To be honest, I never understood writer’s block until I was working on RADD II, Part I and suddenly all of my words ran dry. The grand plans I’d spun into twisters all stalled out, what I thought had been firm pillars of my story crumbled to dust, and I was left staring at my second chapter wondering why writing was so hard, when I’d finally gotten to write about the dire wolves.
I proceeded to write and delete that chapter twice before finding something the felt correct. A few more chapters in, I stalled out again while trying to link a collection of scenes into a solid series of chronological events so that I could swing the story towards the end. This time rewriting didn’t help and I spent over two months struggling to make sense of where my story was going, what it was saying, and why I suddenly couldn’t say a thing.
To be honest, it was brutal. I’d never had an issue putting my fingers to the keyboard before and hitting the wall like this made me question my ability to write.
Had the first book been just a fluke? Was I simply incapable now that I was beginning to write more complicated plots and characters?
No, but it was certainly a learning experience.
Now, on my third book and the first of a new series, I can say with confidence that writer’s block doesn’t make you a bad author. It just means you’ve got a problem that needs to be solved first.
In my experience, writer’s block occurs due to one of three overarching reasons.
- There’s a problem.
- You’re the problem.
- Something in your environment is the problem.
None of these reasons are necessarily worse than the other, but they do have different solutions and some are harder to fix than others.
In the author community, I see a lot of hardcore extremism in regards to getting over author’s block. People either preach self-love and soothing, or they declare that it’s better to hunker down for the long run and force yourself to write everyday, regardless of whether you feel like it or know what you’re doing. And while I do see the merit in both of these solutions, they both only work for some author’s block.
This is mostly because as I stated above, author’s block can be caused by different things at different times for different people. That said, most of the time it falls into three different causes and three different solutions.
I’ll go over them below.
First, the cause is an actual problem with your story, what you’re trying to write, or how you’re trying to write it.
For me, I struggled with not actually knowing my plot very well. I’d had vague ideas of the beginning and where I needed to end it in order to proceed to the next book, but the middle had been left pretty fuzzy. I also wasn’t managing my subplots very well, and had noticeably skipped an important scene involving Cecily’s grandfather dropping some major plot hints.
In short, it was a well-worded mess.
Luckily, I picked up a book call ‘Save the Cat! Writes a Novel‘ which answered a lot of my questions on what should go where as far as my jumble of scenes were concerned. I was also able to better sort out my subplots and pace them alongside the main story line. After that, I found myself able to sit down and pump out a few hundred words a day easily, just as I had before. My issue hadn’t been my love of writing, but rather my poor understanding of the craft and the heavy-handed wrangling I’d been doing to make up for it.
And a lot of people can experience writer’s block for similar reasons. For example, I used to know a girl who had trouble writing emotional scenes. Every time she hit one, she’d stall out and her writing would slow to a crawl. I’ve also seen this handled similarly online, with writers having issues with different aspects of the craft, be it high-tension social drama or a gun-slinging, bar shoot out.
And, I don’t think the solution here is to just avoid certain genres or scenes. Rather, like with RADD II, I believe that writers need to improve and overcome these technical difficulties. Once they have, they’ll be better at writing and ready to write better, more beautiful stories.
So in this case, beating author’s block is as simple as reviewing what you have and trying to find the problem with it. Or, trying to find the problem with how you’re writing the next part. Are you struggling to write a hostage situation in a fantasy land? Try to learn more about modern hostage situations and then translate some of the universal things, like separating men and women or confiscating weapons and communication.
No matter what the problem with the story is, there’s always a solution. Sometimes it’s deleting a whole chapter, adding in a forgotten scene, or just doing some editing to remind yourself where you’re headed. Regardless, this type of author’s block can’t be solved with sticking your rear end to the chair and your hands to the keyboard alone (though it can help).
Nor does an extended break always help. Rather, if you find yourself struggling with your plot or your character’s voice, my suggestion would be to find a good book on the writer’s craft and settle down for a study session.
You just might learn something.
Second on the list of reasons, is when you’re the problem.
Offended? Don’t be!
