The dreaded writers block. (Guest post by author, Lindsay Anne Kendal)

Every writer at some stage of his/her career will suffer from writers block. No matter how experienced the writer may be, or what idea he/she may have to get down on paper.

Different things can kick-start this horrible block –

·         Stress
·         Illness
·         Lack of inspiration
·         Financial problems
·         Loss of confidence.

These are only a few things that can contribute.

I myself suffered from a block whilst working on my second novel, Torment. I had written my first without problems, and was half way through the second when it decided to take over me. I couldn’t understand why it was happening. I had heard of other people suffering with it, but typically thought ‘it won’t affect me’.

I spent weeks and weeks sat in front of my laptop, each time, determined that I would write something. However, not one single word was typed. I started to get rather upset. I almost convinced myself that I would never make it as a writer, and my career was over before it had even properly started. I didn’t know who to speak to about it, so all I did was panic.

However, a few weeks later, all I did was write. I’d spent time moping and worrying at first, then pulled myself together. I carried on with my other jobs, socialised more, and at night, I read through my first book again, just a couple of chapters each night. I listened to the music that gave me inspiration to write some of scenes in the first book. Then, I seemed to just pick my laptop up, and the words started to flow.

If I suffer from it now, which I did only a month or so ago, I do the same thing, and the words always seem to come back.

I guess if I could give anyone who is suffering with this any sort of advice it would be this –

1.      Remember, this is only a temporary set back.
2.      Do not lose confidence in yourself.
3.      Carry on with your life as normal, try not to constantly think about it.
4.      Read other scripts you may have written, or other books from different authors, and remember, that at some point during their writing career, they would have felt have you feel now.
5.      Don’t ever give up on your dreams.

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’. Strong words, but completely untrue if you’re suffering from writer’s block. Then the pen has about as much strength as a rubber chook.

Writer’s block can sap frightening time from real writing. Short of going and making yourself yet another coffee, here are some ways I conquer this frustrating obstacle…

It’s a common plight; your character has to get from point A to point B, but the bridge linking the two points is missing. It can be even worse when writing Fantasy because your options are limitless. You don’t have to play by the same rules as other genres, so the infinite sky of ‘what-ifs’ can suddenly flip itself into a bottomless pit of choices with no possible ‘right’ answer. Inspiration becomes complete inertia.

In my experience, inspiration can’t be forced. You need to wait for it to come to you, and the best way to do that is to forget about it altogether and just get back into writing what you do feel confident about.

As long as I know that both points A and B are plotted solidly and nothing that happens on the missing ‘bridge’ is going to drastically change the story, I cheat my muse and take a raincheck on inspiration. I literally write the word ‘BRIDGE’ in big capital letters across the centre of the page, then dive straight into point B. It usually does mean a little extra tweaking later on when inspiration finally hits, but the point is to keep writing.

‘He who fails to plan is planning to fail’ - Winston Churchill

Writing a novel is a complicated business. I’m all for inspired, loose writing that’s more about the whimsical journey of the narrative than the finished product, but much of that stuff ends up being just that - whimsical. How can you place all your clues and red herrings, wind your subplots intricately into your plots, and tie up your ending in a nice satisfying package without knowing where you were going when you started out?

Planning keeps writer’s block at bay by taking those ‘what now?’ moments out of the equation. The more detail you put in to your plot outlines, the less likely you are to find yourself stuck in a dead end. Careful plotting also helps cut down on your re-writes by making plot holes easier to spot long before you even start writing the story.

The first thing I do when writing a new book is to write a story outline as well as a chapter outline. Story outlines can take up several exercise books, but chapter outlines can be as little as two pages or as much as ten, depending on the complexity of the chapter. And if that’s still not enough, I’ll break that down further into scene outlines. Whatever gets those words down on the page.

If you can’t get the words down on the paper because what you’re writing is boring you, then imagine how your readers will feel! At least you know this is just one of those ‘in-between the action’ bits and the story going to get better… but your reader doesn’t. This is where books get put down, and stay down.

There is truth in the fact that using different levels of pacing makes a story easier to read and helps give it depth. Sometimes your character needs those quieter moments of self-reflection, or a simple conversation that leads them to discover fact C before they’re compelled to commit action D. The solution is conflict.

Conflict in story-writing is key. What’s better to overhear; a boring, polite exchange of small talk or a juicy, heated-up debate where someone’s throwing a bit of a tanty? Conflict is the burning house people just can’t look away from.

A good way to beat the boring-scene blues is to introduce a character with an opposing personality to someone else in the room. If you’re writing Fantasy, let the infinite sky of inspiration be your solution and throw something completely unexpected into the mix; the absurd in Fantasy is tangible – to a point, it’s expected.

As for those times of self-reflection, they must be limited. Long monologues are seldom fun to hear in real life, and they aren’t much fun to read either. Your character cannot grow through reflection alone, but by the action thrown at them and their reactions to those experiences.

