Tips and Tricks For Overcoming Writer's Block

Unlike Blanche (and Sophia), don’t just sit there hour after hour. If you’re really feeling frustrated and are out of creative ideas, sitting at a bright, white computer screen, which we both know is mocking you, or staring at a wall in the hope that divine inspiration will come, simply won't help - get away from it for a brief period.

Take the dog for a walk, or go walking alone. If it’s raining or cold outside, just head to the kitchen and make a cup of tea or coffee. Do something other than sitting and staring into space. In my experience, ideas come when I least expect them to, when I’m in the shower or driving my car; at times when it’s not so convenient to jot the idea down!

Nevertheless, the point is, your muse will come back to you and she’ll probably drop something in your lap, but she’s unlikely to do it when you're fixating on a blank screen.

When writer’s block strikes, it’s not necessarily a case of you not being able to write anything. It may be a simple case of what you are writing is not very good. Alternatively, you might have something niggling at the back of your head, which is completely irrelevant to what you're currently working on.

In either case, keep writing! If it’s a half -formed idea, scribble it down and put it to one side. If what you’re writing is not your best work, get it down anyway - it can be salvaged at a later date. The worst thing you can do is stop.

The great Stephen King often has half-baked ideas while he's writing his novels. These ideas get pencilled on a piece of paper and slung in a drawer. Later, these snippets of scribble become short stories or even ideas for further novels. So, as long as you’re writing, you’re never wasting your time.

I think a tendency to procrastinate is a universal facet of being human. Again, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. And, the truth is it’s easy to procrastinate, especially with our myriad of modern distractions.

If you’re suffering writer’s block, it’s incredibly tempting to just go and watch one episode of Judge Judy or Desperate Housewives. Oh and then of course, there’s that cake recipe you wanted to try, might as well give that a whirl now.

It might seem like a contradiction, after I said, 'getting away from your office or wherever you work' is a useful thing. However, there are good ways of inspiring creativity and bad ways. Actually, baking the cake is not necessarily a bad idea. Nevertheless, when it comes to your work space, it is a good idea to avoid distractions, such as the television or incessant background noise in the form of a radio.

Don’t get me wrong, some writers thrive in a noisy, gloriously busy atmosphere. However, if you’re experiencing writer’s block, don’t let procrastination make matters worse by preventing you from getting anything done.

While I personally don’t favour the noise of a background radio, I do like to listen to music sometimes, especially when I’m looking for inspiration. What do I mean? Well, when it comes to creative writing, you will often get stuck for ideas. Try listening to a few of your favourite songs, most of them tell a story - some more complete than others.

So, let’s take Rupert Holmes’ ‘Escape’ aka 'The Pina Colada Song’, it’s a fairly complete story, but we don’t know what happened before our lovers started lingering over the personal ads. How did they meet?

Another great way to exercise your creative side is to look at pictures. They can be any kind of picture, from famous portrait to a friend’s snap on Facebook. In either case, try to take a long look and create the story ‘behind’ the picture.

For example, the famous ‘Lunch Atop a Skyscraper’ (below) could tell dozens of stories. Start with the trivial stuff, what are the two men in caps (two from far left) talking about? What’s bare-chested guy got in his sandwich? Did his wife make it for him? What’s the man in the far right got in that bottle? Simple, inane things, but all can offer you a way of creating a miniature story, which can quite easily turn into more than a miniature story.

Yes, you may well say, “But, reading is a form of procrastination!” Well, yes and no. You see, reading, as long as what you’re reading is a good piece of literature, as opposed to the National Enquirer or Heat magazine, can be inspiring and it also enables you to keep learning. A writer should always be thirsty for knowledge; unfamiliar words, unusual ways of narrating a story, patterns that break from the traditional story arc.

Read something that you love, but not something that makes you feel completely inferior as a writer. For instance, if I’m experiencing writer’s block, I don’t find Shakespeare or the poetry of Sylvia Plath helpful, because, I’m not ashamed to admit, the pair of them intimidate the heck out of me. 

A good novel, on the other hand, may provide an interesting premise that I would have handled differently. Or there may be a character that is excellently written, but, if I had the chance to rewrite him or her, I would change them in some way. All of these things can give me inspiration for my own creative work.

Nobody said writing was easy, and writer’s block is just one of the things that makes writing the most unglamorous of ‘glamorous’ occupations. However, with the tips above, the block can be beaten!