In this case, your writer’s block isn’t your fault. Which, sounds silly right? If you’re the problem then shouldn’t it be your fault? Well, maybe, maybe not.
You see, while the plot and time to write is important, I’d argue that one of the most important pieces of your book is you. Your writing is what’s going to bring your story to life but writing at that level isn’t easy and it’s not effortless.
Writing takes energy and a creative mind. If you’re drained from work or personal problems, you’re not bringing your ‘A’ game to the keyboard.
And sometimes, this isn’t an easy fix. For example, you can’t just jump back from mourning the passing of a loved one or pretend away the messy divorce you or someone you know is going through. There’s a lot of things that we can’t control that impact us and therefore our writing. For exterior issues like this, the sometimes the best thing we can do is wait out the storm.
That said, there’s still plenty an author can do, even with outside factors.
For example, good sleep habits won’t make your spouse’s cancer go away or waive your rent, but it will help you better process the doctor’s instructions and keep a clear head when budgeting for the month.
Likewise, healthy eating won’t just keep you full and give you energy, it’ll also help you feel better and support your immune system. This won’t solve anything by itself, bit will support your solving problems and help prevent future problems.
And, my personal favorite, tending to your spiritual health by going to church and seeking community with your church family won’t magically fix anything, but having a listening ear and absorbing God’s word builds inner strength and relieves stress. It always makes me feel better after a long week of pass or fail scenarios.
So, if life has burned you out, you may not be able to just keep chugging along and writing your book, but in the meantime you can tend to your personal health, so that you can recover faster and are ready when you’re able to write again.
This is the soothing and self-care answer and it is the solution to true burn out. That said… don’t over do it. Humanity wasn’t created to sit on our rears all day complaining about how hard things are. Once you’ve rested, it’s time to get back to the keyboard, even if it’s hard.
As in the Mulan animated movie: “The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all”.
Something being hard simply means there’s room for you to grow into the future you. It’s not always a sign to sit back and prop your feet up. If you still have energy to go do other things, like post on social media or pursue other hobbies, you’re not experiencing burn out and this solution won’t work for you.
Third and finally, something in your environment is the problem.
Now, I don’t want to confuse this with my last cause and solution for writer’s block. Despite sounding kind of similar, this cause and solution set is different. Number two on my list refers to an exterior issue causing inner turmoil or problems, this cause of writer’s block has nothing to do with inner turmoil.
Rather, this type of writer’s block occurs when there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the writer… just what the writer surrounds himself with.
Distractions. Physical Deterrents. Time Constraints. Social Obligations.
Any exterior force that is stopping you from writing. This can be as simple as being distracted by your phone or something as abstract as neglecting to make time in a busy schedule.
Now, in direct opposition to the previous cause-and-solution for writer’s block, my suggestion for this is to remove the outside problem.
And. Power. Through. It.
In the words of my favorite podcaster, Thomas Umstadt from the Novel Marketing Podcast, “Stick you butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard.” If you’re not grieving, suffering burn out, or dying, you have plenty of strength to write, you’re just not prioritizing it.
Writing a book doesn’t occur by accident. It’s deliberated upon and carefully executed.
Even my writing RADD I out of spite took my actively choosing writing time over phone time, or homework time, or TV time. And, I wrote the most when I was able to block time out of my schedule every day or week just for writing.
So, if you’re consistently finding yourself short of time or frequently distracted when you try to write…
Prioritize your book and get it done.
This can be done in several ways, but the most straightforward one is to intentionally clear time on your schedule (be it before work, after work, or at 2am in the morning if that floats your boat), turn off your phone, and stick your hands to the keyboard regularly. Don’t stop until you run out of time or reach the word count you need.
This is the power-through-it method and a lot of people struggle with it before finding success by building a solid writing habit.
TLDR; The three main problems that cause writer’s block are as follows:
- A plot hole or problem with your book.
- Actual burn out or life changes.
- Your phone… and other numerous distractions.
The three solutions to them are as follows:
- Edit what you’ve already written and check your outline.
- Self soothe or build healthy habits until you’re able to write again.
- Power through it.
Apply those three solutions, and you should be back to writing up a storm in no time. Best of luck to you!
Isekai Dragon 