It’s no secret I struggle with writer’s block. They’ve actually done studies on this which I find interesting. Turns out we’re overcome with fear. The fear of not being perfect. The fear of not finishing. Wow. Was I a lab rat in their study? That paralyzing fear overwhelms me when I sit down to the blank page.
Finding the right words is always a challenge and it keeps my fingers away from the keyboard. I don’t know why I expect things to be perfect the first time. That’s why we edit and why we have beta readers and critique partners. They help us make the writing stronger. So why do I expect perfection in the first draft?
There are plenty of strategies for overcoming writer’s block. I use stream of consciousness writing quite often. I close my eyes and with no direction in mind, just write. It usually has to do with some part of the backstory for my character. There’s no dialogue to worry about. It’s all narrative and sometimes the “telling” of something is easier to write. I’m not trying to balance the action with the narrative. The other “writing” activity I use when struggling is called piecemeal. I write some scene that is particularly clear for me, one that may not mesh with my current timeline but will be used later on.
A new discovery I made recently is that my writer’s block is caused when I have my characters doing something they don’t want to do. I know, sounds strange. I’m the writer. I’m in charge, right? Heck no. I write spicy romance. In books 1 and 2 of my Hearts of Louisiana series, the character are between the sheets in the first 30 pages, and I have numerous make-em-blush scenes throughout. In book 3, these two characters would not make whoopie. Anytime I forced them into a scene where the end goal was sex, I got writer’s block. Writer’s block on a sex scene! That had never happened before. (I write erotica and won a contest called Between the Sheets – sex scenes are my thang).
But these two people would stand there and shake their heads at me, refusing to heed my wishes. So I started talking to them in my head. Why won’t you sleep with her? What’s wrong with him that you won’t get naked? I discovered two things about my characters at this point and it changed the trajectory of the book. The end product was much sweeter than what I usually write, but it was right for the book and for the characters.
What tricks do you use to push past the writer’s block?