For An Author, I Don’t Write Much. Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block.

I’ve always wondered what it was like back in the 1900’s for authors. No Facebook, no phones, just you and your candle lit manuscript, and probably a bad case of radium poisoning. As somebody with no self control, writing in this day and age with all of these distractions is hard! I tell myself I’m going to google a synonym, and then somehow I end up on The Sims Instagram page, two years deep.

So, what gives? What can we do to make sure that we write without using a program like NanoWrimo, which is awesome but discouraging if you fall even 1,000 words behind. The answer, unfortunately, is to not use your phone while writing unless it’s urgent. Something that helps me is listening to Spotify writing playlists that others have made. It’s sort of the background music of your novel, and it can help a scene play out smoothly. Writing Music for Focus is a good playlist for any genre of book, since the songs are all pretty lowkey and calm.

The tip I’ve used to overcome writer’s block and finish my first novel (A Soul Made of Cinders, hint hint) was to write scenes out of order. I know that sounds bad, but hear me out. If you have an outline for your story, it’s possible to write the key points in advance. When you come up with new ideas that change the story, you can tweak the scenes. Then, when you have all of the scenes you’ve thought up written and arranged, you can flesh out the scenes more to make the novel larger without stretching it too far with unnecessary scenes. Keep in mind this doesn’t work for everyone, and a lot of writing teachers would probably disagree with me…But even if you don’t put those scenes in your book, you’ll have overcome writer’s block!

If you have any unconventional ideas for overcoming writer’s block that you’ve used, feel free to share in the comments! Best of luck on your journey, and remember, don’t keep a Facebook tab open while writing!