Writing Tips: 3 ways to fight writer's block

Writer's block. The old foe of creative minds everywhere. Standing in the way of completed manuscripts since... well since people began writing, probably!

If you've ever felt writer's block, you know it's a horrible experience. There you are, chugging along on your manuscript when suddenly you freeze. You can't think of what to write next. Maybe you perceive a problem or plot hole and you can't think of a way around it. Maybe you woke up, sat down to write, and no words came.

I've been there. And I still end up there regularly. Usually it's because I'm afraid of messing up my project, and I want to get it right. Well, newsflash, self. I can't get it right all the time. And first drafts are supposed to be messy.

Still, just telling yourself to buck up doesn't always get the words flowing. So what can you do instead?

Three ways to fight writers block

1. Write something else for a while
   Walk away from the manuscript for a little while. Write a blog post. Or work on a different project for a few hours/days. Give yourself some time away and then come back and see if you have any new perspective or ideas.
2. Pick a writing prompt
   The other week I had been dealing with the stress and frustration of writer's block with a current project. So I went to a prompt generator site (two of my favorites are Writer Igniter and Seventh Sanctum) and picked a prompt that would lead me into writing about my characters again. I probably won't use much from that writing session, but the point is to grease the wheels, to get the fingers flying across the keys again, and to get your brain back into that world and thinking about those characters again.
3. Do something completely different
   Occasionally it makes sense to put down the pen or walk away from the keyboard altogether for a short time. Try painting, or take a long walk. Give your brain time to be creative in a different way so that whatever problem you're working through in the manuscript has time to marinate. You'll come back to the page with a better perspective and more ideas.

No matter what you have to remember to do what works for you. And when it stops working, try something different. Writer's block is not a "forever disease." So give yourself time and space to work out the puzzle that has presented itself. You'll be pleased with the results when you finally get back to it.

Writing Tips: 4 Questions to Ask When Writing Back Story in Your Novel

If you're reading this blog post, you're probably creative. You're probably a writer with an overactive imagination. That's great! You're my favorite type of person. That deep and beautiful imagination is what drives you to do what you do, to write and create worlds for you and your readers to get lost in.

So what do you do when it comes time to share that world with others, when it's time to tell the tale that's been growing inside your fertile mind? People who have the widest imaginations have the hardest time getting to the heart of their story. What details do you include? How much history to you reveal? After all, you've worked so hard to cultivate your characters, who they are, how they and their world came to be. Surely your readers are interested in the details and the back story as much as you are.

And you're right--up to a point. I love discovering the depth of detail and planning that an author has gone through to create the character that I am following and the world that character lives in. The problem arises when I get socked with that back story before I'm ready to appreciate it, before it matters to the story at hand.

If you throw too much detail at your reader too soon, they're not going to know what to do with it. At the beginning of a story, your reader is busy figuring out how things work, who the characters are, what they want most, and what's standing in the way. They're not gonna want to know WHY things work that way... not yet... or the deep personal histories of the characters yet... they don't know to who they're supposed to care about yet!

You'll have the same problem if you throw in too much detail at the end, too. Your reader will likely skim right over back story revealed too close to the ending, in order to get to the "important part" of the story.

So how do you  know what back story to include and where? Here are four questions you can ask when you feel the urge to type out your character's family tree:

1. Is this bit of back story relevant to what's going on RIGHT NOW in the story? (follow-up question: Will your reader understand that it is relevant right now?)
2. Does the back story you're including move the story forward? 
3. Does it reveal something important about character motivation?
4. Will your reader be confused about what's going on without this back story?

If the answers all of these questions are yes, include your back story! If any of these answers are no, you might want to reconsider revealing that back story now.

The last thing you want is for your reader to skim over any part of your tale. It's better to reveal back story on a need-to-know basis rather than dumping it all on your reader when they're not ready for it. The right bit of information presented at the right moment will hook your readers and then they won't be able to get enough!