Writer’s Block: 5 Ways to Help Yourself Over the Hump!

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. World Anvil, a 2022 NaNoWriMo sponsor, helps you develop and organize your characters, plot, and world setting. Today, World Anvil founder Janet Forbes is here to share some pro tips for world-building. Don’t forget to check out the offer to NaNoWriMo writers for 40% off a World Anvil membership!

Writer’s Block can hit anyone—but particularly when you’re writing a novel under time pressure (like during NaNoWriMo) it can be really tough! 

But you CAN get yourself over the hump! These 5 tips will get you out of writer’s block, and on with your novel writing—because just like NaNoWriMo, at World Anvil we believe the world needs your story, and we want to help you tell it! <3 

1. Explore your world-building

If you’re the kind of person that has a detailed world bible, sometimes just reading through it is enough to spark your inspiration. If you’ve created a world meta, you’ll already have an idea of current affairs and events in your world. Bringing in a plot thread from those is a great way to get things moving again if your character feels stuck. It can help introduce secondary conflicts which don’t revolve around the main character, making them feel less like the centre of the universe (Mary Sue, anyone?)! The magic sentence to ask yourself is, “If this, then what?”: 

If this (thing happened / place exists / character did that thing), then what effect would it have on other people, places, and things? 

You can also explore different cultures or settings in your world in more detail. For example, think or write a little about a day in the life of the richest or poorest person in this culture you’re creating. What are their rules and taboos, and how can your main character challenge them?

Changing locations can change the way you feel about a scene or situation, and sometimes give you ideas or impetus to move forward. Which nearby location matches best to your character’s current mood? What’s the highest place or lowest place in their immediate environment? Which location is the most contrasting with those previously used?

Preventative measures: If you haven’t yet, consider taking a little time to build a world meta and a world bible for your novel’s world. It doesn’t take long, and you only need to write in bullet points, but it will be a great resource for Future-You, and help with revisions too!

2. Interrogate your character

For a quick fix for a smaller writer’s block, interrogate your main character(s)! Often called Hot Seating in theater.

Essentially, ask your character questions, such as:

How do you feel about X character?How do you feel about what just happened?What do you need right now? (food, a rest, a girls’ night out?)What’s the worst thing that could happen to you right now?

This helps you figure out not only what your character wants to do next, but the most dramatic thing that COULD happen next! If they’re down, bring them up with a treat. If they’re up, maybe it’s time for some drama? 

Preventative measures: Character profiles are a great help when your characters are misbehaving—being passive, secretive, or downright uncooperative! Build some out, and you’ll get to know your characters better. We have a helpful template for this on World Anvil, if you’re looking for a good one!

3. Explore three paths

Often as writers (especially awesome and highly-focussed NaNoWriMo writers), we get very focussed on what’s the ONE thing that should happen next. The RIGHT thing. The PROPER thing…

But this can be very restrictive. It can stop us from being open to options, but it’s also a lot of pressure! If that sounds like you, then this method of curing writer’s block might help. 

Instead, if you’re encountering writer’s block, step away from your manuscript and think about what THREE things could happen next. Make a list. Expand to five if you like. A writing journal can be very helpful for this, too. 

Next, remove all your least favorite ideas until you have only options you like. If that leaves more than one and you still can’t choose, then pick one direction and know that you can come back and write the other one if you need to. Who knows—you might come up with an awesome idea or scene you can repurpose for later in the book! 

4. Talk it over with an amazing community! 

November is a time when the NaNo writing community really comes into its own, and over on World Anvil we have a fantastic year-round writing community too! 

If you’re stuck, talk over your roadblock with other writers. Sometimes simply explaining to someone WHY you’re stuck can help you.

Whether you prefer Discord, Facebook, or live streams, find a writing community that will support you and build you up, not tear you down.

5. And if all else fails… write where the heat is! 

Let me tell you a secret. There’s no Writing Police. 

Perhaps you’re super excited about that love scene in Act 3, but this muddle-through-the-middle has you stumped? In that case, jump ahead! Write what you’re excited about in your story. Future-You can make it all fit together, especially if you’re using a novel writing software that lets you reorder things easily. Present-You has one responsibility—to get out draft one however you can. 

And I promise you, nobody will appear from your laptop or jump out of your screen and berate you if you don’t write your book in order. At least, it hasn’t happened to me, yet! 

Janet Forbes (she/her) is a published fantasy author, game developer and (secretly) a velociraptor, and has been building worlds since she was knee-high to an orc. In 2017 she co-founded World Anvil, the award-winning world-building, writing, and tabletop RPG platform which boasts a community of 2 million users. She spends her days helping writers, and her nights writing novels, stories and games!