My Tips for Breaking Writer’s Block

Hi everybody! Isabelle Knight here again! So, if you’re reading this, you are most likely struggling with writer’s block. Funny enough, I am struggling with writer’s block right now. I am sort of in a writing slump with revising the second novel in the Enchantria series. If you’ve read my previous posts, you’ll know I hate revising. If not, well, now you know.

So today I’ll be sharing some of my tips for breaking writer’s block. Please note that these may not be usual tips, e.g, changing scenery, taking breaks, outlining. These are not usual tips because I am sure that you will have already found these tips elsewhere. So, these are just some of my tips which may be strange or even random.

So this first tip isn’t really for revising. It’s better for writing the first draft but it could be used in revision if you want to change something and are not sure where your story should go. The tip is actually from Gail Carson Levine’s book Writing Magic. And it’s to write down a list of twelve ideas (I don’t know if it’s twelve or ten. I think it’s twelve) of ways your story could go. Just write down any ideas, even if you think they’re bad. All you need are twelve ideas, no matter how stupid they are. Don’t stop until you have twelve. I think this tip is really helpful and it’s helped me a lot. Unfortunately, I can’t really use it in my case since I do know where my story’s going but I’m just not in a writing mood. But hopefully, this will work for you.

Next one… doodling. I’m serious. Try doodling something on a piece of paper and turning it into artwork. It doesn’t matter if you’re a good drawer or not. Just doodle something and turn it into art. You shouldn’t worry about whether it’s good or bad. Doodling can really help get your imagination flowing again. And if that doesn’t work, well, now you’ve got an interesting piece of artwork to hang up by your bed.

Third one. Record all your dreams. Every. Single. One. Even the ones that seem stupid. I’ve found that dreams really, really, really help to get your imagination flowing. I’ve gotten so many ideas from dreams. And keep a notebook by your bed. Because I’m pretty sure that by the time you’ve found your notebook and pen, you will have forgotten parts of your dream. Dreams are great sources for inspiration! And who knows, maybe that dream you wrote down could be the start of an award-winning book! So write down all your dreams. Even the silly, stupid ones. If you don’t want to write them down, you can draw it!

Fourth one. Again, this is from Gail Carson Levine’s Writing Magic. And it’s to write junk. Sit down at your desk and start typing or writing out words. Any words that come to mind. Write about anything. This is a piece of junk that I wrote. And yes, I am aware of the grammar and spelling errors in the passage below. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling errors when writing junk. Just write freely.

Hey I am writing junk right now. I don’t know why I chose this font. I just chose it. It looks like hadnwriting. I am stuck. Making myself do free writing. Thinking about My Little Pony Make Your Mark. Great TV show. Love it. I like Misty. So bored. I think I’m getting fuzzy brained.

Oh, and if you don’t know what fuzzy brained means, it’s when you’ve been doing something boring, repetitive or have nothing to do for a long time and your mind just gets all slow and sluggish. I hope you know what I mean.

So those are some of my out of the box tips for breaking writer’s block! Thanks for coming and I hope to see you again soon!

Isabelle