For those scenes where a character needs information from someone before the plot can move forward, consider making the scene about something else entirely – bring in a twist, a robbery, a long lost dead relative, a friend suddenly turned to an enemy, to keep the house burning and the pages turning. Slip the information to the character via the action as though it’s secondary to the excitement around them. Your reader learns enough for the next chapter to make sense, and you haven’t had to overdose on No-Doze to get yourself through writing the scene.

As a writer/illustrator I often find myself drawing inspiration from the other side of the coin. Sometimes the words inspire the pictures, sometimes the pictures inspire the words. I always imagined a character in one of my stories by the way she looked before I knew her personality, her backstory, her motivation… but once I had drawn her on paper everything about Jeeka flowed easily, as though she were real. Even if you’re not an artist, a quick sketch on a character profile page with a few written details like eye colour, personality traits and likes / dislikes can make a wooden character seem so much more life-like.

The front and back cover images of my book David and the Heart of Aurasius, on the other hand, were drawn purely from the words of the story. The visual idea was always in my mind for both layouts, but only through the writing could I really add the detail like the seal statues and zigzagging staircases of the Temple of Water, or the cobble-stoned path leading through the hidden glen to the Doorway that takes David into Esmorde.

It’s also a great way to take a break when I’m stuck and still be productive… if I get sick of drawing I can pen another chapter, or if I get fed up with writing a tricky scene I can switch back to the drawing board. Any activity that takes your mind off your writer’s block can help shift the pressure and let the inspiration come naturally.

And if none of these work and you’re still stuck, do what a writer friend of mine suggested once; kill someone off. You can’t get much more conflict than that.

It’s also a great way to take a break when I’m stuck and still be productive… if I get sick of drawing I can pen another chapter, or if I get fed up with writing a tricky scene I can switch back to the drawing board. Any activity that takes your mind off your writer’s block can help shift the pressure and let the inspiration come naturally.

And if none of these work and you’re still stuck, do what a writer friend of mine suggested once; kill someone off. You can’t get much more conflict than that.

R.J. Timmis is the author of children’s fantasy adventure, ‘David and the Heart of Aurasius’, which is the first book in the ‘World of Esmorde’ series for readers 10yrs+. Her second novel, ‘The Brothers of Turoc’, was a shortlisted manuscript in the 2011 Text Prize for unpublished novels and will be released in late 2011.

‘David and the Heart of Aurasius’ is available in paperback, PDF, and for the Kindle and Kobo e-readers at www.worldofesmorde.net

If you're struggling with the "what comes next" in your story, chances are you need to up the stakes. Throw a new obstacle at the characters, and they (and you!) will need to find a way to overcome it, moving the story forward.

In the word's of Tamora Pierce's husband "Have a troll come through the door with a spear in his hand."*

Often writer's block results from a lack of conflict in the storyline. Even writers get bored if their characters are plodding along (so imagine how your readers will feel!). Conflict, whether it's in the form of a troll, or maybe even a love triangle, is the driving force behind all plots. If you're struggling to figure out what should come next, it's possibly because the "next" is lacking in conflict.

So throw those trolls in there and keep on writing!

*Taken from Tamora Pierce's website

One trick to overcoming writer's block is simply to write. Every day. Even if what you write isn't necessary made of gold, but creating a schedule of time to write, and putting fingers to keyboard, or pen to paper, you may find that words flow.

It doesn't have to be in large blocks either. Here's my writing schedule:

Weekdays
Before work: 15 min, sometimes on my iPhone, sometimes in a notepad.
Lunch break: 20 min, on my laptop.
After work: 20 min after dinner, or if I can, a longer period.

Weekends
Nighttime: at least an hour.

It's not a lot, but at least getting some writing done is better than none!

Do you have a writing schedule that you try to stick to? Or do you only write when you feel that creative spark?

It's interesting how many authors claim to have got their idea for a novel via a dream. 

Mary Shelley claimed that her inspiration for Frankenstein came from a dream in which, "I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with a uneasy, half vital motion."

Bram Stoker also had a dream about Dracula before he wrote it. He wrote it down in his journal. "Young man goes out, sees girls - one tries to kiss him not on the lips but throat. Old Count interferes - rage & fury diabolical - this man belongs to me I want him." For those of you who've read Dracula, this became an actual scene from one of Jonathan Harker's diary entries.

Years later, Stephanie Meyer claims on her website that Twilight also came from a dream. "In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately."

There are many more authors who claim their stories came to them in dreams. 

If only we could all be so lucky...

Dreams can be a resource for nuggets of ideas however, whether it's for a complete plot, a character, or simply a setting. The castle from my current WIP came from a rather creepy dream I had. Keeping a notebook by your bed can be a useful way of writing down the small ideas before they disappear, or if you're like me, the notepad on your phone works wonders!

