previous entry in this list, but is extremely important to do. Without relateable, grounded characters your story will be far too loose and free to do whatever. This can work in some limited contexts, but if you want to avoid having too many watered-down options, it's best to limit them to a few extremely strong ones, and the best way to do this is to set up rules.

But these rules don't just apply to characters, they also apply to the setting and world, as well.

Let's say you want to write a story about a group of tribal humans trying to survive aboard a flying castle guarded by fifteen cyborg women that look like anime girls and communicate in pig latin.

That is an insane concept and nigh-impossible to take seriously, but with the right rules set up (like how the magic works to allow the castle to fly or why the humans are so primitive for starters), you could turn something ridiculous into a fairly grounded story with rules and reasons and character motivations.

These are, of course, just examples for reference. I am of the firm belief that with the right hand, any premise, no matter how "terrible" or "ridiculous" can be tweaked and written in such a way that it can still entertain and be a decent story, and by setting up solid rules and characters from the get-go, you can make it a lot easier on yourself when writing such a tale.

• Lack of fresh perspective

You've been sitting there, worrying over the same paragraph for ages, trying to make it into something in the general ballpark of "decent". You change a tense there, an adverb here, an adjective, verb...nothing seems to work. Every time you mess with it it seems to get worse, and the entire time you couldn't even pinpoint what was wrong with it in the first place, let alone how to fix it.

This is a very common issue among people such as myself- chronic self-editors. I edit almost everything I write extensively (although for me, I save some time by editing while writing, as I find editing by itself very tedious), and come across this issue often.

Now the first solution many of you would suggest would most likely be "just take a bit of a break and come back after a few hours or maybe even a day!" And while I definitely agree that this works at least half the time, there are times where your perspective alone is simply not enough to hack out a problem.

This is where you need to do the unthinkable- you need to talk. With PEOPLE. Aaaarghhh.

But seriously, when this comes up, the best solution is to have someone you trust around your material (preferably another bibliophile or budding writer) beta-read your work and ask them what they think you should do. 9 times out of 10, they will have some useful advice for you, even if it's not what you wanted to hear.

In fact, social interaction in general is very good for creative output, if only for the benefit of bouncing your ideas off your impressionable, unwitting friends and family. Spring the question on them at dinner, or when taking a walk with them or even in the middle of their day if you don't mind them yelling at you afterwards. Call them and tell them your idea, ask them what their thoughts are, and let them shoulder a bit of your creative burden. I am certain you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.

• Lack of creative downtime.

TAKE BREAKS. Simple! Don't overwork yourself. Deadline's coming up but you're empty on brain fuel? Take a break and let yourself decompress. Don't be lazy, but allow yourself a bit of of a breather every now and then.

In fact, I have two methods of working that let you take breaks AND don't detract from your productivity throughout the day. I have used each of these on occasion, and they both work just as well.

• Magic Workcycle Work for 30 minutes, screw around for 30 minutes. Keep it up till your work is done or it's time to hit the hay. Easy.

• Pomodores. Work for 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break. Do this 4 times in a row, then take a 15-minute break. Keep it up till your work is done or you pass out. Great if the magic workcycle is too time-consuming and you need to get a lot done in one day.

Both of the above methods give you plenty of time to get things done, but also allow for some time to browse the internet or watch a funny YouTube video. I personally watch funny reviews of video games or movies in short bursts while using the above work methods, and by using those methods I managed to record an entire 8-hour audiobook in just 3 days, and still had time to spend with my family and to catch up on reading.

Well, this post ended up far longer than I thought it would! I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on writer's block and how to cure it. If you did, leave a like!

Do you have any methods that work well for you personally? Leave your home remedies and thoughts below!

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