10 Strategies to Smash Writer’s Block: The Novelist’s Survival Guide

You’ve been staring at your cursor for twenty agonizing minutes. You plead with your muse to send you something…anything to keep your current story flowing.

Your muse, like your cursor, is mocking you.

Blink. Blink. Blink.

You question whether you are, in fact, a writer. You daydream about chucking your laptop out the nearest window. You fantasize about the contents of your liquor cabinet (or that annoyingly high shelf out of reach of children and dogs.)

Writer’s block has struck in earnest and it can feel like you’ll never come up with a clever sentence again.

Take a deep breath. Close the window. No matter how stuck you feel, I promise you ARE a writer with a message worth sharing.

This guide provides ten strategies to get you out of a creative rut and back to making the writing magic happen.

Get to Know Your Character In Depth

Little details make a big difference in allowing your reader to get to know your character.

Who are they, not just in the action of the story but as a human being? Here are a few questions to consider:

• Physical Appearance: What does your character look like? (Hair color, eye color, etc.) What kind of clothes do they wear? Do they have any unique physical features that play into the current story or backstory? (For instance, do they have any notable scars?) Given the choice, what would they change about their appearance?
• Relationships: What is their birth family like? What about the family they chose (spouse/lover/roommate)? Who are their friends? Enemies? Co-workers? Do they have a mentor or are they a mentor to someone? Do they have pets? Even a total loner has to interact with somebody, be it the UPS delivery person or anonymous visitors online.
• Personality: What adjectives would you use to describe your character? What are their greatest dreams and fears? What motivates them? What are their greatest strengths and what are their flaws?
• Likes/Dislikes: This can range from favorite color or food to what they love (or hate) to do with their time. Occupation also plays in – do they adore the work they do or would they literally kill to get out of their job?
• Background: Were there special circumstances surrounding your character’s birth? What important events have taken place up to the point where their story begins? What education have they received so far and how does that impact their current situation?

There are so many options for character profiles. In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be creating an in-depth guide for how to create character profiles and organize your writer’s notebook. (If you’re a novelist, you need one. Trust me.)

Humiliate your Hero/Villain

Is Heidi Hero so virtuous that she could give lessons to nuns? Put her in a scene where she has to break into her own car to get her keys. Does evil ooze from every pore of Evil Edgar’s body? Stick him in a leotard and force him to host a dance recital for preschool children. These scenes probably won’t end up in your finished piece…but they’re a lot of fun to write!

Get Another Character’s Perspective

Heidi and Edgar are in an epic fight scene, exchanging blows and witty banter while costing the average taxpayer thousands of dollars when suddenly…

…you’ve got nothing.

You’ve been so focused on these two for so long that the rest of your world has become a rather nondescript blur. Time to remind your characters that they’re not the only ones in the universe.

Who are the bystanders? Are they grateful to the hero or desperately wishing they could live in a boring town? If there are no other people in the area, write the scene from the perspective of the pigeon on a nearby rooftop or the poodle decorating a fire hydrant. Personify the hydrant, if you like. Writing something, even something seemingly irrelevant, is better than writing nothing.

Write More Backstory

Unless you are literally starting with your main character’s moment of birth, there were events that took place in their life before the current story. Past events affect how your character looks, acts, speaks and thinks.

Maybe your character is an avid bubble gum chewer hoping to make it in the Big Leagues. What started them on the habit? Create a story centered around this unique character trait. Maybe they discovered the flavor when their grandfather took them to their first-ever baseball game. This also allows you to build on how close they were to their grandfather, how his death devastated them and why becoming a professional baseball player is so important. As with any sample writing, this story doesn’t have to become part of your draft but it gives you greater insight into this person whose life you’re writing.

Set the Scene

If you’re stuck on what your character should be doing, step away and imagine the setting as vividly as possible. If your setting is a classroom, visualize the motivational posters on the walls. Is there anything written or carved into your character’s desk? What color are the floor tiles? Are there any classroom pets? What sits on the teacher’s desk?

What your specific character notices is impacted by personality. Do they study the water spot above their head because they’re always daydreaming? Can they tell you the exact number of floor tiles because they hate to be called on? If there are 30 students in that room, there are 30 unique points of view about what it contains. How does your character see the world differently from the other 29?

Work on a Side Project

Maybe you’re that rare writer who can strictly focus your attention on one project from start to finish without ever once letting your mind wander to a new story idea.

For the rest of us writing nuts, there are side projects.

I currently have four novel series, two short story collections and a second poetry collection in the works. To say nothing of the writing I do to actually earn a living.

You don’t have to be as crazy as me but I do recommend having at least one side project for those times when your main project doesn’t capture your interest.

Journal

Putting something down on paper, even if it has nothing to do with your current project, is so important. I made a pact with myself that if I didn’t write a single page toward my novels on any given day, I’d write at least one journal entry. I’m currently keeping two journals. One is a writing prompts journal (500 Writing Prompts) that I picked up on sale at Barnes & Noble. The other is an old notebook left over from college that I use to write down interesting dreams, both from my childhood and more recent. You’d be amazed how many story ideas your dreams can provide!

Pick a Random Word

Get out your dictionary. (A thesaurus will work in a pinch.) Close your eyes and flip to a random page. The word your finger lands on is your writing prompt. Connect it to your character in some way.

Do a Sentence Exercise

Maybe you’ve made it to the revision stage and you’re hung up on a sentence that’s keeping your story from progressing. Here’s an exercise that will help you find a good alternative.

Rewrite your sentence using five emotions. Odds are, at least one of your alternatives will be an improvement and you might discover an interesting new direction to take your story. Here’s an example of a sentence that’s been put through the exercise:

• Original: Heidi walked down the driveway to get her mail. (*yawn*)

The following sentences are not only more detailed but give a clear indication of what the character is feeling when the piece of mail she wants (or dreads) proves to be in the box.

• Happy: Heidi skipped past the hydrangea, tossing open the mailbox door with a flourish. She crushed the thick yellow envelope to her chest, her squeal of joy startling a trio of pigeons into flight.
• Sorrowful: Heidi’s eyes remained on the gravel until the mail was in her hand. Her fingers trembled as she carefully slid a finger under the envelope’s top flap. Had the neighbors been looking out, they could have testified that her mascara was definitely not waterproof.
• Humorous: Three more hydrangeas fell victim to Heidi’s flailing feet as she caught herself on the mailbox post. In her haste to free the mysterious envelope, she sent half a dozen other pieces of mail flying into the neighbor’s yard. The Rottweiler who resided there thoroughly enjoyed this unexpected flurry of flimsy chew toys.
• Suspenseful: Heidi’s fingers hesitated, hovering just over the innocuous white latch. A single brown paper package that just fit within the limitations of the mailbox. Was it…ticking?
• Thoughtful: Heidi’s gaze swept the gravel drive; the mailbox in bad need of repainting and the hydrangea bush wilting in the merciless heat. The mail would be the usual round of bills she had no money to pay. Murmuring a prayer under her breath, she pulled the stack of envelopes free and began leafing through them one at a time.

Revisit Your Inspiration Sources

What made you fall in love with writing?

Was it a favorite character? A specific song? Something (or someone) you saw out in the real world?

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you have to step away from the desk and seek those things that drew you into this world of character creation. Give yourself permission to take a break and refresh your inspiration, whatever the source.

Then sit down, curse your cursor one last time and make it dance over the page.