The trick is not to dismiss crazy dreams as worthless. Even the most insane dream that makes no sense could have a plot idea in there. Write it down, forget about it, then look back at your notebook later and see what gold you can dig out.

It is a common misconception that writer's block is in fact a lack of imagination on the writer's part. While some people seem to have more imagination than others (children being the best example), I don't think it's fair to say that we ever lack in imagination. What usually happens, is that we lack in inspiration to fuel our imagination.

Therefore, I want to talk briefly about how we can fuel our imaginations in order to beat that parasite we call writer's block.

Five ways to give your imagination a helping hand:
1) Keep a journal - a little old-school perhaps, in the days of blogging, facebook and twitter, but it's amazing what ideas can come from your own private thoughts.
2) Listen in on other people's conversations - no, I'm not suggesting you become a stalker, but you can get character inspiration by listening to random strangers talk. Listen in malls, the supermarket, the bus... there's countless opportunities to nab nuggets of characterisation gold.
3) Read or watch something in another genre - if you write fantasy, like me, you'd be surprised at how many ideas you can get from other genres. Historical, romance, westerns, horror... most stories interweave genres, and have one overlying one, but what you interweave can make the story even better.
4) Watch children play - once again, no creepy stalking please! I don't want anyone banned from playgrounds... But if you have children, or know someone who does, then watch the games they play. Often they don't make any sense (How a matchbox car, a teddy bear and a creature from the Aliens movie could ever be friends, might seem strange to us adults, but as a child I didn't think about it - they just were), but if you're looking for something to help light the spark of inspiration, something unusual might just do it!
5) Do something out of the ordinary - ie, don't do what the bloke in the cartoon is and just sit in front of your computer and wait for your imagination to kick in. Go on a road trip, eat spicy food if you don't normally, walk a different route to work, jump out of a plane (with a parachute preferably), dance in the rain, howl at the wind... after all, if you don't live your life, how can you expect your story and characters to have a life of their own?

What about you? Do you have any tips on fueling inspiration?

I heard Garth Nix (author of the Keys to the Kingdom series, amongst a raft of other books) speak at Wordy Day Out 2011. For those of you that missed it, my full post on his talk can be found here. At one point in his talk, he addressed the issues of writer’s block, so I thought I’d share it with your for this Wednesday Writer’s Block.

“I will handwrite for difficult pages.”

This is a method that a number of writers recommend trying when you are stuck. There can be something freeing about escaping technology and letting your hand flow over the paper instead. Another advantage of the pen to paper method, is that there is no internet to distract you!

“Reading aloud is a great technique for discovering what is wrong with your prose.”

This is a fantastic way to pick up on punctuation, grammar, misused words etc, but reading aloud can also help you pick up on things like sentence structure, flow, pacing, and voice. If something doesn’t feel write with a passage, often reading it aloud will pinpoint where it is falling apart.

And, completely unrelated to writer’s block, Garth Nix also says, “All writer’s are a little bit bonkers… you have to be a socially acceptable level of bonkers.” So, if you’re feeling a little mad from you late night writing, remember – it’s okay to be crazy if you’re a writer!

I was lucky enough to attend the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival over the weekend, and hear Cassandra Clare speak (twice), along with a variety of other inspiring authors. I wrote pages of notes throughout the weekend, and managed to glean a couple of author's opinions on... [insert ominous music here]... 

...writer's block...

This week, I'll focus on Cassandra Clare's advice for writers who have struck this infamous wall of creativity blockage.

She says, "Writer's block is a symptom of a problem, and not a problem in itself."

I can honestly say that I had never thought of it that way before. Clare goes on to say that they way to deal with writer's block, is to first figure out what is actually causing it. Use a whiteboard, or a team of friends. POV and tense could be wrong, or maybe a character made a choice pages ago that should have been a different choice. If so, go back and correct the character's choice.

The question to ask yourself, according to Clare, is "where did it start getting difficult, and why at that point?"

Great advice from an incredible author! 

What about you? Have you ever thought of writer's block as a symptom, and not an actual problem before?

In order to give myself a bit of routine since I'm really struggling to keep up with the blog, amongst everything else going on (I'm blaming my low iron levels for my tiredness and general lack of motivation), I've decided to do the "theme day" thing. Because alliteration is absolutely amazing (or not), Fridays are now Friday Fantasy, where I talk about a random mythological creature that I have stumbled across in my writing research.  Wednesdays are now Writer's Block Wednesday, where I'll post a tip for curing or preventing writer's block!

First tip for Writer's Block Wednesday:

Change tense and POV. If you're writing in third person (they, he, she) past tense, try and get more intimate and write in first person (I, we), present tense. Or even give second person (you) a go!

Sometimes when a writer struggles to write that next part of a scene it's because they're not sure what a character is going to do next. The exercise of getting into the character's head by using a different POV and tense can help.