Three Ways To Avoid Writers Block
It's easy when you know how. It works for me!
A day or so ago I was asked by fellow writer Rick Chen to write a piece about how to avoid writer’s block, something I have never, ever had to suffer. And I suppose that’s because I have a number of ways to generate ideas.
Step One: The Interrogatives
First off, the interrogatives, who, what, where, why, when, and how.
Every single piece of writing, be it a newspaper report of a football match, or a Stephen King scarey tale, is in effect an answer to the writer asking his or herself these questions.
Who is in this story I want to write? What happens to them? Where does it all happen? Why is it happening? When is it happening? How is it happening?
In the search for answers, you can read other writers, watch tv news, listen to the radio, chat with your family and friends.
However, best of all is to ask yourself. You’ll be amazed at what a repository of information you have buried in your subconscious and consciousness minds. Things that have happened, or are happening, or indeed will happen, to you or somebody you know or are related to.
I write my own life as well as the lives of others. Just be sure to change the details a little about who they really are.
Although I have never had writer’s block, I have perhaps been stuck a time or two as to where a story is going exactly. And that brings me to another little trick I habitually use, always with success.
Step Two: Ask Yourself "What if...."
This is great because in asking yourself this question you are triggering your imagination.
“What if the moon really was made of cheese? And what if there was no cheese left on planet earth?"
"What if I write a story about how powerful, conflicting corporate and government forces here on earth were determined to get that moon cheese and corner the market to become incredibly rich?"
Now I realise that this idea is more than a little cheesy, but it is just to get a point across.
Step Three: Change The Activity
Another strategy I have and use regularly is to change the activity. Stop writing to give your mind a rest. Go to see some friends or relatives, go out for a meal, go to the gym, watch a movie, read other writers on Illumination....or simply go out for a long walk.
A few days ago I decided to go out for a walk. This was not because I had writer’s block or even that I was stuck for ideas. It was for health and fitness reasons.
On my habitual route, I have one or two resting places where I like to take a coffee or simply sit on a park bench and watch the world go by and observe nature in all its beautiful glory.
It is during these walks ideas will come to me of their own free will. Maybe my neurotransmitters are busy delving into my subconscious archives for something interesting to write about.
Or maybe I will see something on my walk. It doesn’t have to be something remarkable. I can take something completely everyday and mundane and turn it into something remarkable by using " What if....."
At the end of this piece, you will find three links to stories that came from nowhere, or did they?
Story Number One. Strange Meeting On A Park Bench On My Birthday
I was sat on a park bench and watching a group of young boys playing. The boys decided to race to a wall about 100 yards away. I watched to see who would win the race with interest and found myself asking; "What if I could see into the future?"
And I tried to imagine how those boys would turn out in later life. Who would be the successful businessman, who the managing director, who the loyal employee and who would be the trouble makers for that company?
The plan was to start the story with an old man sat on a park bench chatting with somebody about how the behaviour of young children at play would, to some degree, determine their future development into adults.
Within no more than two minutes I had a story more or less mentally sketched out for when I got home. However, on the way home I got to thinking about a few other things from my past. This was triggered by the sight of a man walking towards me with his two sons. And this got me thinking about my own relationship, or the lack of such, with my own two sons. And then I got to thinking about my dad, who sadly passed away in 1979 when I was very young. My dad would have been 101 years old this year had he lived.
As I sat at my desk I decided to first of all look for an Unsplash photograph of an old man sitting on a park bench. I found a really nice one. And suddenly that gave me a whole new idea, especially for the imagery.
The introduction to the story was merely me describing what I was looking at in that photograph. It all tied in very nicely, even though I say so myself.
All that I had thought about in the park and on the journey back home melded into the final story. Read the story via the link below to see how that panned out.
Story Number Two: A Life Of Heaven On Earth.
Sometimes I simply sit at my desk and see how the day rolls out. One morning my lovely wife was getting ready for work. And as she busied herself I thought
”Why don’t I write something that is happening right here and now in the present?”
Then I was gifted two nice little ideas, one the tv news of the death of Eddie Van Halen, and two my wife’s reaction to the news.
Story Number Three. The Island.
This story had been germinating in my memory banks for over forty years. I often said to myself that one day I would write some extraordinary things that had happened in my youth into a story. I don’t know why I chose this moment. Maybe I had previously been too afraid to take it on. The things that had happened were pretty strong and I wasn’t sure if wanted to re-live them. This time I thought to hell with it, just get it done.
So, Rick Chen, and all you other writers who are interested to know how to overcome writer's block, the answer is not so much how to overcome it, but how to avoid it in the first place. I hope that goes some way towards helping you as writers to move onward with the rest of your writer's journey. Good luck and happy writing.
