Overcoming Writer's Block (Patreon)

“How do I overcome writer’s block?”By a large margin, this is the most frequently asked question on my blog. Some people have trouble starting projects, because they can’t bear to put their free-floating ideas down on paper. Some people lose steam and get obsessed with a new idea before reaching the finish line. Others have a clear vision of the beginning and end of their story, but the middle is a vague, nebulous thread that leads nowhere.Here are several ways to combat writer’s block.

I. There is no such thing as “inspiration”. (Sit down and write without it.)I repeat this to every floundering writer I meet. Inspiration doesn’t finish novels. If it exists, it’s only useful for coming up with broad-strokes concepts: “I want to write about an arranged marriage where the bride is actually a spy,” or “I want to write a story about an AI learning to be ‘human’.” It won’t help you reach 80,000 words.Writing is a skill like any other: repetition and practice will get you to where you want to be. If you sit down and write for 20 minutes (or however long you choose) every day, you will eventually have a completed project to show for it. Schedule writing time into your daily routine. The minutes and words will add up.The website Habitica is a great tool to use! It’s a free service that lets you play little games for completing a daily goal of your choosing (like writing). As the name implies, it helps you turn work into a consistent habit.II. But what if it’s bad? (Don’t get stuck in an editing loop.)That’s the beauty of writing. You can always go back and smooth out the rough edges later. In fact, it’s good to hold off on editing something brand new — if you wait a week or two, you can come back to it with fresh eyes and work more efficiently. Instead, charge forward. If you keep picking at the first three chapters of your novel for weeks, months, or even years, you’ll never finish.I highly recommend the app WriteOrDie to break this bad habit. There are different settings, but basically, you set a time limit and a word count goal, and just write to beat the clock. It won’t be your best work. You’ll have to go back and fix it later (which you’ll have to do anyway, because editing is always part of writing). But if getting words out is your main goal, this is the tool for you! Several portions of my novels were originally written in WriteOrDie.

III. I’m stuck in the middle and don’t know what to do next! (Because ____, then ____.) 

This is why outlining longer projects is a good idea. If you’re stuck in the middle of a long project, try using the ‘Because ____, then _____’ trick. It has its origins in Hollywood, specifically for storyboarding. The easiest way to explain this tool is to demonstrate it. Here’s an example:

Elena was hired to steal something from a corp called Axys Generations. Because the operation went wrong, her entire crew died.Because Elena’s entire crew died, she goes looking for a new crew and meets Sasha.Because Elena comes to her asking for help and mentions AxysGen, Sasha decides to hire her to help retrieve the missing members of the Lucky 7.Because Sasha needs to rescue her first missing crewmember, she and Elena infiltrate a remote Siberian prison.

You can go on and on like this until the story is outlined.

IV. Solicit feedback! (Ask some friends to stroke your ego.) 

Writing a novel is harder than writing fanfiction. Why? Because whenever you post a new chapter of fanfiction, you often get immediate feedback. You get a couple of comments saying, ‘Nice chapter!’ or ‘Thanks for updating’ or ‘I wonder what’ll happen next?’

If you’re working on an original project, ask some indulgent friends to play the part of the commenters. Have them read what you’ve written, or even just listen to you ramble about your plot. Knowing someone else is invested in your story can be the spark you need to keep going.

Even better, if your friend is a writer, ask them to collaborate with you. I love writing with friends, because if I get stuck on a problem, there’s someone else willing to take over when I start to flag. My collaborative projects always get written faster than my solo projects.

This tool may seem obvious, but Google Docs is great for writing and sharing a novel. You can send it directly to a friend’s e-mail, and they can make (marked) comments and changes in your document, depending on which permissions you give them.

V. Accept your fear. (All writers are terrified.)This is a truth that most writers don’t like discussing, but it needs to be talked about. Almost every writer is afraid of publishing their work. It requires baring your soul to every reader who picks up your book or reads your fanfiction. Although they may be writing about characters quite different from themselves, the author is always present in their work. They’re the ones guiding the reader’s eyes to what’s important about the narrative, and those choices reveal intimate truths.Once, I mentioned this problem to my therapist. “I can’t stand bad reviews,” I told her. “My books feel so personal that when someone says they hated my novel, it feels like they’re saying they hate me.”She went to Amazon and started reading a bunch of bad reviews. “Terrible plot.” “Overrated.” “Crappy book.” Then she told me which page she was reading from: the Amazon page for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.For all the debate around the relative merits and flaws of the Harry Potter books, no one can deny that they have brought joy to an enormous number of people, and the series is considered successful by almost everyone. J.K. Rowling is widely accepted as a talented writer, or at the very least, a famous one.The truth is, no matter how good your novel is, someone is going to hate it. Everyone’s life experience is different, and they bring all that baggage with them when they enter the world you’ve created. The part you tried to write as romantic might come off to them as gross because it reminds them of a bad ex, or maybe the angsty scene you wrote strikes them as exhausting and overdone because their real life has taken a downturn and they’re just too damn tired.At the end of the day, someone’s going to hate your book. And that’s okay. Once you accept that a reasonable person can hate a novel that many other people enjoy, you can let go and focus on what actually matters: writing for the fans who love your work instead of worrying about someone else’s potential negative reaction.

To wrap this article up, I’d like to include a quote from Stephen King:“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration; the rest of us get up and go to work.”