And Then They Met a Ghost: Defeating Writer's Block

“You can fix a bad page. You can't fix a blank one.” ~ Nora Roberts

Every writer dreads the days where s/he sits down at the computer and nothing comes. The cursor blinks at you like a judgmental little metronome that’s just clicking away the seconds before you die in penniless obscurity.

You glare at the cursor for a while. Pick at your fingernails. Go look in the mirror, sigh, and walk back to the computer. Watch the blinker. Worry about bills. What am I wearing tonight? Will I look fat in those jeans? Maybe the skirt would go better. Crap! I’m supposed to be writing! Blink, blink, blink...failure...blink, blink, blink.

So, Step 1 of defeating writer’s block: get your mind into the zone. I like to start by going back and reading a page or two of what I’ve written before. That relaxes my brain and helps me tune into the style and flow of that particular story.

Step 2: Once you’ve got your head back in the right space, get something written. I don’t care if it’s the most stupid, clichéd sentence you’ve ever thought up, get something down on that page. You can fix it later. I find that 90% of the time, once I get past putting down the first sentence, the floodgates open and it's smooth sailing from there.

Step 3: There are times when Step 2 absolutely doesn’t work. Everything has come to a screeching halt, and you just can’t figure out what to do next (god, I hate those days!). When this happens, I will play a game. Let's call it “And Then They Met a Ghost…” in honor of one of my best friends. To play, start making a list of every possible thing that could happen next. And I do mean every possible thing. Does a spaceship land? Does A punch B in the face? Does C spontaneously combust? I try to come up with an idea that would make even a narcoleptic reader snap to attention. My lists will run anywhere from five to twenty possibilities, and generally it’s that twentieth option that makes the ‘Aha!’ light go on.

Step 4: When it's a really dry day and even ghosts don’t get the creative juices flowing, I will take my characters and write a random scene that may or may not end up in the story. One day I was extremely, hopelessly stuck while I was working on Shards, so I started goofing around with a what-if scene. Suddenly, my palms got all sweaty and my mouth went dry. I had just written the end of the book! The entire fourth act of the novel sprang up out of the ether, all because of this one little scene that I hadn’t intended on writing.

Step 5: Go work out. Do some yoga. Go for a hike. Do pushups. Stand on your head. Just get the blood flowing. You’ll feel better (endorphins are my drug of choice!). Your mind will quiet down, and you’ll burn calories, which is always a win.

Happy Tuesday!